The Effects of Brand Names on Marketing
The next deodorant you choose at the supermarket says more about you than just being a people pleaser. Behind that one stick of deodorant comes an array of preferences, values and priorities that must be analyzed by marketers eager to know what made the consumer choose their brand name. They then create a marketing plan, which must be tailored to the consumer attached to the brand.
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Types
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In "Marketing," Richard L. Sandhusen describes four brand name categories under which a company's product may fall: "individual brand names," "separate family names for different categories of products," one "blanket family name" and one "company brand name combined with an individual brand." The type of name chosen will decide the direction of the marketing plan. If the name of the product stands alone, it can be directed to a specific target audience. Should the name of the product be coupled with a well-known company name, the marketing plan may play on the strengths or conceal the weaknesses of that name.
Audience
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Understanding your target audience is knowing what motivates them. There is a reason we as a society are bombarded with surveys, questionnaires and focus groups: They work. According to Laurie Wilson, author of "Strategic Communications Planning," focus group research is one of the most "important" and "reliable sources of data." Proper research leads to the attitudes and behaviors behind the person choosing that stick of deodorant. A marketer must know who follows behind that brand name.
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Message
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Before any advertisements or marketing materials have been developed, the name of a product already speaks. Marcel Danesi, author of "Why it Sells," uses the example of an insurance company name selling "agrarian, country, rural values" in its name alone. The implications of a brand name may provoke us to think we are choosing safety over value or comfort over class. Understand what the brand name has already said and develop your message according to your audience.
Strategy
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A marketing campaign developed for an economy car versus a campaign developed for a luxury car will differ, due to the fact that the consumer is concerned with value. Choose messages and outlets best suited for your consumer. Methods of marketing toward a new mom will not be the same as those aimed at a group of guys watching football.
Outcome
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"What's remarkable about brands is that in categories where products are essentially all alike, the best-known and most-well-liked brand has the winning card," says Luke Sullivan, author of "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This." Understand that at the end of a marketing campaign the image of a brand name can be helped or harmed. "Your job is just to move it a few miles down the road. Without dropping it in the dirt along the way," says Sullivan.
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References
- "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads, second edition"; Luke Sullivan; 2003
- "Marketing Plan"; Don Debelak; 2000
- "Marketing"; Richard L. Sandhusen; 2000
- "Strategic Communications Planning for Effective Public Relations and Marketing, fourth edition"; Laurie J. Wilson, et al.; 2004
- "Why it Sells: Decoding the Meanings of Brand Names, Logos, Ads and Other Marketing and Advertising Ploys"; Marcel Danesi; 2008
Resources
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