From Commodity to BRAND – Is it time for THE leap?

 

How about shining even brighter?

Evolution can often be optional. Like, in a business you can either choose to remain a commodity and can be quite a good one undoubtedly. Or, you can choose to turn it into a brand sometime down the line when you are ready for it.  One question that seem to puzzle a lot of people today is that, if they are doing fine remaining a commodity, do they really need to go that extra mile and turn themselves in to a brand? Yes, definitely – if you ask us. Let us tell you the why part of it.

 

Remaining a Commodity can cost you more than you realize!

Being a commodity may feel like living happily within your comfort zone and sailing through tested waters. But, it also means that you are still putting up with some hidden strains and drawbacks attached to it on an everyday basis. Like,

• By being a commodity type of a business, you generally don’t have a say in the market simply because you don’t have the monopoly. It rips you off the power to negotiate or to have an upper hand.
• Dealing with the current scene of inflation becomes even more difficult for you as you can’t just reduce or raise the price of your product due to a huge number of competitors lurking around. One slip from your side and they will snatch your business away.
• India is typically and predominantly owned by unorganized retailers. Take the example of apparel shops, grocery stores, barber shops etc in your vicinity. An average Indian has the mentality of going to these around-the-corner outlets for his day to day requirements. But when it comes to valuing an experience, he will always fondly talk about the sophisticated services he gets at the salon which is a part of a chain across the nation, or the fashion label that makes him look special in an authentic way or the branded grocery store where quality is a sure shot. That time he chooses to praise the brands that he has experienced and not the commodity he has often opted for. So the point is, by continuing to be a commodity and an unorganized retailer, you are risking to remain faceless and not-so-valued in the consumer’s mind.

 

Perks of evolving in to a Brand

• The coolest thing about evolving your commodity business in to a brand is that you earn a certain level of trust and personal equation with your consumer. And that gradually gets translated in to the consumer’s loyalty towards your brand/product.
• Once you have earned the consumer’s loyalty, he readily pays the price that you set for your product or service. The possibility that he might get a similar product somewhere else for a lower price won’t alter his decision then. For instance, an admirer of the brand Apple will always find the ways to buy its products. He won’t really mind the fact that Apple products will cost him way more than the non-Apple products. What makes him stick to Apple irrespective of the high prices? It is his trust that Apple has won and the association that they have always lived up to.
• Becoming a brand generates a recall about you in the consumer’s mind. Meaning, the consumer remembers you distinctly without mixing you up with the others from your segment. That can win quite an edge for you.
• For example, let’s take an unorganized handicraft manufacturer on one hand and a brand like Fabindia on the other. Which one, out of these two, will you remember markedly? Which one do you recommend to others with confidence? It is clear that a brand enjoys more of your exclusive attention than a commodity.

 

So, is it actually the time for you to go for THE leap?

The switch from being a commodity to becoming a brand should be rightly timed.  When you know that your product is well in alignment with your vision and it has that USP which makes it stand out distinctly in your segment; it is time for you to rise above the rest by becoming a brand and thereby becoming a trailblazer. Dare to dream bigger and bring in the change that sets you apart. Now THAT calls for a new and exciting endeavor, doesn’t it? Fix a rendez-vous with ENSO and we will be more than glad to assist you through the process of becoming a brand.

Let’s make you the trailblazer, let’s make you the change-maker

and let’s do it together!

ENSOgram – our blueprint for your branding

Be Big. Be Brave. Be A BRAND

That’s the mantra that we have given to our clients and they seem to be thrilled with the results it has generated. After all, who likes to remain unnoticed or even half noticed for that matter? Why shouldn’t you turn your business in to something remarkable and project it as something worthy of a consumer’s loyal association? And, if you want to go for something as fine and ambitious as that, do you think the typical ways of advertising and marketing would do justice to your dreams? NO.

It is time you forget everything ordinary and ineffective. Choose to become a Brand instead, a sure shot to transform your business ambitions in to proud realities.

How does ENSO convert your business in to a BRAND?

Your journey from being ordinary to becoming extra ordinary will include four steps :

• STEP 1 : BRAND ANALYSIS

It begins with something as basic as your Consumer’s analysis – determining your audience, the key influencers, trends, needs, studying the existing perception of your brand category etc.

Moving on to the next point, we do your Competitors’ analysis – their market position, brand position, brand promise, brand personality, strengths and weaknesses.

Then we go on to doing your Current Brand assessment – an assessment of your existing brand promise, brand  personality, positioning, strengths, weaknesses, history, prospects, threats, values etc.

• STEP 2 : CAMPAIGN STRATEGY AND DESIGN 

We chart out a campaign strategy on the basis of three things – your consumer’s expectation, your requirement about how you want to position yourself in the market and the  frame of reference/point of difference by keeping your competitors in mind.

Based on this and the brand analysis that we did in the first phase, a long term plan is devised to develop a successful brand and to achieve specific goals. This campaign strategy will be executed through this sequence – awareness  > alignment  > engagement >  action.

• STEP 3 : BRAND STANDARDS, LAUNCHING AND MARKETING 

Brand standards are basically a set of guidelines to help your company  and affiliates communicate  the look, feel and representation of your organization to your target consumer in a consistent fashion. They generally include all-inclusive brand description, logo usage & requirements, graphics  elements, color scheme, typography, tone and copy. We establish the brand standards for you so that a steady brand identity can be generated for your organization.

Once the brand standards are established, we head towards crafting a perfect brand launch for you. A brand launch revolves around creating the right first impression as your consumers will start forming an opinion of your company from the time they first engage themselves with your brand. A brand launch timeline will generally include these processes : discovering > developing > deploying > maintaining.

