Brand Management for Lawyers (MKTG 205)

BBA LLB (Hons.)

Faculty : Madhavi Gupta
Topic: Introduction to branding

What is branding?
Branding involves developing and implementing a number of identifiable features to your
business so your consumers can associate themselves with your business. Branding increases
the recognisability of products and services amongst your consumers, giving you that
competitive edge within the market.
Creating a bridge between your products and your ideal customer that helps to shorten the
buyer’s journey to choose your products without any kind of hesitation, branding is vital for
marketing activities. It helps to define how customers recognise your brand. Typically
comprising of a ji name, tagline, logo or symbol, design and brand voice, it also refers to the
underlying values of the business and overall experience a customer undergoes when
interacting with a business — as a customer, supplier, social media follower, or a mere
bystander.

Branding improves your marketing practices:

The definition of branding depicted above, illustrates that branding is far more than a
businesses logo and slogan. And this is true. Your brand should leave a positive belief about
your business when consumers think of your products or services. This perception also
increases the business’ value and increases your business’ recognition amongst your
consumers. System 1 believes that a brand should have an emotional impact on a consumer.
Relying on the 3F’s, Fame, Feeling and Fluency, they believe that a brand should play on
consumers’ mental shortcuts to ensure that a business’ products and services are the obvious,
automatic and default product of choice.
Taking advantage of these mental shortcuts, branding can be one of the most important
elements of your business when generating sales leads. Using both a branding and marketing
strategy to target and influence your customers, both new and existing, branding can help your
business to increase its share of voice within the marketplace. Using branding to improve your
marketing strategy can help your business to generate sales. This in turn will mean that your
business will have a competitive advantage within your industry and ensure that your brand is
your customer’s first choice when looking for the products or services that you offer. Relying on
the 3 F’s depicted by System1, we can see the importance of your branding when marketing
your product offerings.

5 reasons why branding is important in your marketing:

1. Branding and Customer Recognition
Developing a brand that has a level of fame or fluency amongst your target audience helps to
build strong customer recognition. This is important when developing your marketing materials
as you want your product and services to be the automatic choice amongst your customers.
Having a recognisable brand means that consumers are far more likely to opt for your products
in comparison to a less recognisable brand. Having strong foundations of branding for your
business is vital. This is how your customer will begin to recognise and associate with your
brand.
In order to develop the foundations of a strong brand, there are 2 essential elements that will
increase your brand recognition. Without strategically planning these elements, your brand,
and in turn your marketing, will fall flat.

A. Brand Messaging:
It’s important to focus on your brand messaging, as these messages communicate who you are
and what your purpose is in order to speak to your ideal clients. Ensuring that you have a
consistent brand message and voice so new and existing customers immediately relate to what
your business values are, and how engaging with your business can benefit them, is the
ultimate goal here. That recognisability and emotional connection assists in communicating to
your customers and it is what separates you from your competitors.

B. Brand Identity:
In order to grow your brand’s recognition, it is essential that you have a strong brand identity.
Having a distinguishable and cohesive brand identity means that your customers can
automatically identify your brand at first glance. This visual representation that your brand
identity (Logo, Tagline, Font etc) illustrates is important as it is a way to effectively
communicate your business’ values and messaging to your customers. Think of these as a visual
cue that will help customers to recall your business. Implementing it consistently throughout
your marketing materials will improve the likelihood that your brand will be remembered by
your audience, but also that your marketing is consistent. Brand consistency aids in developing
customer brand recognition.
Having a strong brand identity is the key to unifying behaviours, actions and communications
amongst your customers. Each plays a role in communicating competitive advantages,
product/services quality, competitive advantages, and operational efficiencies. So, it is of great
importance that your business has a consistent brand identity as it resonates with your
audience, guides your marketing, and enables your sales force to sell more.

