An Insight on Branding in Recession

Recession, meltdown, slowdown, economic doom, downturn, stagnation — whatever you may call it, is the best time to invest in branding. Why? Well, when money is tight people tend to cling to their wallet. They think twice before spending their hard-earned money and thus they intensely study a product now, more than ever. From branding perspective this thinking helps in brand building. So, think strategically and work towards to make your brand more visible now.

Positioning Your Brand

A brand is the face of your company. It represents the services that your company promises. What comes to your mind when you think of branding? An attractive logo, a catchphrase? If brand positioning is done correctly it can catapult your business to new heights. Thus, positioning a brand is very important in terms of gaining people’s confidence and winning the brand race. Brand positioning is a must in recession because:

• Expresses your uniqueness
• Increases the value of your brand
• Makes your brand widely visible

Once your brand is widely accepted, people will defend it when it is at stake.

Brand Identity and Brand Awareness

Definition of brand identity states ‘how you want the consumer to perceive your product or your brand’. Creating brand identity and increasing brand awareness is a step-by-step procedure.

1. Have a clear idea of your brand and research on brand image.
2. Keep aside your personal likes and dislikes and focus on the objective of the company.
3. Design a unique identity for your brand keeping in mind your goals, audience, and how different you are from others.

Brand identity and brand awareness goes hand in hand. Be conscious and design your brand image intelligently, analyze the market and learn about what market leaders do and what mistakes they have made in past and how they recovered. Finally, bolster your brand message at every single opportunity you get.

Axing Marketing Budget – Bad Idea

In tough economic times, everyone is looking for ways to cut down costs; however, it is advisable that you resist slashing the marketing budget, the reason being ‘Visibility Loss’. If you stop marketing you will lose visibility and if you lose visibility you lose your market share. Remember, when out of sight you are out of mind. Thus instead of cutting marketing costs, think of cost-effective ideas to stay top-of-mind. Branding during recession is essential because:

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