What is branding? Give the advantage and disadvantages of Branding?

Meaning of Branding: 

Perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers in their ability to create, maintains, produce and enhance brands of its products and service. A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these that identifies the maker or seller of a product or service. Consumers view a brand as on important part of a product and branding can add value to a product. For example most consumers would perceive a bottle for white linen perfume is a high-quality, expensive product. But the same perfume in an unmarked bottle would likely be viewed as lower in quality, even if the fragrance were identical.

Branding becomes so strong that today hardly anything goes unbranded. Salt is packed in branded container; common nuts and bolts are packed with a distributor’s label, and automobile parts-spark plugs, tires, filters-bear brand names that differ from those of the auto markers. Even fruits and vegetables are branded- Sunkist orange, potato, apples, etc. 

Branding helps buyers in many ways. Brand names help consumers identify product that might benefit them. Brands also tell the buyer something about product quality. Buyers who always by the same brand know that they will get the same features, benefits, and quality each time they buy. Branding also gives the seller several advantages. The brand name becomes the basis on which a whole story can be built about a product’s special qualities. The seller’s brand name and trademark provide legal protection for unique products feature that otherwise might be copied by competitors. 

Disadvantages of Branding: 

1) Cost: If you wish to create and maintain a strong brand presence, it can involve a lot of design and marketing costs. A strong brand is memorable, but people still need to be exposed to it, this often requires a lot of advertising and PR over a long period of time, which can be very costly. 

There are also costs involved with the creating of a brand image or logo (Paying for a designer, printing new letterheads/business cards etc.), and although most of these are only one off costs, they are still relatively large for most small businesses. 

The exposure of your brand can be left to word of mouth, this will save you money, but will also greatly slow down the exposure your brand receives. 

2) Impersonal: One of the main problems with many branded businesses is that they lose their personal image. The ability to deal on a personal basis with customers is one of the biggest advantages small business have, and poorly designed branding could give customers the impression that your business is losing its personal touch. 

3) Fixed Image: Every brand has a certain image to potential customers, and part of that image is about what products or services you sell. If you are known for selling just one product, and you want to sell another product, will you be able to do so effectively? 

If you sell computers, would your brand name be suitable for selling vacuum cleaners? If your brand is focused too strongly on one product, it can limit your ability to sell other products. 

4) Timescale: The process of creating a brand will usually take a long period of time. As well as creating a brand and updating your signs and equipment (E.g.: Stationary, vehicles etc…), you need to expose it to your potential customers. 

It is commonly shown that people need to see an advert at least three times before they absorb it, which means you will need to advertise and promote the brand for a considerable amount of time before it will become well known. 

Advantages of Branding: 

1. There is a considerable saving of time and energy in shopping for goods because a brand renders product identification much easier. The money value of this saving is significant in the industrial buying. 
2. It is easier lodge complaints and claims against marketers when a branded product fails to live up to its proclairned value satisfaction. 
3. More visibility for the brand 
4. More awareness 
5. Higher sales due to top of the mind brand recall. 
6. Higher aspiration towards the brand