Glossary of Branding Terms
Brand
A collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer.
The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the intangible beliefs and expectations surrounding it that create a unique relationship between customers and the product/service.
A brand is not only built through effective communications or appealing logos - a brand is built through the total experience that it offers.
Brand marketing is the means by which through advertising, packaging, sales, promotion, PR and customer experiences a brand eventually comes to stand for everything about a product or a company. It is what makes a company individually recognizable, like a finger print, or DNA.
Brand associations
The feelings, beliefs and knowledge that consumers (customers) have about brands. These associations are derived as a result of experiences and must be consistent with the brand positioning and the basis of differentiation.
Brand equity
The value of the brand to its owners as a corporate asset. This can be determined by measuring how much of a price premium you can charge for your brand over competitors and still maintain market share.
Marketing activities in establishing and maintaining brand identity should help to build brand equity. This will in turn allow us to win new clients more efficiently, enter new markets around the world, successfully launch new products and win market share from competitors.
Brand Identity Online
The online guide to living and communicating the brand
Brand image
Perceptions of the features, tangible and intangible, that characterise a brand. This is not something that we bestow on our products (see brand identity) but rather something that accumulates in the market place whether we like it or not.
The way we manage our brand identity will determine whether our brand image is good, bad or indifferent.
Brand personality
Brand image or identity expressed in terms of human characteristics which offer consistent, enduring and predictable messages and perceptions.
Personality traits include: confident, visionary, influential, supportive, responsive, independent, aspirational, authoritative, commercial, energetic, customer focused, compliant.
Brand Policy
The mandatory rules that describe when and how the brand should be used.
Brand strategy
The 'big picture' plans and tactics deployed by an organisation to create brand equity.
Brand values
Brand values are the codes by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviours and performance.
Key brand values are Independence, Integrity and Innovation. We are one of the most highly regarded commercial organisations in the world and in the Kitemark we have one of the most recognisable and trusted certification symbols in the market.
Call to action
This is the action that is requested by a marketer's content (either from an advertising banner or website copy). This may be to click-through to enter a contest, enter a survey to win a free prize or purchase a product, contact us.
Communications media
A medium is a means of communication. Commonly referred to by its plural, media. Typical commercial media are TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet.
Corporate Identity
The outward manifestation of the essence of a brand through the consistent use of key graphic elements including the logo, images, colours, layout and typestyles.
A carefully formed Corporate identity thus helps us to control how we are thought of in the marketplace. By adhering to brand identity guidelines in all our online and offline communications we can create a consistent brand image in the mind of consumers no matter where they are located or which business unit they are dealing with.
Corporate Identity Rules
The mandatory rules regarding the look and feel of all marketing material, referred to in the Brand Policy
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
CRM is a business strategy built around the concept of being customer-centric. The main goals are to optimise revenue through improved customer satisfaction via improved interactions at each customer touch point. This can be accomplished by a better understanding of customers, based on their purchasing patterns and demographics, and better information empowerment at all customer touch points, whether with employees or other media interfaces.
Look and feel
The overall impression created and maintained over time by the consistent presentation of the brand in the prescribed manner.
Monolithic brand structure
In this scenario there is a strong, single master brand around which everything is unified. Customers have a clear picture of this company ? its persona, its ethos and its values ? and make purchasing decisions based on loyalty. The visual identity and the brand name are consistent across products and services, and in global locations.
Share of mind
There are many definitions of share of mind. At its most precise, share of mind measures how often consumers think about a particular brand as a percentage of all the times they think about all the brands in its category. More loosely, share of mind can be defined simply as positive perceptions of the brand obtained by market research.
