Brand marketing is at the heart of every successful business. It’s why you’d rather drink a Coke than a no-brand cola and can instantly recognize the Nike swoosh without the company’s name. But beyond catchy taglines or cool logos, brand marketing has a deeper responsibility.
This article is going to take a deep dive into the main objectives of brand marketing, and, believe me, by the time we are done with this post, marketing professionals, brand managers, and marketing students will have a crystal-clear image of how a strategic approach to brand marketing attracts sustainable growth. At the conclusion of this post, you will understand how goals like creating awareness, driving loyalty, and building equity all interplay to contribute to strong brands.
What Is Brand Marketing and Why Does It Matter?
Business-brand marketing is much more than advertising products or services. Rather, it’s about determining how people view a business at a macro level. It’s about establishing an emotional rapport between a business and its audience, which leads to customer loyalty, trust, and advocacy.
In a report by Nielsen, 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from brands familiar to them. This trust is earned through strong and focused brand marketing. When you do it right, it takes your company from being simply another name in the market to something your customers notice about their lives.
So, what’s behind all these efforts? Now, let’s go through five primary goals of brand marketing.
1. Building Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the beginning of any good brand marketing strategy. Customers can’t fall in love with your brand if they don’t know it exists, after all. Awareness positions you to be top-of-mind and present in the market when people consider your category or product.
How to Build Brand Awareness
- Leverage Social Media
On Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, brands can tap into a much larger audience in visually stimulating ways. Look at Wendy’s Twitter feed, for example. Their smart-mouthed, sassy commentary has made their brand an Instagram fan favorite.
- Invest in Content Marketing
Blogs, videos, podcasts, or infographics will help to establish you as a thought leader and raise your profile. HubSpot’s blog is a great example, as it gets traffic and simultaneously reinforces the brand’s position as a thought leader in inbound marketing.
- Out-of-the-box Advertising
Innovative promotions such as Spotify’s “Wrapped” don’t just broadcast messages; they invite users to get involved in the experience, transforming customers into enthusiastic brand champions.
There is a reason that hinterland exists; brand awareness is a stepping stone to relationship, and relationship is the link to deeper engagement.
2. Creating Brand Preference
Once customers are aware of your brand, the next objective is to make it their preferred choice. Brand preference reflects how much someone values your brand over competitors. It signifies that your brand becomes the “go-to,” even when other options are available.
Techniques for Building Preference
- Highlight Unique Value
Communicate what sets you apart from the competition. Is it unmatched quality, superior customer experience, or innovative solutions? For instance, Apple’s brand preference thrives on its dedication to sleek design and intuitive functionality.
- Tell Your Story
People connect with brands that have a compelling story. Patagonia’s commitment to sustainability makes it the preferred outdoor clothing brand for eco-conscious consumers.
- Deliver Consistency
Be consistent in your tone, visual identity, and messaging to reinforce trust. From McDonald’s golden arches to its brand promise of “quality, service, and cleanliness,” they deliver on their promise time after time.
Effective brand preference creates not just customers but loyal advocates.
3. Driving Sales and Revenue
No matter how beautifully branded a company is, its efforts must eventually lead to the bottom line. Brand marketing plays an essential role in converting awareness and preference into actual sales revenue.
Integrating Brand Marketing with Sales
- Personalized Marketing
Brands like Amazon use data to offer highly personalized recommendations that result in increased conversions.
- Strong Call-to-Actions (CTAs)
Your CTAs should align with your brand voice and encourage immediate action, such as signing up, purchasing, or learning more. Nike’s iconic “Just Do It” is the perfect example of a motivational CTA.
- Sales-Driven Campaigns
Use branded promotions or seasonal campaigns to create urgency. Starbucks’ seasonal drinks like the Pumpkin Spice Latte are both highly branded and irresistible sales machines.
Brand marketing ensures your product is an easy and trustworthy choice, leading directly to increased revenue.
4. Fostering Brand Loyalty
Generating revenue is great, but long-term success depends on brand loyalty. It’s far more cost-effective to retain existing customers than acquire new ones. Research by Bain & Company shows that a 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25%-95%.
Strategies to Build Brand Loyalty
- Rewards and Exclusivity
Loyalty programs like Sephora’s Beauty Insider keep customers coming back with enticing rewards and exclusive perks.
- Engagement and Interaction
Be present where your customers are. Brands like Glossier thrive on direct interaction with their community through Instagram responses and user-generated content.
- Continuously Exceed Expectations
Deliver on your promises, and your customers will stick around. Netflix excels at this by constantly improving its algorithm to give subscribers exactly what they want to watch.
Brand loyalty transforms one-time buyers into lifelong ambassadors.
5. Enhancing Brand Equity
Finally, the ultimate goal of all brand marketing is to enhance brand equity, which is the perceived value of your brand compared to others in the market. High-equity brands enjoy not only stronger customer loyalty but also the ability to command premium pricing.
Key Drivers of Brand Equity
- Customer Perception
Brand equity is really just about the way people feel about your brand. Apple, for example, has great brand equity thanks in part to the fact that consumers regard the company as a trailblazer that makes high-quality products.
- Experience Consistency
The reason why Coca-Cola is a high-equity brand is not only because of its relevance in every market it plays in… It’s because it has managed to deliver meaningful consistency everywhere it goes.
- Social Responsibility
Brands that get in on the giving back trend stand out to today’s consumers. TOMS Shoes’ “One for One” business model also helps increase its brand equity by associating each and every buy with an act of good.
Brand equity is a long-term game, but the payoffs to both loyalty payments and revenue are there.
How These Objectives Work Together to Create Powerful Brands
At its heart, brand marketing is a 360-degree approach. Awareness begets preference, which begets sales. That sales base directly leads to loyalty, which in turn lifts brand equity. All of these things are interrelated and collaboratively contribute to making sure your brand doesn’t just survive in a relevant marketplace but thrives too!
Whether you control a mature brand or are founding a new one, these major goals should be top of mind for sustainable growth.
If you are feeling the pull toward that next phase, it’s time to start honing your own brand strategy. To learn more and for deeper insight and action, check out the other resources and tools in our marketing library. Begin creating a brand that has lifetime value.
