Friday, December 19, 2008

Being Seen, Making Sales - Product Branding in Today's Market

By Rachel L. Matagaster

Whether you are selling services, electronic downloads, or shippable goods, the principles of product branding are worthy of your consideration. Any product must be seen, and make a favorable first impression. Product branding takes your creation and makes it a memorable to your clients.

Marketing campaigns, including product branding, is big business these days. The competition is tough in just about every market. Because of this we have to keep our focus, do our homework, find our niche, and protect our creations. You need to start with product branding to make those memorable impressions.

So there you are with a great product and a catchy name. You know your market and how to get their attention. Most of the time its hard work to get to this point, and much of the time we have invested a great deal of time, money and energy with little in return. We look forward to that payday when it all that hard work brings us rewards.

This is where branding and protection of our "good name" comes into play. The last think you want is for someone else to start up their campaign with your idea. Even worse, you don't want to find someone else taking your start up campaign and stepping right over your start-up name with their corporate funding and clout.

There are several approaches to branding: Individual product branding gives a unique identity to a product, but does not link it to other products, therefore it is difficult to ride on the success of your previous products. Family branding gives you the umbrella of an already established brand.

You can also team up with other companies to take advantage of the success of others through an approach known as co-branding. This brings together the market share of both companies with a synergetic force with the idea of providing an improved product through joint ventures.

Check with your local Small Business Administration office for assistance and information on product branding. It's well worth your time to do your homework and understand the steps to creating and registering your product branding. The cost for product branding is low in comparison to the average ad campaign.

Product branding is an important part of your product development cycle. What's so important about a name? It can be your goldmine to repeat business and recognition by the market you value. You have the right to success, and knowing your rights by law can bring you from start up obscurity to a multi-million dollar corporation. - 16651

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