The Role of Brand Management as an Important Tool of Marketing to Ensure Customer Loyalty and Customer Relation

Rationale- The marketing activities are related to the management of customer relation, creating awareness about products and services, improving selling quantity and assuring profitability. The brand management techniques are applied as effective tools for ensuring marketing activities [Hur et al., 2011]. The brand acts a strong market differentiator for organizations to increase the level of market competition. It is a strong tool that acts as a reflector of the organization to the public, thereby increasing customer focus and discipline.

• What are the techniques of brand management that assure customer attention and retention? • What is the importance of branding as a tool of marketing in an organization? • Determine the importance of marketing in managing growth and profitability? • What is the interrelation between branding and marketing activities in the modern scenario?

• To analyse the various tools and techniques of branding used in an organization • The importance of marketing activities in business growth and success. • To determine the impact of branding on marketing success and as a tool for modern marketers.

The effectiveness of research methodology supports in developing essential and effective knowledge about a research topic so that proper information support in the growth of organizations. The use of primary and secondary methods of research provides both qualitative and quantitative information on the research topic so that the research aim is achieved. The use of primary information supports in gaining relevant first-hand quantitative information, while the secondary sources rely on the use of books and journals so that qualitative information from the year 2010-2013 can be collected for analysis.

Brand management: Brand management is the perception of customers about the products and services of an organization [Mazodier, 2012]. It is the influence that a brand has on the customer’s intent of purchase and referral. The process of brand management supports the manager in improving the value of products through devoted and long term customers. Keller et.al, commented that the brand managers conduct proper activities to communicate customers about the effectiveness and uniqueness of products to improve the overall level of sales and profitability. Brand management is the effective communication of the value of a brand to its target audience so that strong brand awareness can be enhanced [Keller et al., 2011].

Marketing management: According to Nam et.al, the process of marketing management is the stages of planning and controlling business awareness activities that create customer awareness. Marketing experience. This method supports effective communication of offerings and products to the customers with the use of right tool to the right target audience at the most effective time [Nam et al., 2011].

Brand leveraging: Booth et.al in their study concluded that brand leveraging strategy supports in the marketing of new product and service under the existing brand name. It allows proper communication of valuable information about a new product to the customers. This strategy allows proper management of customers and the generation of huge amounts of profits so that expansion can be done. It allows for gaining competitive positioning in the market [Booth, 2011]. Brand differentiation: Zaichkowsky and Judith commented that brand differentiation brings put the uniqueness of an organization’s products and services so that customers benefit can be assured through uniqueness. The brand differentiation allows communicating with the target audience about the importance of an organizations products and communication of effectiveness. There are stronger customer relations through distinctive offerings [Zaichkowsky, 2010]. The business is able to communicate the distinguished features of an organization to the customers apart from its competitors to attract customers on a large scale. Brand portfolio management: There are large scale organizations that manage more than one product or brand under a single name. Uggla stated that brand portfolio management supports in managing multiple brands through proper communication with the customers. The brand portfolio aims at meeting the diverse customer expectations through a distinguished product line. It aims at serving the needs of the diverse customer groups so that the marketing activities are easily conducted through an increased customer base. Brand portfolio management is an effective marketing

Brand innovation: Innovation is induced by the marketing manager in the product design, quality and packaging to attract new customer segment. Further, the change in logo and tagline also influence customer decision regarding the choice of predicts and services. Brand innovation is an effective marketing idea that supports achieving both branding objectives and marketing campaigns.

