18 May How to create a strong brand based on trends
In this article, we are going to talk about a systematic approach to creating brands based on the study of global social trends that emerge regardless of our desire. Understanding these trends helps design new brands that will be in demand for years to come or transform existing brands to increase demand.
So, brand design based on social trends is done according to the following logical chain:
- describe in detail the audience to which you want to target your product;
- study the attributes that this audience uses for self-expression and self-identification;
- group the audience according to the signs of matching attributes (segmentation by attributes);
- select the audience segments that your product will target;
- clarify through audience research the external factors that led to the emergence of the attributes. In other words, you need to restore the causal relationship: attributes → values → external factors.
- understand how we can describe a product at each level of the chain “attributes → values → external factors”, thus obtaining the visual, semantic and ideological levels of the brand;
- Outline a brand development plan, in part – product adjustments and marketing communications;
- realize their plans, significantly increasing the demand for their products and earning on it.
Large companies today form several brands: one of them is directed outward, to potential partners and customers, and the second is directed inward – and is known as the ‘employer brand’, formed to attract job seekers and a skilled workforce, as well as to maintain an internal corporate culture.
2021 has demonstrated the growth in the importance of internal and external branding and has transformed the traditional technologies for its formation: positioning and promotion have moved to digital tools, social networks, online conferences and communication in instant messengers.
During the lockdown period, the interaction of the brand with its audience on social media became critical. The brand’s visual and verbal language was becoming the main tool, able to make the dialogue on Facebook, Instagram or Tik-Tok alive and human and help the company to show its individuality and character. By the way, recent studies show that customers today want brands their presence in networks 24/7. For example, 40% of consumers expect brands to respond within the first hour of contacting social media.
Research shows that it is critically important for an enterprise to take into account the shifts taking place in the market for its successful development. At the same time, in the process of searching for and developing a modern marketing strategy, businesses need to pay special attention to branding issues that would reflect the current trends of 2021, the needs and expectations of buyers of the company’s goods and services.
There is no doubt that any business requires unconditional and continuous development. The branding of your company should not be something frozen and a given that cannot be changed and transformed. It is no longer enough to develop a brand book or order the creation of a corporate identity, and then abandon the development of your brand. A branding strategy, like a business, requires constant updating, full reflection and consideration of all rapidly changing market trends and consumer expectations, and meeting the social ideals and social needs of the target audience.
