3+ Sample Brand Management Plan

What Is a Brand Management Plan?

According to Investopedia, brand management is a marketing function that employs tactics to boost a product line’s or brand’s perceived value over time. Through favorable brand associations, imagery, and strong brand recognition, effective brand management allows product prices to grow while also maintaining loyal customers. When designing a strategic strategy to maintain or improve brand value, a full understanding of the brand, its target market, and the company’s overarching vision is essential. The brand management plan definition is that it acts as a strategic marketing process so that the public would still find it interesting and valuable despite the years passing by. 

How Brand Management Works

Customer engagement, market competition, and corporate management are all influenced by brands. A strong brand presence in the market separates a company’s products from those of its competitors and fosters brand loyalty for its goods or services. A well-known brand must constantly manage its image in order to sustain its reputation. Effective brand management raises brand awareness, analyzes and manages brand equity, drives efforts that promote a consistent brand message, recognizes and integrates new brand products, and places the brand effectively in the market.

Effective Principles of Brand Management

To reiterate, brand management is the sum of all efforts that go into making a brand attractive, appealing, differentiated, successful, and ultimately profitable. When it comes to a brand as a whole, whether it’s a product or a service, what important is a focus on quality and delivery, continuous improvement strategies to maintain the same, marketing and messaging to communicate the brand’s value, and innovation to stay relevant in changing times. Before proceeding to write a brand management plan, first, go through this list of effective principles that are considered important to brand management.

Laser Focus and Strong Definition: The first stage in brand management is to have a clear understanding of what the brand stands for, its current relevance, and the desired target demographic. When these concepts are articulated and communicated in a clear and delicious manner, a strong desire is developed in the mind of the target market or audience. Clarity in ideas and expression is critical in the age of social media, where there is an explosion of information and the viral dissemination of ideas and views.Appeal and Simplicity: If you have clear thoughts, it is easy to define what you want. It is, nevertheless, equally crucial to know how to carry it out. The essential message and promise of the brand must be communicated successfully within the restrictions of the area and time that users have to connect with it. Don’t feel insulted if the higher-ups or the readers merely scan your work and don’t thoroughly read the entire document. You have to understand that they are busy people and it is your task and responsibility to write a plan that is direct and concise.Consistency: The necessity to constantly amplify and reinforce the brand message and values comes with a definition. To ensure that confidence is created and maintained, this must be done in a consistent tone. The one constant across all touchpoints, whether in production or marketing, is that set expectations are reinforced and maintained in the minds of customers. Keep in mind that even if you are tasked to write the brand management plan, it still has to be consistent in terms of showing and embodying the main message of the brand.Keeping a Light Footing: Being nimble and having their ears close to the ground allows brands to get a quick pulse on how concepts are conceived on the drawing board and are performing on the ground. It also enables brands to maintain contact with customers, ensuring that their needs are met and that their goals are recorded for future development and research. Staying nimble also involves being responsive to client needs, and once you have built an emotional connection with a customer and acquired their trust, there’s no going back. You will have to maintain that relationship all throughout.Ability to Innovate: Disruption has become the new normal, and innovation is the only way to stay relevant and profitable. Customers’ expectations change frequently, and technology improves at a dizzying speed. There is no such thing as an infallible brand, and the only way to avoid it is to be open to new ideas and methods. But remember, even though you are keeping an open mind on the ideas for your brand management plan, it still has to tie into the mission and vision, and the core message of the brand.Measurement and Feedback: The presence of feedback and measurement tools at each stage of the process ensures that blockages are detected as soon as they appear. Once such a lively mechanism is in place, the deductions can be fed back into the system to improve it. In the long run, this will provide value by ensuring that all of the above is completed and followed. Stay humble as you listen to the feedback of the higher-ups regarding the plan. They are not there to insult you but merely to hone the plan into its best possible state.

Growth Strategies for Brands

For organizations wishing to expand their service or product offerings, here are classic brand growth tactics. These are the commonly used brand strategies to ensure the growth of the said brand. You don’t have to follow it and can use your own ideas and thought-up strategies. But still, thoroughly read this list as it may contribute to your ideas.

