Ten Mistakes in Brand Marketing

one of the misunderstandings: to be a brand is to be a sales person. In the marketing plans of many enterprise marketing departments, the promotion of sales volume is often emphasized blindly, and product sales volume is regarded as the biggest goal pursued by enterprises. Most of them have a "* * * knowledge": to make sales is to make a brand. As long as sales come up, the brand will naturally be improved. This is a very wrong view. One-sided pursuit of sales often leads to ignoring the construction of other elements of the brand (brand awareness, reputation, loyalty, brand association, etc.). Hayao Group has won the increase in sales by overwhelming advertising. It is said that every time hayao's advertising investment doubles, its sales will double. However, what is the brand image of hayao in the public? It is not difficult for us to draw a conclusion from the event of "donating" hope project and the questioning articles in newspapers and magazines. How much water a barrel can hold depends on the shortest board. It can be said with certainty that if hayao continues its current strategy and does not strengthen the construction of its short side as soon as possible-the promotion of reputation and loyalty and the construction of brand association, the water in the barrel will gradually dry up. In order to expand sales, we often promote sales, which we think is a devaluation of the brand. Regular promotion will give people the feeling that the price is not true. Consumers are more willing to wait until the promotion to buy your products, and some loyal consumers will leave you because they feel cheated. Advertising should achieve two purposes: one is the increase of sales volume, the other is the promotion of brand image and the accumulation of brand assets. If only one of the purposes is met, it can't be said to be a successful advertisement. Looking at some successful brands, they not only pay attention to sales volume, but also pay attention to establishing a brand of sustainable operation. Haier, Midea, etc. have always wanted both immediate interests and long-term interests; Not only sales, but also brand accumulation. Only such a brand can be galloping and enduring. Myth 2: To be a brand is to be a famous brand. Many enterprises believe that a famous brand is a brand, and even regard it as the highest goal of their development strategy. For the brand, it has always been in the stage of "looking at flowers in the fog and looking at the moon in the water". So, what is the difference between a famous brand and a brand? First of all, a famous brand is just a high-profile brand name, which includes a lot of content, and popularity is only one aspect of the brand. The word brand comes from the ancient Norwegian word brandr, which means "branding". It vividly expresses the meaning of the brand-"How to leave a brand in the hearts of consumers?" Brand is a comprehensive and complex concept, which is the intangible sum of trademark, name, packaging, price, history, reputation, symbol and advertising style. Compared with famous brands, brands have deeper connotations and values. Secondly, from the process of creation, famous brands can be created through high advertising fees, as long as they are constantly peddled; To build a brand is a complex and vast project, including the overall strategic planning of the brand, visual image design, determination of core concepts, application of brand symbols, brand scene design, advertising tonality and a series of work. Moreover, brand building is not a short-term project, which requires the careful management of brand managers all the year round. Every product promotion and every advertisement operation embodies the hard work and sweat of brand managers. A famous brand may be born in an advertising campaign, but the establishment of a strong brand will go through the test of a long time. Coca-Cola has experienced more than 1 years of trials and tribulations, and the creation of strong brands such as Kodak, Marlboro, Johnson & Johnson and Nestle is not a one-time achievement. Its distinctive brand personality and strong brand assets can never be achieved by short-term behavior. Those enterprises that unilaterally pursue short-term benefits and popularity and ignore the complete brand building such as product quality are often vulnerable. Finally, in terms of their respective functions, brands are more powerful, lasting and effective than famous brands. Simple popularity can promote sales in the short term, but it can't make more contributions to the long-term interests of products. People's brand change depends more and more on their spiritual feelings. Real brands, endowed with a symbolic meaning, can convey a way of life to consumers, while strong brands can ultimately affect people's attitudes and views on life, thus bringing long-term benefits to enterprises. However, many so-called "famous brands" in China blindly pursue high visibility and exposure, but ultimately fail to obtain the added value that brands should have! Fortunately, many domestic enterprises with "famous brands" have realized the importance of building brands. Shanghai jahwa has successfully transformed from an enterprise focusing on product sales to an enterprise focusing on brand management, making a loss-making "famous brand"-Liushen become the second brand in the bath lotion market, not only achieving the sales target, but also successfully updating the old and conservative image of the original "famous brand" and creating a myth of "famous brand" regeneration! The appearance of the word "famous brand" is a specific noun produced in the specific market environment of our country, and it is a common name. Strictly speaking, it is inaccurate and unscientific, and it should not be the goal of enterprise development and pursuit. Only when enterprises change their cognitive mistakes in time, establish a correct and standardized concept of "brand management", and make every effort