Why brand management may replace marketing?

Although “marketing” as well as “brand management” are often handled as synonyms, there is an important difference between the two terms:

• Marketing concentrates on the activities which are associated with the promotion as well as distribution of products in addition to services.
• Brand management has, for many individuals, been previously focused on identity management. However, now brand management is now much more concerned with the active monitoring of the market value as well as the competitive strength of a brand as an (intangible) company asset.

Many people have hypothesised that action of brand management may ultimately replace the marketing function. In this article, we’ll have a look at this notion.

What is a competitive advantage?

The term ‘competitive advantage’ refers to a business’ ability to taken one or more approaches to their performance which competitors are unable to, or will not, match. In other words, a company’s competitive advantage is the thing which they do better than any of their competitors. It is the key differentiator which defines your brand against all others.

There are a number of value propositions which businesses often refer to as competitive advantages. These are, for example:

• Price
• Speed of delivery
• Speed to market
• Technology
• Design
• Scale
• Customer service
• Personalisation
• Experience

The challenge is that very few individual value propositions are defendable as a competitive advantage. And even if these are acceptable at the moment, these are very rarely sustainable over time.

What is an intangible company asset?

Intangible company assets cannot be touched. While these types of assets do not have a physical presence, they are responsible for adding value to your business.

Intangible company assets are long-term assets, which means that you will use them at your company for more than 12 months. Examples of intangible assets include, for example, goodwill, brand recognition, copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade names as well as customer lists.

It is possible for you to divide intangible assets into two categories:

• Intellectual property, as well as
• Goodwill.

What is intellectual property?

The term ‘intellectual property’ refers to something which you create with your mind, for example a design. You possess the rights to your intellectual property and other companies are not permitted to copy it. Intellectual property includes trademarks, patents in addition to licensing agreements.

What is goodwill?

The term ‘goodwill’ refers to the measurement of several factors that affect your brand’s value. Examples of goodwill include your company’s reputation, strategies, customer base in addition to employee relations.

So will brand management replace marketing?

Branding is at the very core of your marketing strategy. This means that branding must be the first thing that you tackle. Even if you are a startup business, it is vital to clearly set out who you are as a brand before you start to devise your specific marketing methods, tools, strategies as well as tactics. Your brand is what will ensure that your clients coming back to your company. It is the basis upon which you will shape consumer loyalty

While methods of marketing methods will change over time and respond to current industry as well cultural trends branding remains the same. Even if you make changes to your brand, these alterations will typically be in response to your growth or expanded services offered. However, changes in your brand are rarely an overhaul of your core principles, mission, or values.

Marketing will never become less important than brand management. This is because it is the vehicle that a company uses in order to share the message that it wants to portray with the brand. They need to work in tandem to make the business fly.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Want to learn more about brand management? If you do then have a look at our Brand Management Course. Follow this link for more information.