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The Importance of Branding Your Product in a Depressed Economy

Written by: Katherine Rothman

Article Overview: The adage “what’s in a name” has often been debated. When it comes to products, a good, catchy name that sums up what your product is and what it offers is critical. Afterall, the name will be the first things consumers see on a shelf, a web-site or marketing materials. A well thought out name may even make it easier for search engines to find your product and bring it up in the first few pages of google or yahoo.

The Importance of Branding Your Product in a Depressed Economy

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING YOUR PRODUCT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN A DEPRESSED ECONOMY.

The adage “what’s in a name” has often been debated. When it comes to products, a good, catchy name that sums up what your product is and what it offers is critical. Afterall, the name will be the first things consumers see on a shelf, a web-site or marketing materials. A well thought out name may even make it easier for search engines to find your product and bring it up in the first few pages of google or yahoo. An example of a name that says it all, “Tummy Tuck Jeans” These are jeans that help women to look instantly slimmer with a special construction that holds in the tummy. If this company had used a more generic name the uniqunesss of the product would not be conveyed so immediately or effectively. After a finding that all important name, one needs a slogan that becomes synonymous with the product. The quintessential examples we all know of include: “Avis: we try harder,” “Reach out and touch someone,” - AT&T, “Please don't squeeze the Charmin – Charmin, “Where do you want to go today? - Microsoft
Snap, Crackle, Pop - Rice Krispies, Got Milk?

Once you have the name and the slogan it is important to provide substantial news from that product. Think of the next step as “new you can use.” Simple self promotional announcements to customers, trade or consumer media of a new product launch is not sufficient. In these depressed economic times, a consumer wants to know, “what’s in it for me.” A company must impart how a new product launch will help a consumer from the following standpoints: cost, quality, effectiveness, and time. To spark a consumer’s interest, a brand needs innovative products that create their own buzz. In this very difficult economy, brand loyalty is harder to maintain than ever. The companies that have been able to maintain loyal customers do it because they are constantly offering the consumer something new and interesting in order to prevent them from seeking, “the new kid on the block.”

Today consumers want substance beyond the brand and the PR hype in order to keep them loyal. Here are some tips:
1)Knowing where and how to efficiently market your product online . Make sure your internet site is marketing efficiently beyond “google pay per click.” If your product is an anti-aging skincare product, make sure you have all of the applicable key words in your internet marketing so that you are not way back in the search engines but at the front.
2)Building a trusted online brand - Distinguishing your product through superior photography, proper online imaging, and rich descriptions.
3)Pricing yourself into the market, not out of it. This is not a time for greed and huge markups.
4)Use media coverage prominently on your companies web-site and in all of your promotional materals.


Five Key Components to Consider (see index for credits)

1)What's unique about your business idea?
2)Who is your target buyer? Who buys your product or service now, and who do you really want to sell to?
3)Who are your competitors? As a small business, can you effectively compete in your chosen market?
4)What positioning message do you want to communicate to your target buyers? How can you position your business or product to let people know they are special, in ways that are important to these buyers?
5)What's your distribution strategy? How will you get your product or service in the hands of your customers? Often your distribution method will provide an additional marketing channel, or give you the opportunity to promote more products as you provide the first one.


Obviously, not every beauty company has the luxury or luck of having a product that is truly ground breaking. There are literally thousands of moisturizers, body washes, and lipsticks on the market and of these thousands many are still profitable. This is good news in that you can borrow a good idea from another company and build a successful business around it. For example, every city needs a certain number of delis, and most of them resemble each other and serve basically the same food. If you were to really examine the most successful one, you will notice that it likely emphasizes and promote something special. It may be lower prices, faster service, better customer service, or more frequent coupons etc. The point is, successful businesses find ways to make their products or services stand out from the crowd, or at least the crowd with whom they are directly competing with.

One of the quickest ways to fail is to market a product or service that hardly anyone wants, needs, or understands. Find out if there is a real need for your product, or is the marketplace already overly saturated As a business owner, you are too emotionally close to your venture to make this decision alone. Surveys are one of the best ways to get an honest, unbiased opinion at the time of launch or even if you have been in business for many years. Annual Surveys among your exisiting or potential client base are an excellent means of staying in synch with your customers. What might have been satisfying customers in a booming econonomy may not make the cut in a recession. In this case, your customer is your best weapon and they are in your brand arsenal so use them, Sam Walton CEO of Walmart “In business today, there is only one boss - the customer. She/he can fire everybody from the CEO down simply by spending his/her money elsewhere.” And as Bill Gates said, Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning, Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder and CEO


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Article Tags: adage, avis, brand loyalty, catchy name, depressed economy, economic times, generic name, google, innovative products, loyal customers, marketing materials, product launch, rice krispies, search engines, slogan, snap crackle pop, special construction, substantial news, tummy tuck, tummy tuck jeans



Related Forum Posts
Re: What Do You Outsource Mostly? - When building a New Product, I do find it helpful to outsource marketing (articles - blogging - major social network site etc) Otherwise, you may feel bogged down when you should be focused on the overall BIG PICTURE.
Re: What is your Business? - We are running a Online Marketing Firm and we have some good clients to which we are offering a complete Digital Marketing strategy like Search, Mobile Marketing, Branding and Design. I think in Online Marketing company online presence can be a wining factor for the success of the company.
Show the Benefits - Offer a free test drive of the Product or Service with a Money Back Guarantee - Take the Risk out. This will help them make the decision but you have to work with them to realize it by explicitly state the benefits they are receiving.
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
Offer Credit instead - I'm not sure if ChrisH was referring to this but i'll state it more expicitly .. Charge upfront and offer a refund of double the value back in "Credit" towards your Product or Service you have for sale at the end of the event.


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