The 3 Laws of A Strong Brand

The moment any entrepreneur sets-up their organization they more often dream that it will become a world dominating brand. Unfortunately, the possibility of this ever happening is quite low as each and every day thousands of brands are being launched around the world. This therefore proves difficult for any brand to rise above the other more so if they are not well funded, offer revolutionary technology and strategic positioned for the mass market.

My research on the leading world brands established three laws as to why some organizations have had their brand dominate their industry for years while some though relatively new, significantly dominate their industry. A good example on the former would be coca cola, and on the latter would be the taxi hailing application, Uber. The laws applied by these brands as to be on top are as follows;

LAW OF THE FIRST

Any organization that is first in any market or industry tends to have their brand dominate respectively. This is true for coca cola who were first in the soft drinks industry and apple, who were first in the personal computer and smart phone industry. The reason behind this dominance is, consumers associate the product/service with the particular brand which makes it harder for competitor’s entry into the market more so if they do not offer better service or product.

However this is not always the case especially if the organization does not innovate. As a world, we are facing tech revolution therefore if an organization fails to innovate, they quickly get replaced by innovative competitors. This leads us to the next law which is the law of innovation.

LAW OF INNOVATION

Kodak was the first company to develop the digital camera. This was when they were the lead company in regards to film photography. They had a patent to the digital camera as from 1975 to 2007 but failed to switch their business as they did experience high revenues in the film era and were afraid a switch would kill business. However the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony that licensed the digital patent in the turn of the millennium outgrew Kodak that ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2012. We now associate digital cameras with the new brands out of them being the first to embrace technology.

When it comes to the taxi hailing business which did revolutionize the taxi business, we all associate it with uber because they were the first to innovate. This is despite them increasingly facing competition by the day with the likes of lyft, taxify, mondo and the rest. The same also does apply to Amazon who were the first to innovate with regards to ecommerce as well as Netflix with regards to streaming service.

When you are first to innovate in any particular industry, consumers will tend to want relate with your brand and associate with the innovation within that particular industry.

LAW OF ASSOCIATION

Association plays an important role in establishing a strong brand more so in the brick and mortar, luxury and retail industries. Association can be through the following means;

i) Price tag; This is widely seen in the car industry where different brands are associated with the price tag that determines its market nice.
ii) A prominent personality; the best example here would be Trump, the current US president who has used his personality to curve a niche out of his real estate business. Another example would be through Nike’s partnership with Michael Jordan through the Jordan brand.
iii) Sentimental history; this is widely seen in the wine industry where the different brands are classed as per the number of years which gives the sentimental value.
iv) Service; This is seen in the hospitality industry where different brands are defined by the service experienced by the client which aids in positioning the brand an example being the Hyatt or the Sheratons brands.

Dependent on the industry and the market in which you are in operation, as well as the product or service that you have on offer it is important that you consider which amongst the three laws works for you. If a start-up with minimum marketing budget, it is vital that you start growing your brand by association of your service/product to your early adopters who will act as your marketers.

Originally posted on birowaks.com/blog