Then comes brand marketing. It will involve communicating what the company does, how well it does it and providing a way to bring that information to the consumer’s mind in an instant. This could be done through anything – like, the logo, website, tagline etc.

• STEP 4 : BRAND IMMERSING

This is the stage where you get ready to win your consumers by offering them an enhanced brand experience by the unified communication at various touch points. Fix an appointment with Ms. Neeja Shah to know more about this master plan!

Detailed, Dedicated and Determined – that is ENSO for you.

As you must have noticed, taking short cuts and finishing things just for the heck of finishing is not our way of working. And, we take pride in it not being our way of functioning. If it is about something as vital as turning a business in to a BRAND, it better be done with flair of a perfectionist, we assert.

Graphic Designing vs Advertising vs Branding

 

“ARE THEY ALL NOT PRETTY MUCH THE SAME?”

Now here is a classic misconception! When you mix these three up, take one for another and expect one to serve the purpose of another; well, it won’t work. Quite obviously. These three however can be viewed, let’s say, as three siblings. They have a common blood line but they definitely have an extremely defined hierarchy when it comes to their individual powers.

So how do you simplify their hierarchy for a layman’s understanding?

To put it as simply as possible, a Graphic Design isn’t always an Advertisement. Likewise, an Advertisement can’t be summed up as Branding. However, Branding always includes advertising and graphic designing in it, along with many other branding tools.

Let’s dig in deeper. How exactly are these 3 different from one another?

Graphic Designing, Advertising and Branding – the confusion about their distinction can generally be blamed on the fact that they often overlap one another. But, once you dissect them on the grounds of their individual capacity and function, fetching a clear comprehension about these three is a cakewalk.

Graphic Design :

• It refers to the visual communication of information using elements such as forms, color, images, typography, design, textures etc. It does not cover anything that cannot be seen.
• It revolves around the composition, style and artistic crafting of the subject matter.
• It can change and be moulded to fit any type of situation.
• Its primary function is to relay information beautifully and stylistically.

 

Advertising Design :

• Advertising is a design with a purpose of selling. It has a concept and a structure derived on the basis of marketing objectives and communication strategies.
• It is generally persuasive in nature about the products, services or ideas and has the consumer positioned as a benefit of the service or product.
• Unlike graphic design, advertise can be made in any medium, including auditory media such as radio, the word of mouth etc.
• If a graphic designer can’t develop message driven concepts, no amount of experience or good looking designs will make him or her functional in the advertising industry.
• Compared to branding, advertising has smaller and short-term functions assigned to it.

 

Branding :

• It is a module of long-term business strategy. It is a continuous process that takes time, effort and commitment.
• It is about creating a compelling business identity that establishes a lasting emotional connection with your customers. It is about determining what values you want your business to be known for, communicating those values and making it sure that you live up to the reputation your brand builds as a result.
• More than just persuading customers to purchase from you, Branding is about building credibility and trust with your customers so that they want to purchase from you and remain loyal to your products/services/ideas.
• It involves the assembling of things an audience expects and experiences, combined with the workings of all the other brand elements.  So basically, everything that your company does, has or offers – like customer service, graphic designing, collateral, the way you answer the call, the way you handle customer complaints, advertisements – it is all a part of establishing your brand.

 

…and the verdict is :

If you want to chart out a business growth plan for next one year, then focus on increasing the sales. If it is for next 3-4 years, focus on increasing the channel partners. And, if you want to plan a growth for the next decade, go for branding. ENSO ensures you one such glorious decade of your product/service/company.

 “A brand lives long after you are gone.” – ENSOism

4 Branding Misconceptions That You Must Keep Away From!

 

“If your business is not a brand, then it is just a commodity.” So, what is it that keeps you away from becoming a brand? Here are our top four picks!

 

1) “I have already got graphic designing done for my company. Like logo, visiting card, hoardings and all that. My branding is done.”

A logo, collateral, website etc are important parts of branding but are NOT Branding itself as a whole. If you still want to believe that they are enough, you are misleading yourself with a damaging and insufficient shortcut. Branding is a lot more complex and vital than that. It is a promise that you make to your consumers about an overall experience that they will be getting with your product, how you deliver that promise and how you are valued by them.

2) “The consumers don’t really care about branding and all that jazz.”

When you have a great product, good service and right cost; you are definitely sailing on the better side of the market. But it will get you just that far, not beyond. Don’t forget that more often than not, the consumer tends to rely more on his emotion than logic when it comes to his purchase decisions. That’s exactly where Branding comes in. If your branding generates a positive emotional reaction and a connect in the consumer’s mind, it gets translated in to the difference between a conscious purchase or a consumer walking away to another equally good product option.

3) “Branding comes with big bills. It won’t fit my budget.”

Not spending after branding will cost you more than spending after it, point A. Lack of branding reduces the impact of your advertising projects to a great extent as it can’t generate a definite and tangible connect in the consumer’s mind in the absence of proper branding. And B, branding cost can generally be customized according to your budget and business requirements. Always remember that Branding and Marketing are NOT the same. Branding is the message that you to want convey to your consumer, whereas Marketing is the vehicle that gets that message across.

4) “Oh yeah, Branding? We got it done long back when we had started our business.”

A business owner must revisit, review and reinvent his branding at a regular interval. It is definitely not something that should be left alone on its own forever to go static and stale. And no, it doesn’t mean that you have to go through the in-depth process of branding all over again.  It is rather about keeping the best and essential parts of your original branding intact, and, rebranding the rest depending on the changes in your business and  the changes in its corresponding commercial world in current times.