The evolution of branding strategy in the digital age

Future of Brands

The ability to infuse a unique identity into a given product or service, and have that identity resonate long-term and deliver valuable market differentiation, positioning, sales and long-term loyalty is the essence of effective branding. Dr. David Aaker, who has authored several foundational books and competed dozens of studies in the field of branding has defined the Aaker Model, which seeks to define these aspects of branding (Aaker, 2007). The Aaker Model includes components of branding as a product, organization, person and symbol, clearly showing a multifaceted perspective on the value of a successful branding strategy over the long-term. Long-term brand management, maintenance and growth are predicated on ensuring brand investments are made with insight into which strategic direction the brand needs to go in order to optimize its value (Balmer, 2012). The intent of this analysis is to propose the future of product branding, assess the impact of technology on consumer knowledge and awareness, and also evaluate the current trends in maintaining brand image. In addition, theories and best practices in brand management to build customer trust. An evaluation of the roles, problems encountered, skills required and functions of a brand manager to improve marketing strategies are also discussed, and appraisal of the value of technology in promoting a strong brand image within the online business environment is also analyzed. Empirical data from branding research studies are cited throughout this analysis to provide evidence supporting key findings and conclusions as well.

A Perspective on the Future of Branding

The progression of branding from being product- to customer-centric has also driven a corresponding evolution in the use of personas, or aggregate representations of customer segments and audiences. Instead of just relying on a brand for differentiation and the maintenance of a corporate identity, which was a pervasive strategy over the last three decades (Balmer, 2012), branding has evolved into a competitive foundation for future growth, aligning with personas to deflect defection and increase customer loyalty (Bogomolova, Romaniuk, 2010). As marketers have exponentially improved their use of analytics, more precise measures of customer loyalty and its cumulative effects on profitability have emerged (Forza, Salvador, 2008). Marketers can produce Lifetime Customer Value (CLV) analysis quickly as the majority of activity is occurring in digital channels, which makes the majority of activity traceable and analyzable (Kahn, 2009).

Analytics have given marketers and brand management professionals greater insights into the relative effectiveness of their short- and long-range strategies, providing more rapid feedback cycles for each strategic iteration of branding and marketing initiatives. Paradoxically the abundance of analytics and the advent of Big Data, or very large data sets showing the cumulative effects of strategies on brand equity has made the intangible aspects of brand management all the more critical (Maxian, Bradley, Wise, Toulouse, 2013). Branding could never be reduced to an equation as it includes emotional, intuitive and non-linear processes that defy quantification, yet the advent of Big Data has underscored the essence of effective branding strategies more than has been the case in the past (Maxian, Bradley, Wise, Toulouse, 2013).

The future of branding is going to be more governed by the customers' experience and how well a given brand aligns with very specific expectations. Analytics, Big Data and the predictive analytics the latest generation of technological tools can deliver are showing a glimpse of how powerful the precise analysis of customer expectations are and how effective branding strategies are deliberately designed to surpass them. The future of branding will be much more attuned to a highly personalized customer experience first with a continual series of reinforcement strategies for delivering excellent customer experiences. Closing the gap between expectations and experiences is what the future of branding will be and is rapidly evolving into today. This shift is being accelerated with how pervasive digitally-based branding and marketing strategies, which are yielding a wealth of brand, customer and marketing data, are quickly being used to understand the nuances of what customers expect. It is also being accelerated by the use of analytics to track brand detractors vs. loyalists and calculate the Net Promoter Score (NPS), a measure of customer loyalty and profitability (Bogomolova, Romaniuk, 2010). The future of branding will also be highly individualized to specific customer audience and segment expectations, preferences, unmet needs and wants. The precision that branding is capable of today will accelerate on this dimension as well, providing ample proof and continual reinforcement of the more salient factors of brand management and promotion by audience and segment. The combining of advanced analytics, Big Data, predictive analytics and modeling will be combined with the inherently unquantifiable aspects of expectations and emotions, delivering a greater precision of branding that has ever been possible previously. This will save brand management and marketing professionals years of fine-turning and literally dozens of cycles testing their branding messaging to gain the highest levels of accuracy and effectiveness.

