One can say that the business landscape is like the sea: if you can’t stay afloat, you’ll definitely drown. 

No matter what business you are in, whether it’s selling beauty products, cultivating wellness brands, lifestyle-focused offerings or anything else, it’s vital for you to stand out from your competitors and build relationships with your customers.

In other words, to practise brand management.

Brand Management in a Nutshell

First things first: many confuse brand management and branding, when they are in fact two very different things. Branding is the marketing process of actively shaping your brand from its inception, applying a distinctive set of features in order to give your brand unique and memorable characteristics.

On the other hand, brand management occurs after you have introduced your branding, monitoring and maintaining image while improving overall brand perception. It can be a struggle, but, when practised correctly, can yield long-term benefits.

Imagine this: you’re a job seeker attending interviews.

You enter the room and find a dozen other job seekers vying for the same position as you do. How will you utilise your skills and offering to set yourself apart from the rest of the job seekers outside of the room?

The same concept applies to brands. How do brands continuously curate a personality that audiences will resonate with?

To sum it up, this is achieved in analysing how your business positions itself in the market. Also, how you leverage external factors to boost visibility, such as the news, trends and even social media.

Brand Management Terms You Should Know

Before diving more into the benefits, you should know the definitions of basic brand management principles.

Brand recognition – this is when customers can identify your brand without seeing or hearing your brand name. Common with products, customers can recognise a brand through the slogan, colour scheme, tone of voice, packaging and more.

Brand loyalty – when customers are continuously happy and always willing to purchase from your brand, as they decide based on loyalty and belief in your business.

Brand equity – this is when value is created based on how customers perceive the product. For example, if they’re willing to pay more for a brand that they trust, despite other brands offering the same kind of product for half of the price.

Brand Ambassador – this is someone who is the face or spokesperson of the brand. A brand ambassador can be a celebrity, influencer, or even a CEO. The brand ambassador’s role is to represent the brand and their values, while sharing how they use the brand’s products. Getting brand ambassadors to share their stories gives customers a tangible image of a trusted person using a product they’re interested in.

Benefits of Brand Management

When done right, brand management brings in benefits that will affect both your business and employees positively.

Your target market will be able to recognise you – the branding you are promoting is your business’ identity, and increasing brand awareness can help acquaint your target market to the brand. Customers often remember your brand’s USP, testimonials and reviews, and how different you are from other brands. This allows them to recognise the brand and its products easily.

Increased customer loyalty and retention – if you can properly resonate with your audience and the customers satisfied with your products and services, they will stay and believe in you for many years to come. Identifying your loyal customers will allow you to direct special marketing efforts to them, making them feel loved and recognised. In terms of return on investment (ROI), it’s always more cost effective to keep an existing customer than find new ones.

Employee morale and engagement – brand management also involves your employees, as they can be ambassadors who can easily promote the brand at home, with friends or through the internet with no extra cost. Taking the extra mile to explain your brand, mission and vision with your team helps them believe in the brand, and to become more engaged in working for its success.

How Access Can Help Your Brand Grow

As an organisation focused on giving customers the “Everyday Better Life” they deserve, we partner with brands in line with our ethos. Our purpose is to connect millions of consumers worldwide to a wide array of high-quality premium beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands. 

We, then, empower individuals to become entrepreneurs as they get connected with their respective target audience. Currently, our global network of resellers now includes tens of thousands of brand influencers around the globe. This unique business model has illuminated the potential of leveraging influence for brand management companies worldwide.

Have a global reach through Access. Get in touch with us and learn more about how our business model and active brand management can help your brand grow. If you’re an innovator seeking commercialisation, Access can also help you develop and commercialise market-leading IP across our premium beauty, wellness and lifestyle portfolio.