to build themselves into a strong brand, can they last forever and remain invincible in the market! Myth 3: Trademark equals brand. Brand and trademark are a pair of concepts that are easily confused. Some enterprises mistakenly believe that products become brands after trademark registration. In fact, there are both connections and differences between them. A trademark is a part of a brand. A trademark is a symbol and name part of a brand, which is convenient for consumers to identify. But the connotation of brand goes far beyond this. Brand is not only a name and symbol that is easy to distinguish, but also a comprehensive symbol, which needs to be endowed with image, personality and life. The design of brand logo and brand name is only the first work to establish a brand, and it is also an essential procedure. However, to truly become a brand, we must start to improve the brand personality, brand identity, brand positioning, brand communication, brand management and other aspects. In this way, consumers' understanding of the brand will change from form to content, from sensibility to rationality, from shallow to deep, thus completing the transformation from unknown to understanding and buying, and forming customer loyalty. Second, the trademark is a legal concept, while the brand is a market concept. The legal functions of the trademark are mainly as follows: 1. Protect the legitimate rights and interests of the trademark owner through legal procedures such as the establishment, transfer, dispute and arbitration of the exclusive right to use the trademark; 2. Urge producers and operators to ensure the quality of goods and maintain the reputation of trademarks. The market function of brand is mainly as follows: (1) Brand is an invisible contract between enterprises and consumers, and it is a guarantee for consumers. Compared with products without brand, consumers trust branded products more. (2) Brand is the basis for consumers to choose goods. Once a consumer picked a sweet fruit from a brand tree, he was confident that another fruit was sweet. The accumulation and application of this kind of consumption experience is a meaningful thing for both consumers and enterprises. (3) Brand is a means to avoid pure price competition. Because of the unique added value of brand, consumers can pay more. (4) Brand is the guarantee for enterprises to maximize profits, and every new product can be added with the help of the original brand. (5) Brand is a symbol of identity and status, which is conducive to promoting product sales and establishing corporate image. Third, the trademark is in the hands of the enterprise, and the brand belongs to the consumer. When the consumer no longer attaches importance to your brand, the brand is worthless. Brand value is different from bank deposits, it only exists in consumers' minds. If the brand is in crisis and consumers' confidence in the brand declines, then the brand value will decrease. Myth # 4: Brands are made by advertisements. At present, many domestic enterprises believe that as long as they increase advertising investment and carry out overwhelming media bombing, they can promote product sales and establish a brand! So, is the brand really advertised? Brand awareness can be achieved in a short time, but brand association is a long-term project of brand building and an asset established in the long-term movement of brands; Brand loyalty, as the main index to keep the stable sales of brands, is not achieved by short-term advertising. Besides perfect brand planning and design and continuous excellent product quality, it also has the price difference effect established by the long-term consistent spread of brands in consumers' hearts (compared with other brands, how much extra customers are willing to pay); At the same time, consumers' affirmation of brand quality is beyond the reach of advertising, which requires not only constant quality, but also innovative requirements for the brand in the development process. Therefore, creating a brand is more than just advertising. Myth # 5: Making a product is making a brand and wearing a watch: When? Wear style? Wear a brand? An ordinary watch costs only tens or hundreds of yuan, while a Rolex or radar can be as high as several thousand yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan. Is this 1 times price difference just the difference between products? No. There are indeed differences in quality, materials and styles between products, but this physical difference cannot be as much as 1 times or 1 times. The value of Rolex and radar mainly lies in the brand rather than the product. Brand not only means the Excellence of products (quality, performance, style), but also psychological consumption is the real focus. At the same time, the brand is a symbol of identity. It was an honor to have a watch more than ten years ago. It was the era of product strength, but now it is the era of brand strength. It is not enough to just have excellent products. Few people care about watches with tens or hundreds of dollars on the street, but famous watches with a price of thousands of dollars have become the strong desire and pursuit of many people. Because Rolex and radar are excellent props to experience self-worth and reflect superiority. The same product, whether it is labeled or not, has a completely different meaning for consumers. Product competition and brand competition are completely different levels of competition, just as people who sit on Mercedes-Benz and people who sit on Xiali are two levels of people. In many "semi-passive consumption", the enjoyment of things is second, and the brand brings him far more significance than the product itself. Consumers are more willing to buy branded products and services and are willing to pay more. The brand sublimates the product, and the longer the brand is made, the more it accumulates, but the product is not. Having a product and a market does not mean having a strong brand. If the reason why a brand is ahead of other competitors is product attributes, then this brand will definitely be overtaken by other brands in the future. Myth # 6: Advertising creativity is branding. Generally, enterprises caught in this misunderstanding know little about the concept of brand and have a little knowledge about how to create a brand. They think that good advertising creativity can establish a brand. This has fallen into a misunderstanding of creativity for the sake of creativity, and this concept is very dangerous. 