I have read an article online named “The ABCs of Branding: RCD”, which discusses about the basic building blocks of branding effort. RCD stands for Relevance, Credibility, and Differentiation.
Brand relevance refers to specialization and niche market. The author emphasized the importance of “relevant to few, but highly valued.” Many companies think that targeting a large amount of customer means earning a lot of profit. However, the business may profit within a short period, it is difficult maintain relevance among prospects who matter most. Furthermore, relevance is a moving target. The writer uses blackberry case to talk about that the company should innovate quickly to catch up with the technological advance in this competitive world.
Credibility of branding is about promise kept, which plays a key role to built trust and loyalty. Setting a realistic expectation requires a fully understanding of the company by the decision maker, so credibility begins with knowing the company, and the brand well. Most advertisement in the market is based on wishful thinking, which might harms the credibility of the company.
Differentiations can produce dramatic business gains in these main areas: product/service differentiation, operational differentiation, business mode differentiation, and marketing differentiation. In crowded market today, to make your brand and your product attractive, you should not only do things well, but also make things different to meet consumers’ demand.
Branding is not just making your brand known but also valued.