Introduction
In the competitive world of today, there is hardly any place for companies who feel that the attributes of their services would be enough to attract the masses. Gone are the days when the product concept used to flourish. Innovation in services can't be the only reason for mass attraction. There have to be certain additional efforts that can promote the services further into the product or services further into the market. One very viable means to do the same can be through brand marketing. It becomes even more important when the sector is telecommunications as in this case. The reason for the same is that, competition in this sector has conquered the market to the utmost degree. Any loop-hole in terms of inability to provide a particular service is highly used by the competitors to make most. So, a company like DU would do brand management so as to increase the customer's perception about the services that it provides. This could be in the form of an assurance that the quality of a service would only better in the future so as to make it meaningful to buy. Once a general perception for a service is set, the sales of the company are bound to increase, hence increasing the benefits as well. So, there lies a huge responsibility on the shoulders of brand marketers as compared to the soul marketers as they have the extra responsibility of making the product more meaningful in the market as compared to its competitors. If one sees the results published by top companies, he would find that the returns collected by companies that follow systematic brand equity is much better as compared to those which have only taken it as an extra expenditure. In the current case of DU, the company faces stiff competition from tycoons like Etisalat. The company had been established much before DU and is also highly acceptable in the market. But with the recent Blackberry problem that the company went under, has cost Etisalat a number of remarks. So, this is the time when DU needs to attract those customers by showing a value proposition much higher than Etisalat. If the company can define brand equity now, it would certainly have the option for maintaining a permanent place for its customers.
A far as DU is concerned, the reason for brand marketing is to make its identification simpler. This would also reduce the risk of maintaining an extra inventory at any point in time. Other than this, the search cost is likely to decrease with the use of brand marketing. Once a brand value is made, quality satisfaction for the customers would even improve, it would add on to the competitive advantage for the company making financial collection a lot easier than what can be possible without marketing.
From the customers' perspective also there are a number of advantages of brand marketing. Not only does it aid in identifying the source from where the service has been used, but it also assigns a substantial level of responsibility to the manufacturers considering that they have brand equity to maintain. It also reduces the risk of buying non-preferred products, it would aid in reducing the cost of searching for the right company to buy a service, and it would aid in recognition by the symbol itself and also signify a quality. This is highly pertinent from the telecommunications companies situated in UAE. The intended population that would benefit the services of DU is 2.9 million. This number is large enough so as to beat the number of customers served by the pioneers in the field, Etisalat. The reason for DU to expect such a huge number is that the company believes in being straight forward in its ideas rather than promising things that are absolutely impractical. This quality of the company is highly appreciable to attract such a huge population. (About us, 2010)
Purpose of the Study
The basic aim of conducting this brand marketing is that, DU wants 100% recognition in the market with a capability to emerge champions in its own field. The idea behind this purpose has been further segregated in the following manner:
Literature Review
Every bit of expenditure that a company puts in especially those which are not related to the actual manufacturing of its products or services must have a concrete reason behind it. The reason for the same is that it is only once the companies can optimize their production costs that they hold chances of making a deserving profit in the long run. One way to do this optimization is to conduct brand marketing. Many scholars feel that it is only with the help of brand marketing that a number of costs that are related to customer satisfaction would come down in the long run. So, one very fact that one needs to realize is that the sole aim of brand marketing is to attract an emotional response from the consumers in the form of loyalty. It must be understood that customer have a reason to adopt a certain class of service not just because of the quality that it provides as promised but also because of the emotions that arise from the purchase. So, brand marketing, is about targeting the customers so as to give the right perception about the services that a company provides. The companies that hold great brad image prosper because the slogan or their logo is so widely recognized that they can afford to manufacture in huge quantities as the demands are bound to increment in the future.
Some notable scholars' feel that the qualities of a product may be similar or even not as adequate as that provided by the others in the market, but it is only through the emotions that arise from the services that attracts the customers. One of the scholars has also remarked that brand marketing not only helps in distinguishing a company from another in the market but also serves as a path to develop a positive perception about the company. We have seen that brands are maintained by only a small logo or a small tag line, but what is also maintained by these mere things is the image and identification that a specific target audience for a particular company. DU, as in this case has used the green community theme in order to brand itself. This particular theme is highly suitable for brand marketing. The reason for the same is that the company is well-aware of the fact the UAE is a land of deserts. Green life is very scarce in the region. So, indication of green-life also ensures the fact that the company would serve as a healer to the warm and unpleasant climate of the region. So, this has an emotional attribute attached to its name.
There are other scholars who have gone into the significant reason for conducting brand marketing. These reasons have been mentioned as follows:
Brand marketing would help a company to deliver a message clearly. In the current case, DU has started the service called- pay-as-you-go. Now, this gives a clear message to the consumers. So, once the brand marketing of DU is done, these messages would reach the maximum. (Brand Marketing Strategy, 2010)
Brand marketing aids in confirming the credibility of a firm. As a brand, a company would have to maintain its credibility so as to keep its place in the market.
Brand marketing helps in making an emotional attachment with the customers. This as we have seen is highly as at times it can even compensate for a lesser quality. This can be seen in the case of laptops provided by Sony. The company is the only one that is not in the practice of distributing free accessories just as competitors like Dell. In spite of this fact, the company has undergone such brand marketing that it has sales much above Dell in many countries across the globe. In fact it has almost become a status symbol for many amongst students to won a laptop from Sony.
Brand marketing would result into a position of the company where it can motivate the buyers as well. As it has been mentioned, it would become a matter of pride for the customers to own service from a well-known brand. Unfortunately for DU, Etisalat has been maintaining such an image but with time giving way to innovation, it is highly likely that DU would also be able to make its buyers feel proud of being associated with the company.
Finally, if one sees the utility of brand marketing, he would acknowledge the fact that it makes the user loyalty even more concrete. Once a company is able to maintain a brand image, the number of customers would only increase provided that that the company can live up to its expectations. (Lake, 2010)
So, brand marketing is about understanding exactly what the latent demands of customers are and fulfilling them in the best manner possible by the company. It must also be noted that only a concrete work of formulating strategies can help a company to maintain a brand image.
References
