Brands have risen to become a significant intangible asset of a firm. Product branding requires a firm to apply both art and science skillfully to build a strong valuable brand. A strong brand requires creative designing, careful planning and execution. Branding gives a quick identification to the product’s manufacturer (Kottler & Keller, 2012). The quality of the product is swiftly assigned to the manufacturer or distributor. Brands also assist the firm in simplification of product handling or tracking. Branding is a good help in organizing the firm’s inventory and stock records. At the same time, it provides the legal security for the product’s unique elements. A strong brand portrays levels of quality of the product to the customers so that the customer buys the same brand again. This characteristic of branding leads to the establishment of consumer loyalty. Brand loyalty increases the predictability of the demand for the product. Loyalty also creates a barrier to market entry of prospective competitors. According to Kottler and Keller (2012), brand loyalty increases the ease in price increment with little effect on sales of the product (Kottler & Keller, 2012).
With the increase in professional competition in the 21st century, personal branding allowed individual professionals to show to their audience their true worth against the competitors. A branded professional, finds it easy to align part of his/her life with his characteristics, goals, values and strength. The growth of individual’s professionalism relies on his/her ingenuity and the professionalism shown in his/her work (Wilson & Bluementhal, 2008). For this reason, self-image plays a significant function in a person’s growth and achievement in his/her profession. Personal brand must be strong and should command professional excellence in individual’s profession. This means that an individual needs to perform his/her activities in ways different from his/her peers. The individual, however, should not stop from collaborating with his/her peers. It is easy for a professional to learn from peers while associating with them, a factor that in turn assists in the development of a personal brand. Another issue of concern in personal branding is creativity and innovativeness (Wilson & Bluementhal, 2008). A professional is associated with a particular development in the profession, giving him/her an upper hand over his/her competitors. Above all, a professional needs to cultivate the brand and keep the quality of the brand on the positive side.
Both personal and product brands have similar characteristics. Personal brand has a targeted audience. For instance, Tiger Wood’s audience is golf fans. This is the same as to a product brand, which targets certain consumers. The second similarity is the frame of reference. For instance, the Coca-Cola goal is “to refresh the world” (Coca-Cola, n.d), whereas Tiger wood’s goal is “to be the best in his profession” (Kottler & Keller, 2012). Personal and product branding are also similar in their uniqueness to competitors. Both brands offer different benefits to consumers as compared to competing products or professionals (Wilson & Bluementhal, 2008). On the other hand, personal and product brands have distinctive differences. In personal branding, the professional must observe the beliefs and values of the audience. This can be different to his personal beliefs and values. This conflict in beliefs and values is not observed in product branding. In fact, product branding is designed to fit in the beliefs of its consumers (Wilson & Bluementhal, 2008).
References
Coca – Cola. (n.d.). Coca – Cola Mission, Vision and values. Web.
Kottler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Wilson, J. & Blumenthal, I. (2008). Managing Brand You: 7 Steps to Creating Your Most Successful Self. New York: AMACOM.