It may be a familiar term in the corporate world, but it is usually distorted in companies. Branding isn’t an expression used to discuss design or colors in a logo. Its definition is much broader and deserves attention within companies since the moment a brand is created.

Branding starts at brand planning. Marcos Bedendo, Branding Management professor at ESPM-SP and author of Branding para Empreendedores [Branding for Entrepreneurs] explains that, when starting a business, the entrepreneur must look at his target audience and discover what the market has offered for it. Then, he must create brand advantages and determine its placement in the market. “From that point, you create brand identity, planning how it must be perceived from the functional, emotional and symbolic perspectives and its attitude relations”, he advises. “Then you begin to manage it. Branding is the management of each point of contact between the brand and the consumer”.

The next stage after creation is dissemination, i.e. defining how this information will be transmitted to people who will work with the brand. “This will create a guide that shall advise the advertisement team, training courses, logo creation, uniform and showcases”. The next step is to analyze the consistency of execution and to create tools to manage and measure return levels. For Bedendo, an option is to request the weekly forwarding of a picture of the storefront, using “mystery shoppers” and verifying post-purchase satisfaction.

The points of contact between the brand and a client may include visual identity, uniform, training sessions, the manner in which the team is advised to approach at the point of sale and even the profile and attitudes that the company looks for in a candidate when recruiting. In the end, we have realized that branding creates a personality and defines what the brand is and how it communicates with its audience. “There is no business without a brands. A brand is a memory in the consumer’s mind. The difference lies in how the entrepreneur will manage this memory. When he doesn’t manage, he does not create a brand experience”.

Branding: Working with partners

Nobody can brand alone. Building a brand and the experience it provides to the consumer are parts of a process, the success of which depends on multiple partnerships. Bedendo explains that easy access to new ways of advertising resulted in a larger demand and in a greater concern from companies in taking care of the image and experience that they provide to the consumer. If this work is not developed fully, the desired experience will never take place.

The professor explains that, especially in franchising, branding starts within the company. However, he reveals that there is an important role at the other end of the business. “It is the franchisees that effectively do branding. Imagine the difference in impact between a TV ad and the moment in which the client enters the store and speaks to the salesperson. The construction of memory lies in service rather than in advertisement. Those who generate the memory are, in fact, all franchisees working with the brand”.

Repositioning Balonè in the accessory market

It was created in 2007 as a licensed Disney brand. Over the years, however, it has evolved in terms of positioning, layout, concept and consumer. Today, Balonè is a jewelery fashion brand. “Work like this takes time, care and analysis. First, we focused on who we wanted to be as a brand, rethinking positioning and then aligning the marketing mix to be presented to the market. For two years we have focused on presenting this fast fashion bijoux positioning to our target audience”.

Focus, determination and involvement from all parties are basic requirements for a new attempt of communication to be successful. “We are greatly concerned with repeatedly communicating the brand positioning and we pay attention so that nothing strays from the path, even with adaptations presented by the market itself and consumer behavior. We must perform constant analyses and adjustments towards new developments without forgetting who we are as a brand. Focus on the market, target audience and identity must be constant, so that the brand may always be up to date”.

Marcia explains that strengthening the brand requires clear communication so that the client may recognize the positioning at the point of sale. “Brand positioning must be well perceived in all points of contact, whether it is communication, store experience, product, packaging or service”, says Marcia, who concludes: “the entire company must be aligned. A wrong decision by any department or franchisee may hinder all of the work. We must be very careful, because this is the most important point if you want to attract and keep your target audience”.