2. Branding & Competitive advantage

Having a strong, recognisable brand which has a consistent identity throughout your marketing
activities, helps you to differentiate yourself from competitors within the marketplace. This is
advantageous when penetrating the market and lends a sense of credibility, as well as a
competitive edge to your company. In order to do this it is important that you implement the
same brand guidelines throughout your marketing materials both online and offline. If your
branding consists of the colours white and teal green, and you use Lato, size 12 in white font,
with a crown logo, you should implement this throughout your marketing. This credibility and
recognition increases your brand awareness and in turn will differentiate your business from
other competitors in the market, giving you that competitive edge to boost your Branding and
Customer loyalty & Shared Values
Your customers are your best allies when it comes to fortifying your brand. In today’s world
where perception determines your brand’s value, creating a brand that has recognisable
features and delivers upon their values instills brand loyalty amongst consumers. According to
the Harvard Business Review, 64% of consumers say that sharing the same values with a brand
is the primary reason they have a relationship in the first place.

Having an absolute brand means that when customers interact with your marketing the fame,
feeling and fluency associated with your brand lends to a greater level of customer loyalty.
Customers are attracted to businesses with brands with which they share common values.
When building a strong brand, you need to convey these values in order to evoke an emotional
connection with your customers. Brand loyalty often lasts a lifetime and even transfers to
future generations. This is exactly the kind of customer loyalty that every business wants their
brand to instill.
Similarly, when a brand elicits this sense of loyalty amongst a customer, the more inclined they
are to refer family and friends to purchase from the brand. Acquiring recommendations,
reviews and social proof is what your brand and business needs in order to grow and expand.
Running referral campaigns can be really beneficial to increase and strengthen your customer
loyalty whilst fortifying your brand’s social proof. Giving that little bit of an incentive can go a
very long way when growing your brand awareness.
 3. Branding and Customer Retention
When you have grown your brand to a relatively recognisable point amongst your target
audience, your marketing practices become increasingly more beneficial in terms of generating
sales leads. It’s important to realise that branding aids the retention of existing customers as it
keeps customers engaged with your brand and marketing materials. This customer experience
influences customer retention. Effectively implementing a brand strategy means that you can
manage your customer’s experience and journey, keeping them intrigued and engaged, so that
they repeatedly return to do business with your brand. A strong brand brings customers back
around to the purchase funnel after an initial interaction with your business.

Developing a brand with customer retention in mind is of utmost importance. Loyal customers
can become your best advocates as they share their experience with your brand with their
wider social circle. According to Customer referral expert Grace Miller, 92 percent of potential
leads trust personal recommendations more than any other kind of marketing. Considering this,
we can see the importance of your brand not only being distinguishable from competitors, but
also that it lives up to its value propositions. The better the experience a customer has with
your brand, the more inclined they are to recommend your products and services to other
potential customers. This is where a referral campaign would also be incredibly effective.
Marketing activities such as this help to increase brand awareness, build trust and credibility, as
well as strengthening customer loyalty and relationships to ensure repeat business.

4. Branding and Trust within the marketplace.

We have seen above how branding can benefit your business in terms of generating interest
and conversation around your marketing and business as a whole. However, it is really
important to note that a strong brand also evokes a sense of trust within the marketplace as
well as amongst your consumers. Building a strong brand helps to determine how your
customers perceive the quality of your products and services and the likelihood that they will
purchase from you. Through implementing your business’s brand strategy throughout your
marketing activities, you enhance the level of credibility of your brand amongst your customers,
along with your competitive edge, and recognition within the marketplace. The practices go
hand in hand. And with this, as customers begin to trust your brand’s offerings the ease of
purchase becomes increasingly more likely.
Having effective branding, mixed with excellent content marketing helps to establish your
business as an expert in your industry. This is beneficial as it instills confidence and trust in your
business amongst the general public, meaning that they know that your product offerings are
recommended and of high quality.
Using your brand to generate a greater share of voice within the marketplace is another way to
evoke trust within your business. Utilising your branding throughout your marketing strategy is
the best way to grow your share of voice. Engaging your customers with your branding and
clever content, which can then be shared and spoken about with your customers can be an
effective way to increase your brand awareness and position yourself as a credible expert
within your industry.

5. Branding and Brand Equity

Brand Equity refers to value that a company generates from a product with a recognisable
name when compared to a generic equivalent. Through marketing activities, businesses can
increase their brand equity by making their brand more memorable and recognisable.