Improved customer service: According to Anwar et al., recognition and reputation of brand assure high competitive position to the organization, and thus, the activities are all directed towards the achievement of customer satisfaction. There is an overall growth to the customer services and the development of long term relations which is the main motive of modern marketers [Anwar et al., 2011]. Cost-effective promotion activity: Devasagayam et al., stated that the development and recognition of brand name due to effective quality, pricing and design supports an organization is not investing much in the activities of promotion and advertising. Branding is one of the most effective tools of global marketing, thus promoting the uniqueness in term of quality and price to the large customer segment [Devasagayam et al., 2010]. Introduction of innovative products: The brand name among the customers improves organizations strength in terms of adding on new products to the list of the brand so that profitability index can be enhanced [Kapferer, 2012]. The new products can also be marketed through the use of a brand name to global countries without any additional cost of acknowledging customers about the brand reputation. techniques that can be used to improve the effectiveness of the brand. Research has provided knowledge about the importance of branding as an effective marketing tool for modern marketers so that customer loyalty and retention can be ensured. The relevance of marketing can be understood through the effectiveness of the organization in terms of growth and success. The marketing activities have come a long way in terms of their effectiveness and importance in the industry. Initially, marketing activities were restricted to only sales management and growth, and now the modern marketers have come with innovative ideas of developing long term customer relations through marketing activities. The use of brand management has effectively improved the method of marketing and promoting organizational products and services. It has been observed that the marketers use brand management in terms of portfolio management and innovation so that global market segment can be attracted and retained. Brand management develops a positive perception of the effectiveness and quality of an organization. It is based on managing customer requirement and ensuring that there needs fulfilled with the best marketing practices. Brand management involves communication with customers through social media, personal touch and digital sources to determine their needs and match their satisfaction and expectations. Thus, it is observed that the marketers are highly dependent on activities of brand management and recognition to improve marketing response.

Customer loyalty is that essential element which supports in growth and competitiveness of the organization. The modern marketers face a major challenge relating to the sustainability of positive impression on the customers. The marketers focus on creating a positive emotional impact on customers through brand management and promotion. The proper activities of branding support an organization in bringing necessary change and innovation in products and services with relative ease. It influences human behaviour towards products and services of the profitability and productivity of an organization. Keller's brand equity model is used commonly in organizations to support brand awareness that results in promotion of the organization.

1. Abimbola, Temi, Ming Lim, Tore Hillestad, Chunyan Xie, and Sven A. Haugland (2010). "Innovative corporate social responsibility: 2. Anwar, Ayesha, Amir Gulzar, Fahid Bin Sohail, and Salman Naeem Akram (2011). "Impact of brand image, trust and effect on consumer brand extension attitude: the mediating role of brand loyalty." International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences 1, no. 5: pp. 73-79. 3. Booth, Norman, and Julie Ann Matic (2011). "Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions." Corporate Communications: An International Journal 16, no. 3: pp. 184-191. 4. Devasagayam, P. Raj, Cheryl L. Buff, Timothy W. Aurand, and Kimberly M. Judson (2010). "Building brand community membership within organizations: a viable internal branding alternative?." Journal of Product & Brand Management. 5. Eggers, Fabian, Michele O’Dwyer, Sascha Kraus, Christine Vallaster, and Stefan Güldenberg (2013). "The impact of brand authenticity on brand trust and SME growth: A CEO perspective." Journal of World Business 48, no. 3: pp. 340-348. 6. Gensler, Sonja, Franziska Völckner, Yuping Liu-Thompkins, and Caroline Wiertz (2013). "Managing brands in the social media environment." Journal of interactive marketing 27, no. 4: pp. 242-256. 7. Hur, Won‐Moo, Kwang‐Ho Ahn, and Minsung Kim (2011). "Building brand loyalty through managing brand community commitment." Management Decision. 8. Kapferer, Jean-Noël (2012). The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. Kogan page publishers. 9. Keller, Kevin Lane, M. G. Parameswaran, and Isaac Jacob (2011). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. Pearson Education India. 10. Mazodier, Marc, and Dwight Merunka (2012). "Achieving brand loyalty through sponsorship: the role of fit and self-congruity." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40, No. 6: pp. 807-820. 11. Nam, Janghyeon, Yuksel Ekinci, and Georgina Whyatt (2011). "Brand equity, brand loyalty and consumer satisfaction." Annals of tourism Research 38, No. 3: pp. 1009-1030. phenomenology as a research methodology." Nurse researcher 20, no. 6. 13. Uggla, Henrik (2013). "The nature and scope of brand portfolio signals within brand portfolio management." IUP Journal of Brand Management 10, no. 3: pp. 7. 14. Wang, Hui‐Ming Deanna (2010). "Corporate social performance and financial‐based brand equity." Journal of product & Brand management. 15. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne (2010). "Strategies for distinctive brands." Journal of Brand Management 17, No. 8: pp. 548-560. CITE THIS ARTICLE: Dr. Giriraj Kiradoo, The Role of Brand Management as an Important Tool of Marketing to Ensure Customer Loyalty and Customer Relation, Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, 7(14), 2014, pp.

Associate Professor, Department of Management & Technology, Govt. Engineering College Bikaner, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India