1. A good advertising idea divorced from the market background and the actual situation of the enterprise should be based on a correct strategy, such as target market, brand status, competitive brands, product characteristics, target population, brand positioning, advertising purpose, appeal focus, etc. The idea developed by following this strategy is correct and effective. Any "good idea" that is creative for the sake of creativity and divorced from strategy, except winning prizes, is right. Recently, a TV advertisement for motorcycles, just to catch the bait with the aircraft carrier, made a version of the advertisement about the aircraft carrier and motorcycle stiffly. Its brand advantages and brand positioning were not reflected, and the whole advertisement was incomprehensible, and even the brand names were not remembered. How could such a "good idea" create a brand? Second, ignoring the cooperation of other links in marketing. Only by interlocking and close cooperation can brand marketing play its greatest role. Only relying on the board of advertising creativity while ignoring the construction and cooperation of other aspects will only get twice the result with half the effort, making the "water in the bucket" less and less, and brand creation will become a dream like "the moon in the water"! Third, product innovation and quality improvement are not considered. Many enterprises think that as long as good ideas are constantly introduced, the brand image will become more and more complete and full, and the brand will be accepted by consumers forever. However, they often ignore the innovation and quality improvement of products. Even if sales decline, they will think that advertisements are not creative, without thinking that their products have lost their appeal to consumers. Procter & Gamble regards innovation as the most important business philosophy of the enterprise. It has 2,5 patents all over the world, setting up one milestone after another in the daily chemical industry, thus making innovation an important part of brand identity! So how to create a distinctive brand identity and let advertising creativity make effective investment in the brand? First of all, strategic brand analysis should be carried out, including customer analysis, competitor analysis and self-brand analysis. It should be noted here that it is brand analysis, not market analysis. Brand analysis involves brand image, brand strategy, brand heritage, enterprise organizational value, brand power and other aspects of the brand, which is very different from market analysis. Secondly, on the basis of brand analysis, to establish a complete brand identity system, including basic identity and extended identity, we must create it from the following four aspects: product, enterprise, personality and symbol. Although these are four completely different concepts, they have the same purpose, that is, to use these different levels to establish a clearer, richer and more distinctive brand identity. Then, brand positioning is carried out according to the points that can provide comparative benefits in identity, and positive communication is carried out for a certain target group. In this process, advertising creativity, as the final expression of communication, really plays an important role, but it must also be carried out under the correct strategy, rather than "being creative for creativity's sake". Of course, after the implementation of brand advertising, the effect should be tracked at any time. Advertising creativity, as an important part of strategy, can make your brand shine brightly, but if you are too superstitious about the power of advertising creativity, your brand will surely become a young child who can't grow up and get lost in the market trend! Myth 7: Misunderstanding the concept of brand Objectively speaking, enterprises have paid more and more attention to brand now, but few people really understand the connotation of brand, which is often talked about by enterprises. Many principles in the brand can help enterprises succeed faster and more permanently, and they are the source of brand strength. Brand is the whole experience of consumers related to products. A brand is not a product, but a product is only one aspect. Brand positioning is not to promote products, the key is to explore the concept of specific products. Brands are not enterprises, but enterprises are investors and brand operators. It is the brand that really faces and contacts consumers. An enterprise can make products with completely different ideas, make two completely different products into two different brands, or make two similar products into different brands. A brand-compatible product must follow the core value of the brand, and any extension or operation that goes against the brand spirit will hurt the brand image and weaken the brand assets. The first basic task of brand building is to clarify the core value of the brand. The core value of a brand refers to the idea that it can be compatible with multiple products, such as Ponzi: Never lie to us. If anything can make us more beautiful, Ponzi will make it; Core value can describe the value of products, consumers themselves, and the interactive relationship between brands and consumers. For example, Jaguar disdains imitation. Just like its owners, Jaguar is different from other cars not in its appearance and manufacturing process, but in its soul, emotion and not following in the footsteps. product