Marketing

Many brands come into the market and many of them vanish sooner or later. But there is nothing unnatural about that. It is a natural and normal process of the market. Companies keep on bringing new brands. If a brand clicks it encourages businessman to move ahead. It compels one to rethink for further investment. Every company tries hard to make its brand a great success. It tries to give every possible input to the brand. But only a few brands achieve success in the market. What makes a brand successful ? It may be worthwhile to ponder.

Every company should carry out a research before launching a new brand. But all Nepali companies don’t set budget aside for R&D. It is always important to study the need, interest, taste and purchasing power of the targeted consumers. As the consumer is the king of the market in today's liberal economy, companies can’t afford to be product– oriented only. We have to mould ourselves as per the requirement of the consumer and according to the demand in the market.

There is no specific formula for success. Market is different from place to place. Consumer need, taste and interest may vary from one place to another. In many cases affordability, geographical location, culture and religion also determine people's need. Therefore, success of a brand largely depends on the different factors. Still the main thing is how you utilize the resources you have and how much weight you give to each of the following factors.

A new idea always remains unbeatable and ahead of others in any field. Innovation need not face competition and always enjoys almost monopolistic situation in its line of business. That is what the market analysts refer to while talking about creating a niche. Consumers generally tend to go for new things. In this situation company always has upperhand in fixing the price for such brands. They can charge high and make more profits. For example, Frooti enjoyed this monopoly for many years. The success of computer software companies is nothing else but innovativeness.

Certain level of quality is the minimum requirement that a brand should possess. Low quality product doesn’t have strength to compete with better quality products. Today’s consumers are more quality conscious than ever before.

Packaging is emerging as the most important factor for selling a product. Today's consumer has many choices. Among many brands in the same line of product, same quantity, same utility and same price, attractive packaging is decisive.

A manufacturer should always think about the purchasing power of the consumers before launching a new product. The price of the product has to be very reasonable and upto the level of the consumers’ affordability. The price of the product should be fixed in such a way that targeted people can afford it.

Product should be available widely in the market so that the buyer can get it easily when it is needed. Distribution gap always hampers the sales, as the competitor is always on the lookout to jump in to fill the gap. There are many choices in the market. Consumers need services. If they don’t get it, they would go for another option. 100% availability should be the ultimate goal of the companies of FMCG.

It is always important to communicate about the features of the brand so as to create brand awareness among the consumers. To do so the company should know well about which media to choose. Among others word of mouth (WOM) campaign is also one of the most effective tools for developing the awareness

It is a difficult job to position a brand. Before placing a brand in certain level we should bear in the mind what, why and whom are we targeting as our consumers. Who is the prospective consumer of the product ? A senior person is hesitant to use the same product, which is used by his juniors, but for the juniors it could be exactly what they are expecting.

A brand should have at least one USP to make it saleable. People buy the product because of its specific features. It makes the brand different from others. If there is no USP in the brand, it falls under the general product category and the customer might go for other alternatives at the slightest pretext.

The job does not complete after introducing a brand in the market. The brand could be unique in the initial period. After sometime, it would be very common product and consumers wouldn’t care about it. Therefore, we have to keep on adding some additional value in the product by improving its features, utility and packaging to make the brand alive. Company should find additional features and facility for their product. It keeps the consumer loyal to the brand.

In today's competitive world relation helps to bring the business. Therefore in the new textbooks of marketing ‘Relationship Marketing’ has been added. Thus, the company which has good approach and better relation in the market, leads the market in the long run.

MARKETING BRIEFS

Sounds like an ad for Hulas Sherpa four wheelers. But it is a slogan of Tata Indica car advertisement, that has been appearing in Nepal's daily newspapers.

Showing oneself as better than the others is what an advertiser wants. Some recent instances show that a trend is fast catching up among Nepali advertisers to achieve that objective by specifically declaring the other's product inferior.

Not long after the start of advertisement war between two detergent brands – Puja and OK, an FM channel (Classic FM) has begun using the punch line "Better than the best". Compare that with another FM channel (Kantipur FM) that has long been using this punch line : "Kantipur FM, simply the best."

Competition in airline business has now reached a stage, it seems. Consequently, the airline companies now have started advertising about their strengths in flying good craft.

Soon after Necon Air's advertisements showing that its ATR planes are flown also by some renowned international and regional airlines, Buddha Air came out with similar ad of its Beech D aircraft own comparing itself with similar international and regional airlines in flying the aircraft.

While the Goliaths of public sector commercial banks are still entangled in their own mess, the Davids of the private sector are coming up with offers of convenience to lure the customers.

Everest Bank Ltd., a joint venture with India's Punjab National Bank, has recently joined the rank of other private sector banks that allow the customer to operate an account in one branch of the bank visiting another branch.

Called Any Branch Banking (ABB), the service started from the 1st January 2001 and it is currently available between three branches of Everest Bank – New Baneswor, New Road and Teku. With ABB, the Everest Bank customer who has an account in New Road branch, need not go to New Road for withdrawals or deposits. The same can be done from Teku or New Baneswor.

What Makes a Brand Successful?

By Anooz

MARKETING BRIEFS