Source: Image of house, sale tag, smiley face, up and down graph, Facebook icon, Twitter icon, compact, man on laptop and phone, memo, milk glass, sale banner, storm cloud, fire, images by Video Scribe, License held by Jeff Carroll; Image of sunglasses, Public Domain, http://bit.ly/1qrZ3Q7; Image of Coke bottle, Public Domain, http://bit.ly/1iTxe0A.
Hi, I'm Jeff. And in this lesson, we'll learn about some methods to set a brand apart, and some of the marketing and PR techniques that support unique branding. So let's get started.
Why is it important to set a brand apart? Well, if a company doesn't cause its products or service to stand apart from the others in the market, then the company will only be able to compete on price. Some companies, such as Walmart, do compete on price as their primary focus with generic store brands. But many companies cannot compete at this level, so they must raise the awareness of their brands.
Brand awareness is important to the financial health of a company because it provides the ability to weather changes in the economy that could impact prices. Brand awareness improves profitability since it can allow for a higher profit margin.
Some companies will raise their brand awareness through product placement, which is when a product is seen in use by a famous person or in major media. There can be literal placement, when Brad Pitt is shown wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, and that benefits the company, or staged placement, when American Idol judges drink Coke out of an obvious Coca-Cola glass. That is product placement. Or when a specific car is used in a television series or a movie.
In addition to product placement. There are two other marketing techniques that can raise brand awareness-- buzz marketing, which are marketing processes that generate a strong word of mouth response via social media outlets. The most effective buzz marketing will spread quickly, and also communicates something that improves the brand's reputation or increases brand loyalty.
For example, when Dove created a series of ads called Real Beauty that highlighted the beauty in all women, these ads generated social media buzz that also brought consumer goodwill to the company.
And viral marketing. This is similar to buzz marketing. But instead of using paid advertising, this is a marketing program that focuses on unpaid people utilizing social media outlets to generate sales, awareness, or general positive regard for the brand.
This marketing works so well because people see others just like themselves promoting the marketing. So they develop a similar loyalty toward the brand. This often takes the form of a shared video or picture. And a single shared video can create an entirely new brand where one didn't exist before.
Public relations PR should also be used to support brand identity. PR can be used to publicize information that places a company product in a positive light, which would directly or indirectly be beneficial to the brand. And it can be used to publicize programs that involve the company or its products-- again, casting the brand in a positive light.
An example of this is the Milk Delivers programs sponsored by America's milk processors. This was a program to increase milk consumption in schools. And the PR for the program outlined the benefits of drinking milk. More info can be found about this at www.milkdelivers.org.
PR though can also create a negative association with a brand through uncontrollable or unforeseen circumstances. When American Apparel tweeted a sandy sale coupon during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, there was a backlash against the company which harmed the brand.
And that's all for this lesson. Nice work. We learned about the methods used to set a brand apart, such as product placement. We discussed buzz and viral marketing techniques. And we talked about how PR can support brand identity.
Thanks for your time, and have a great day.
