Branding and Going higher

Introduction

Branding is an essential aspect of business strategy that encompasses all activities associated with creating a unique name and image for a product or service in the mind of the target audience. Effective branding is critical to the success of any business as it creates brand recognition, trust, loyalty, and differentiates a company from its competitors.

Seth Godin is known for writing about business and management-related topics. The necessity for individuality in business is discussed in his book ‘Purple Cow-Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable’ (Godin, 2002). Another renowned book that we are discussing about is Marketing Management by Brian Sheehan (2011).
This essay provides an overview, a description about branding.

Brand?

A brand is a logo, mark, symbol, name, etc. that creates point of difference amongst various organizations in the market place. I believe that it gives a product or service the expression that differentiates it from other brands seeking to satisfy similar needs. Therefore, branding is the process of using a name or logo to create a sustainable competitive advantage in a market. In today’s market, names are not relevant to the products, unless the customer associates his/her choice with its meaning (Sheehan, 2011).

By telling a little tale, Godin(2002) opened the book’s documentation. A description of the author’s voyage to France is given at the start. They came upon cows grazing on the side of the road as they traveled through rural area of France. The majority of the cows were black and brown in appearance. The first time he saw the cows, he was excited. It served as inspiration for covering the distances. However, after traveling a few short lengths and seeing the cows by the side of the road continuously, it become monotonous (Godin, 2002). Seeing cows that were all the same hue was no longer interesting. As a result, the author connects the sight of the cows to the backdrop of corporate marketing. He conjured up the image of a purple cow. He claimed that seeing a cow with a distinctive color instead of the typical black and brown would be fascinating.

Contextually, there are five Ps in marketing that have been there ever since the idea of marketing was created. They are people, product, pricing, place, and promotion. Businesses have centered their marketing efforts throughout the years on mass media platforms, social media sites like Facebook, billboards, and posters that aim to acquaint the market with the goods for sale. By comparing the evident marketing efforts to black and grey cows, the author concludes that traditional marketing strategies have been successful (Godin, 2002). The author refers to them as “invisible marketing channels” as a result. They argue that because almost all businesses concentrate their marketing efforts on well-known platforms like social media and traditional media, they are unable to distinguish their products from those of their competitors. In this way, the description justifies the solid connection to the French roadside black and gray cows.

The purple cow idea, according to the author, stresses the creation of distinctive marketing initiatives to set the target product apart from competitors in the market. The adjective “remarkable” therefore identifies the synonymy of the purple feature. The book places a strong emphasis on the product’s uniqueness and the innovative marketing strategies that guarantee its sales (Godin, 2002). The P in the word purple hence prompted the creation of the Ps aspect. The writer concludes that it is important to underline the product’s uniqueness before, during, and after marketing.

For instance, positive word-of-mouth regarding the usefulness of the product in solving a certain issue should exist before to the official launch of the marketing, and during the marketing program, the channels selected should be distinct and tailored. After promotion, which is preceded by sizable sales, there should be a realistic guarantee of the product’s efficacy. The bread-slicing invention by Otto Frederick Rohwedder in 1912 is illustrated. It claims that although the concept was worthwhile, poor marketing ultimately caused it to fail (Godin, 2002). Twenty years later, a new brand called Wonder promoted the concept of sliced bread, which led to unstoppable sales. As a result, sales and the distinctiveness of the product’s reception on the market, in Seth Godin’s opinion, are determined by the marketing’s remarkability.

The concept of the “purple cow” deviates from the norm. I think a person or thing needs to stand out in order to be seen on any platform, which qualifies as being extraordinary. The emphasis on the need to differentiate from other products and services in terms of manufacturing, packaging, and marketing, as well as the firm’s interactions with customers after the sale, is what makes the topic special. To show consistency, there should be a kind of DNA ingrained across the human resource of the firm.

Recently, branding has played a major role in promoting recognition. Godin believes customers want reassurance that they are using a safe product or service. Many people easily identify coca-cola, for example, with a quality and popular product and the brand attracts them. In addition, it helps an organization to stand out in the market. Customers thus know what to expect from the organization or a particular brand. Properly managed brand helps the organization to gain some advantages, such as strategic options, habitual buying, and so on. Brand is valuable and therefore must be maintained in order for the organization to build its reputation.

Personal Experiences

My experience applying original ideas demonstrates that the purple cow concept is guaranteed to succeed so long as it addresses a pressing issue in the culture in which it is tested. In 2018, I started working on farming vegetables. After 1^st season of starting, the only products I had a little quantity of Carrots and Tomatoes and sold those for a reasonable price in a local market. Then I was thinking for the next season, I did plan for something big. I made contract with other people who were trying to get a good price for their product. Then I got not only my Carrots and Tomatoes, but other vegetables too like Cauliflower, sweet potato, spinach etc.
I went to an open big market of the city to sold them in bundle. My planning was to go for B2B. There were so many other people who had their product too. I couldn’t fix my own price for my product because it was already fixed by some other people who had the same product. Then figured that those people who were buying from me, were doing B2B too.
After that started to do market research, I couldn’t go for B2C because I didn’t have that much budget to hire someone, or I had some of my own product to cultivate. Then I got to about this “purple cow” concept and agreed to use it. I registered my business as an official or legal one. I focused on the product packaging that I hadn’t before. I put my company’s sticker on each product and present those to every super shop. I was still doing B2B but some couple step ahead of others. And I started to make an amount of money from it that I never imagined.
I made It was certainly absurd, but it was extraordinary. In the end, the personalization of the marketing campaign was what brought in the surge of clients. Because of this, I think the purple cow concept may be achieved if a marketer tries to tackle an issue through different and customer-focused channels. Thus, Seth Godin’s work is useful for developing modern product marketing strategies.

Conclusion

Branding is an essential aspect of business strategy that can help businesses go higher by creating brand recognition, building brand loyalty, and differentiating themselves from competitors. A strong brand identity is critical to the success of any business and can lead to increased sales, profitability, and market share. As such, businesses should invest in creating a strong brand identity that resonates with their target audience and communicates their unique value proposition.

References

Godin, S. (2002). Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. New York: Penguin.

Sheesan, B. (2011) Marketing management. Lausanne, Switzerland.