SUMMARY

‘‘DESIGNING MARKETING PROGRAMS TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY’’

In the modern era, successful brands are creating strong, favourable and unique
brand associations. The factorial changes in the external environment has led to
the development in new perspectives on marketing. There are 9 major drivers
of the new era are: i) Rapid Technological developments, ii) Greater customer
empowerment, iii) Fragmentation of traditional media, iv) Growth of interactive
& mobile marketing options, v) Channel transformation & disintermediation, vi)
Increased competition & industry convergence, vii) Globalization & growth of
developing markets, viii) Heightened environmental, community, and social
concerns, ix) Severe economic recession. Customers in this new era have access
to more power, variety of goods & services, more information availability and
interactivity.
Integration & personalization are crucial factors in building and maintaining
strong brands. Personalizing marketing creates deeper, richer, and more
favourable brand associations. It consists of: i) Experiential marketing, ii)
Relationship marketing, iii) Mass customization, iv) One-to-one marketing, v)
Permission marketing. Experiential marketing promotes a product by not only
communicating a product’s features and benefits but also connecting it with
unique and interesting consumer experiences. Relationship marketing
transcends the actual product or service to create stronger bonds with
consumers and maximize brand resonance. Mass customization is all about
making products to fit the customer’s exact specifications. One-to-one
marketing creates value addition and rewarding experiences for consumers
through marketers. Permission marketing entails the exposure of consumers to
marketing only after they express their permission.
Brands are also integrated into the Supporting Marketing Programs such as: i)
Product strategy, ii) Pricing strategy, and iii) Channel strategy. Product strategy
encompass perceived quality and after-marketing that are rewarding to the
consumer experiences. Perceived quality is built through quality dimensions,
brand intangibles and value chain. The pricing strategy is the revenue generating
element of the Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model. There are two
aspects to this strategy such as: i) Customer price perceptions and, ii) Setting
prices to build brand equity. Marketers have to understand consumer
perceptions of value dominantly. Firms in today’s world are preferring value-
based pricing strategies to set prices and everyday- low-pricing strategies. These
are establishing stability for segments and balancing the product design,
delivery and costs. The final strategy, the channel strategy is the manner of
selling products and having impact on the equity and sales success. There are
two channel designs in this strategy such as: i) Direct channels and, ii) Indirect
channels. Marketers assess the need of matching brand image to leverage
secondary associations, integrate push or pull strategies and consider a
particular channel. Thus, overall developments of marketing programs are
through such efforts in today’s world to build brand equity.