Introduction
It’s not uncommon for companies to manage multiple brands under one umbrella. This approach enables them to reach different segments of the market, take advantage of diverse branding opportunities, and potentially boost overall business growth. However, to make the most of this arrangement, it’s crucial to implement distinct and effective marketing strategies for each brand. In this blog, we’ll delve into strategies that can help your company successfully market multiple brands.
Understanding Brand Architecture
Brand architecture is a system that organizes brands, products, and services to help the audience understand what a company offers. It’s a structure that demonstrates the relationships between the parent company, sub-brands, products, and services. This structure can be divided into three primary types:
Marketing Multiple Brands – House of Brands
In a ‘House of Brands’ architecture, the parent company is in the background, and each brand stands on its own in the market. The brands have unique names, identities, and strategies to target different segments. A classic example is Procter & Gamble, which owns distinct brands like Tide, Pampers, and Gillette, each with its own identity. You can learn more about this approach from Procter & Gamble’s official website.
Branded House
In a ‘Branded House’ architecture, the parent company is the primary brand, and its products and services are sub-brands often associated with the parent company’s name. An example of this is Google, with sub-brands like Google Maps, Google Drive, and Google Docs, all linked to the Google brand. Here is a detailed explanation about the Branded House strategy.
Hybrid
A ‘Hybrid’ approach combines the strategies of ‘House of Brands’ and ‘Branded House’. Some sub-brands are strongly tied to the parent company, while others are allowed to operate with a degree of independence. This is seen with companies like PepsiCo, which owns brands like Pepsi, Lay’s, and Gatorade, and also operates as a standalone brand. Here’s a case study of PepsiCo’s hybrid brand architecture.
Understanding your brand architecture is essential because it affects how you should market each brand, interact with customers, and make strategic brand decisions.
Identifying Each Brand’s Unique Value Proposition
Every brand under your company should offer something unique to its target audience, known as a value proposition. This is the combination of features, benefits, and pricing that sets a brand apart from its competition.
To identify your brand’s unique value proposition, start by understanding your customers. What problems are they facing? How does your product or service solve these problems? How is your solution better than what your competitors are offering? You can use tools like customer surveys, interviews, and market research to gather this information.
Once you have identified the unique value proposition for each of your brands, ensure that it is communicated effectively in all your marketing strategies. Remember, your audience should be able to quickly understand why they should choose your brand over others. For instance, Apple’s value proposition revolves around innovation, design, and simplicity, which they effectively communicate in their advertisements.
Maintaining Brand Distinctiveness
When marketing multiple brands under one company, it’s essential to maintain the individual identity of each brand. Each brand needs to be marketed in a way that amplifies its unique personality, values, and message. This can be achieved through distinct brand logos, color schemes, taglines, and marketing strategies.
While it’s crucial to maintain the individuality of each brand, it’s equally important to ensure that the brands don’t compete against each other in the marketplace. Thus, each brand should target a different market segment or cater to a unique customer need.
Consistency in Brand Messaging
Ensure that each brand consistently communicates its unique value proposition in all its marketing collateral. This includes its website, social media platforms, email marketing, and other advertising campaigns. This consistent messaging will help solidify the brand’s identity in the minds of the consumers and create a strong brand recall.
For example, Coca-Cola maintains distinct brand identities for its different beverage lines. Coca-Cola itself is marketed around themes of happiness and sharing, while its sub-brand Diet Coke targets a health-conscious audience emphasizing the zero-calorie feature.
Creating Synergy Between Brands
While each brand under your company should have a distinct identity, there should also be an overall synergy between the brands. This involves aligning the brand values, marketing objectives, and audience demographics to some extent.
This synergy can be particularly useful when one brand in your portfolio is well-established, and another is a new entrant. The established brand can lend credibility to the new brand and help it gain market acceptance.
Leveraging Shared Resources for Cross-Promotion
When marketing multiple brands, you can leverage shared resources for cost-effective cross-promotion. For example, you can use the same marketing channels, customer databases, and even events to promote multiple brands.
However, be mindful not to confuse your audience with too much cross-promotion. The promotional efforts should make sense and provide value to your customers.
Developing a Unified Messaging Strategy
Despite maintaining individual identities for each brand, your company should strive to develop a unified messaging strategy that aligns with your overall business goals. This helps in creating a strong corporate identity that further enhances the credibility of all the brands in your portfolio.
Establishing Clear Communication Channels
Ensure that your customers understand the different communication channels for each brand. Clear, organized, and streamlined communication helps prevent confusion and enhances the customer experience. For instance, different social media accounts or customer service lines can be set up for each brand to provide targeted support and updates.
Internal Brand Management
Just as it is important to market your brands to your customers, it’s equally critical to market them internally. Ensuring that your employees understand the distinct values, messaging, and positioning of each brand can help drive more effective external marketing.
Employee Training
Implement robust training programs to familiarize your employees with the distinct identity of each brand. This will help them become better brand ambassadors in their interactions with customers and partners. For companies with multiple brands, it might be useful to reference tools such as HubSpot’s brand training guide to ensure effective internal communication.
Brand Extension
If one of your brands has a particularly strong reputation or customer base, consider whether it might be beneficial to extend that brand into new product categories or markets. This can be a cost-effective way to introduce new products or services, leveraging the existing brand’s credibility and customer loyalty.
Identifying Opportunities for Brand Extension
Identify opportunities for brand extension based on customer feedback, market research, and analysis of current market trends. Check out resources like Neil Patel’s guide to market research to get started.
Leveraging Customer Feedback
Lastly, never underestimate the power of customer feedback. It can provide invaluable insights into how your brands are perceived, what’s working, and what areas could use improvement.
Continuous Improvement
Strive for continuous improvement based on customer feedback. Regularly review feedback from customer surveys, social media comments, and product reviews to identify areas for improvement. Services like Google Alerts or Mention can help you keep track of online mentions of your brands, allowing you to promptly address any customer concerns or feedback.
Need Help Managing Multiple Brands?
Navigating the complexities of multi-brand management can be challenging. But you don’t have to do it alone. At Contentscape, we specialize in crafting unique brand strategies and engaging digital experiences that will help each of your brands shine in its own right.
Whether you need assistance with brand differentiation, digital marketing strategies, or want to explore brand extension opportunities, our team of experts is here to help. We’ve helped numerous businesses in Brighton and beyond to successfully manage their multi-brand portfolios.
Don’t leave your brands’ potential untapped. Get in touch with us today and let’s elevate your business together.
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