Line Extension Brand Strategy: As part of the line extension brand expansion plan, additional items are generated in response to consumer needs. From an example, a closer look at the line extension plan would be easy to see. With the announcement of one particular cellular model, the company would then release another model for the first time. That specific model was created to meet the needs of customers who wanted different specifications. They can now use their mobile devices in the way that most suits them. The company profits from this expansion approach because it attracts customers who might otherwise consider one of its competitors.Brand Extension Brand Strategy: A brand expansion plan comprises the introduction of a new brand in a new market after cementing your brand’s name in a related industry. One particular company follows this brand approach. They made a normal-sized candy bar, and since they have done well in meeting the market for chewy candy treats, a smaller-sized candy bar might be able to tap into a new market. This differentiates from line extension brand strategy but is similar to it.New Brand, Brand Strategy: A new brand strategy is when a corporation creates a new brand to go along with a new product. Because developing a new brand requires investments like advertising, sales workers, production expenditures, and so on, the new brand strategy is the most expensive way. Although this is the most expensive technique of brand promotion, if done correctly, it may also produce the greatest benefits. You’ll be able to gain market share by catering to customers on opposite ends of the spectrum or by introducing a completely new product to the market.Flanker Brand Strategy: A flanker brand strategy is defined as the placement of a new brand or sub-brand at the high or low ends of the spectrum in order to attract new market segments. One famous phone brand, for example, launched two phone models at the same time. You could argue that the latter phone model was released solely to commemorate the brand’s 10-year anniversary. Businesses do not make such large decisions unless they are profitable. On the high end of the range, the latter model also acted as a Flanker device. It has more features than the former model and costs more than the former model.Fighter Brand Strategy: A fighter brand strategy is when a corporation creates a new brand in order to steal market share from another. Typically, fighter brands are created to compete with other fighters rather than to appeal to consumers. One particular brand of beverage, for example, was a grapefruit soft drink created by a famous international brand and released without competition in 1938. Soon after, another widely known soda company recognized a chance to compete with the new fruity soft drink. The first beverage company decided to manufacture another beverage in order to acquire market share.

How to Write a Brand Management Plan

Now that you have gone through the contents of this article, you are more than ready to write your brand management marketing plan. Since it does function as a strategic brand management plan, you will need to write each step carefully and precisely. Your worries are lessened because this article provides you with templates and examples which save you time rather than starting from scratch. Proceed to check out the readily available brand management plan example and go through each step meticulously so you won’t forget any relevant details.

Step 1: State your Objectives

As part of the marketing situation, it will be necessary to define your objectives in the first place. This refers to the point that you are raising while thinking over the contents of the brand management plan. It is most important to be direct and concise in this part. Avoid getting carried away and only write what is necessary. The shorter, the better. Only talk about what is your central objective, though you may elaborate on how you reached that point.

Sep 2: Add your Strategy

For the next step, you will need to showcase your strategic planning process. After mentioning your objectives, you must be able to accurately represent your strategy to reinforce the brand. As part of your brand management plan, you will need to display what you have in store for the brand. This goes without saying that you can describe where you plan the brand to be headed and how are you able to execute the said plan. Proceed to the next step for more detailed elaboration.

Step 3: Create an Action Plan

An action plan is a series of steps that must be followed in order to complete a small project or achieve a specific objective. To make one, simply list the tasks that must be completed to fulfill your project or target in the sequence in which they must be completed. This step will require you to create an action plan so that readers of the brand management plan are able to understand and comprehensively identify your ideas. It may seem intimidating but you don’t have to worry because templates are available for you to use.

Step 4: Introduce your Team

You aren’t working alone, although you may be tasked to come up with the brand management plan, you still have other people who will work alongside you to execute the contents of the plan, if they are approved. Dedicate a section where you will be introducing the people who will be working closely with you to bring this plan to life. Make sure to label their roles so that readers will be aware of what they are contributing to the brand management plan.

Step 5: Clarify the Budget

As for the final step, you will need to set up a budget plan to accompany the brand management plan. Nothing is free after all, not the advertisements, the write-ups from journalists, and is presented through media. Higher-ups will appreciate you estimating the necessary budget to be spent on the brand management plan. It is worth mentioning that you have to set a budget that isn’t too much or too little because it could be the difference between being rejected or having your plan approved.

FAQs

What are the requirements of a brand manager?

A brand manager is in charge of the brand’s tangible and intangible properties. The price of a product, packaging, logo, accompanying colors, and text format are all physical characteristics of a company’s brand. The function of a brand manager is to examine how a brand is viewed in the market while taking into account the intangible aspects of the brand. Consumer experience with the brand and their emotional connection to the product or service are examples of intangible elements. Brand equity will increase in value if people are prepared to pay more for a brand than a generic brand that performs the same activities.

How are brands managed successfully?

The key to successful brand management is to create a positive and memorable brand experience for your customers through the various touchpoints you and your company have with them. Analysis of social media, subscriptions, database volume, and sales are all used to assess its efficacy. When you manage a brand, it isn’t solely for the company’s sake. You have to thoroughly think about the target audience and how they will be perceiving it as well. Being aware of the target market will help you to manage your brand in a way that will be much more effective and well-received.

What are tips for online brand management?

Online brand management must be a top priority since it has far-reaching business ramifications that directly affect your company’s success or failure, and it can be crucial when potential customers make purchasing decisions. It involves tracking and directing how your business is seen online. It covers all aspects of public perception, including websites, social media, third-party articles, online reviews, search engine results, and pretty much everywhere else you may discover online discussions. Since there are so many variables at play, managing your online brand is crucial. You can leave a positive lasting impression and boost brand growth and client reach by managing your online brand.

Think of it as a brand management business plan, like any other company, they don’t merely whip up a brand without careful consideration of how it could affect the company. A company that is aware of what its target audience wants is more successful than a company that does not bother with the comments of the market. With that being said, you are more than ready to proceed to write a brand management plan!