Product Branding Definition, Examples and Strategy

Some goods are as well known as the businesses that manufacture them. For instance, a bottle of soda with a red label and a white script type is easily identified as Coca-Cola. Or if you chance to hear someone say on the radio, “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” you’ll know right away that they’re referring to a Snickers bar.
These are simple illustrations of product branding, which refers to the name and character that companies give their goods.
In the broadest sense, branding is the process of differentiating a product in the market from other products. The brand strategy will make the product stand out more the stronger it is.

You don’t need to be as successful as Coca-Cola or Snickers to benefit from strong product branding. Here’s how to create an effective product branding plan that attracts attention.

How does product branding work?

What precisely is product branding? Let’s begin with a definition of product branding.
Product branding is the creation of a unique brand for a specific product with the goal of reaching a company’s target market.
Everything can have its own brand positioning and marketing plan, including vehicles, confectionery, and household cleaning. Whatever the product, the goal is the same: to stand out in a sea of alternatives and persuade them to choose yours.
Products may profit from brand creation to foster trust and boost sales, just as a business develops its corporate brand to win client loyalty. Your firm’s identity extends to your product, so when you do a good job of product branding, your company benefits as well.
What Are the Differences Between Corporate and Product Branding?
A single product represents brand marketing in its most basic form. It employs the company name in its branding since the two are identical. Things get entangled when businesses have more than one product or brand.
Mars is a prime example. The firm manufactures a variety of goods, such as Whiskas cat food, Skittles, and M&Ms. The company’s brand strategy places more of an emphasis on innovation and being a recognised leader in its industry, while each of its product brands has a distinctive brand identity.
Corporate branding is significantly more comprehensive and includes the whole organisation as well as all of its goods. You utilise this for your company’s website and marketing.
Product branding have become increasingly sophisticated and specialised for each product. A product’s niche differentiation is the objective.
Some businesses decide to establish brand families, where all of the products—regardless of their differences—share the same corporate name. With its extensive lineup of soups sold under the Campbell’s label, Campbell’s is a fantastic example of a brand family. With the addition of its range of Campbell’s Chunky, Well Yes!, Slow Kettle Style, and Homestyle soups, the business has also grown into a multi-brand business.

However, employing a single brand or a brand family may be challenging for businesses that offer a wide range of goods, such as diapers and cleaning supplies. Because of this, businesses like Procter & Gamble choose to use distinct product brands.
Product brands often have some connection with the corporate brand. The main distinction, however, is that product brands are distinct from the business that manufactures them in terms of their appearance and personality.

Why Is Branding for Products Important?

Even if buyers don’t instantly link your product with your corporate brand, brand awareness with a product offers a firm a variety of advantages. Let’s go through the following four advantages of unique product branding: Competition, Ideification, Expansion, and Product Preference.

Identification

A product’s branding, like any kind of branding, makes it simpler to distinguish it from similar items. A powerful brand is noticeable. The more the ROI you can obtain from your marketing and advertising, the more identifiable it gets. Consider the last time you went shopping and instead of using the brand name to find a product, you ended up searching for it by its distinguishing colour, such as the turquoise on the lid of Skippy’s peanut butter.

Expansion

It may be simpler to enter a new market, introduce a new product category, or even launch a new brand from the same firm if you already have a well-known and loved brand. It encourages customers to explore new items by giving them an immediate air of legitimacy.

As an example, Dollar Shave Club initially sold just razors and shave butter. Then, in 2015, it added hair care to its lineup of products. The business was able to extend its brand with ease after establishing its reputation as a trustworthy personal care brand.

Products That I Prefer

When it comes to customer choice, brand recognition is quite important. People shop for familiar and reliable brands. You have a higher chance of converting your target market if you develop a purposeful brand that is dependable and appealing to them.

Competition

An effective brand strategy includes keeping an eye on rival brands in your industry. Strong brands may deter other businesses from joining your specialised market. It raises the entrance hurdle, particularly if customers exhibit a strong brand attachment.
Additionally, you may compete less on pricing if your product has strong branding. People are prepared to pay more for the brands they want, particularly if they believe that generic goods may possibly be of lower quality.

How to Improve Your Product Branding Plan

Several different factors come together to form product branding, including the company’s logo, colours, package design, names and descriptions of the products, brand voice, brand values, a brand narrative, and general messaging. The total of its pieces, which is calculated strategically, is bigger than the whole.
Are you prepared to create a plan for product branding? Here are our best advice for successful product branding:

Investigate Your Audience

Market research is the first step in every new branding plan. To build a brand that appeals to them, you must first define who you want to purchase your goods. During this process, you may want to consider asking the following questions: • What is the product’s purpose?
• Who is likely to utilise the product?
Why Why would they choose this product over one made by a rival?
What does this audience value? Why do I want to serve them?
Obtaining consumer insights is crucial for the growth of your brand since it puts you in the position of the target market. In order to identify the genuine problems that customers have and determine how a great product and powerful brand may address them, conduct surveys or access data.

Become Competitor Aware

Your capacity for standing out is crucial to effective branding. Marketers must first identify the competitors vying for exposure before they can take action. Perform a competitive analysis. Learn what consumers think of competing brands and what can convince them to switch to yours (e.g. better pricing, higher quantities, product quality, etc.). These will be some of the pillars of your approach for product branding.
Define the Character of Your Product
What would your company’s branded items say if they could talk? Who knows how they might sound? odours like? Do you feel?
A brand is made up of a variety of connections, sounds, scents, sensations, and visual cues. Choosing logos, colours, packaging, and other characteristics that customers will use to recognise your brand may be influenced by defining your company’s personality.
Promoting Your Brand Identity
Once you have a clear understanding of the ideal appearance and functionality for your product brand, you can begin telling your audience about it. Discuss its history, its principles, and what makes it special. Make your brand seem personal to the audience so they get comfortable with it. Give them a reason to choose it above alternatives, in other words.

Keep Your Product Branding Consistent

Consistency is the one constant in any product branding strategy, regardless of how you go about it. Create a style guide that specifies the dimensions, positioning, colour scheme, basic principles, visuals, and voice that should be used to represent your brand. Your online store, the product’s customer service, your business cards, and any online marketplaces where the product is offered should all follow the same design guidelines.
In all of your marketing and advertising, convey the identity of your brand. Your brand gets more recognisable the more consistent you are. Additionally, the quicker individuals can connect with your brand.

Examples of Effective Product Branding

Want some ideas for your next product brand? Check out these inspirational examples of high-impact product branding.

Apple

Apple is the archetypal example of comprehensive, enduring branding. One of Apple’s main competitive advantages is the brand and what it stands for. In addition to having a classy, seductive corporate image, Apple also incorporates that same image into each of its technical products.