Evaluating Current Trends in Maintaining a Brand Image

In 2013 the majority of marketers are clearly focused on the triad factors of cloud-based applications including analytics, mobile and social networks. The combination of cloud applications, mobile and social networks are also dominating the current strategies and trends for not just maintaining brand image but also expanding overall market potential and reach (Jump, 2012). The most dominant trends brand management professionals and their staffs are using today include augmenting their social networking sites with highly targeted content, using intensive search engine marketing strategies and investing in corporate website redesigns. Additional trends include the use of branded applications on mobile devices, investments in and continual build-out of online communities for customers, and the continual infusion of new content for e-comemrce and broader corporate websites as well. All of these factors are managed across the technology platforms of cloud, social and mobile, with the orchestration point of these branding strategies often being on referenceable customers and their stories of success using the products of interest. Customer references are the galvanizing point around which branding strategies are built in many industries (Gielens, 2012) with enterprise software and B2B-oriented products being especially reliant on customer success stories to gain customer trust. For both B2B and B2C-based organizations, a highly differentiating story is the highest priority from a current best practice or trend standpoint for managing and promoting a brand image. Figure 3, Top Challenges Creating and Managing a Brand, shows a prioritization key challenges from a marketing, sales and executive management perspective. At the top of all factors is differentiating with a story followed by linking brand value to business objectives.

Figure 3: Top Challenges Creating and Managing a Brand

Source: (Analysis of Reports Accessed with Permission from the Publisher & Jump, 2012).

Assessment of Brand Management Theories and Best Practices to Build Consumer Trust

Dr. Aaker's theories and frameworks including the Aaker Model illustrate how brand management is a highly synchronized strategy, encompassing every aspect of an organization (Aaker, 2007). As has been shown in this analysis the future of branding is predicated both on the pried advances related to Big Data, data aggregation and predictive analytics, in addition to gaining insights into the unquantifiable differences between experiences and expectations. By continually working to bridge the gap between experiences and expectations, brands become more trusted (Kahn, 2009). When a given brand can continually meet and exceed the differences between expectations and experiences customers become highly loyal and develop enthusiasm for a given brand (Maxian, Bradley, Wise, Toulouse, 2013).

Brand management theories and approaches used for gaining customer trust include the economic approach, which was defined primarily by the 4Ps of marketing and an economic justification of purchasing (Forza, Salvador, 2008). This approach led to the identity approach which looked at the aspects of organizational alignment and assimilation to a given culture or vision of a brand, which is a precursor to the Aaker Model (Aaker, 2007). The consumer-based approach looks at brand equity as a means to gain trust with a customer, and builds on the lessons learned from the economic and identity approaches. The consumer-based approach is what Dr. Aaker used as a foundation to extend and refine his theories of the personality approach to brand management. This approach centers on the four aspects mentioned earlier (Aaker, 2007). The relational approach looked at the dyadic brand-customer relationships and brand relationship quality levels as a proxy for customer trust (Bronnenberg, Dhar, Dube, 2007). This approach led to a community framework and cultural approach, both of which began to encompass the concepts of Dr. Aaker's Model that takes into account the multifaceted aspects of a given brand and its supporting ecosystem (Aaker, 2007). As the progression of theories shows, the field of brand management has progressed from seeing customer loyalty and the corresponding effects initially as an equation, and today being seen more as a consequence of experimental learning and consistency of activity across all channels and interaction points between a company and its customers. The current theories of brand management take into account the qualitative and quantitative aspects of brand equity and look to create trusting relationships with customers through consistency and continual exceeding of expectations over time.

Evaluation of Roles, Problems Encountered, Skills Required and Functions of a Brand Manager Related to Improving Marketing Strategies

The roles of a brand manager center on orchestrating the many programs and initiatives necessary for creating and promoting a sustained, differentiated story of product or service value. Brand managers also need to have an excellent grasp of project management skills, combined with Emotional Intelligence (EI) to ascertain how best to gain cross-functional support (Bronnenberg, Dhar, Dube, 2007). The roles of a brand manager include marketer, strategist, project manager and most importantly, transformational leader of the entire brand management team, even if they don't have a formal title for this role. This is the one aspect of a brand manager's role that is the most challenging of all; orchestrating the many diverse departments of an organization together to ensure consistency of branding execution and clarity of communication to the many members of the ecosystem both within and outside the company (Kahn, 2009). Lastly the brand manager must continually move towards the objective of understanding and respecting and nurturing the passion customers have for the brand, and seeking to continually provide proof points of why their brand is wroth trusting and relying on over time (Maxian, Bradley, Wise, Toulouse, 2013).

Appraising the Value of Technology in Promoting a Strong Brand Image Online

The value of technologies in promoting a strong brand image online is very significant, and in 2013 one can not effectively manage a brand without online technologies and tools. When spending on branding technologies is analyzed by results as is shown in Figure 4, it is apparent how highly effective spend targeted at quality of pipeline, ability to gain entry and ability to close business are (Jump, 2012). Figure 4 shows that the more precise and focused investments are in branding spending the greater the potential fro market growth. This is based on having insights into which aspects of branding to emphasize and focused on to gain maximum return on branding investment.

Figure 4: What is the correlation between market leadership and brand investment? Percentage of organization's 2013 marketing budget on branding initiatives by growth rates

Source: (Analysis of Reports Accessed with Permission from the Publisher & Jump, 2012).