Customer-Based Brand Equity approaches brand equity from the point of view of the customer. We all place value towards a brand that resides in our minds and our hearts, our purchase decisions when it comes to brands steam from exposure to marketing messages. Brand Equity is a Succession must-have if you are trying to build a brand or promote a product or service.
There are three key ingredients to brand equity:
The differential effect arises from different consumer’s responses. If there is no difference than the name brand product can primarily be categorized as a commodity or a generic type of the product.
Brand Knowledge is consumer behavior about what they have learned, felt, seen, and heard about the brand due to experience. Which in the end, the brand may have high marketing activity, but the brand equity depends on what resides in the minds of and hearts of existing and prospective customers.
Customer response to marketing is based on perceptions, preferences, and behavior related to all aspects of brand marketing. These include a choice of brand, recall of copy points from an ad, response to a sales promotion, and evaluations of a proposed brand extension.
Keep in mind that there is a difference between Brand Equity and Brand Loyalty. You want both, of course, but you want to have the equity which places value on your brand and makes it make recognizable. While loyalty is your customer-based being loyal to your brand regardless of any negative publicity or change in the market.
Investopedia defines brand equity as a value premium that a company generates from a product with a recognizable name when compared to a generic equivalent.
To have a product that will be recognizable, you want to manifest differences that make you stand out from the competition. You want to make your brand:
Memorable
Easily recognizable
Superior in quality and reliability
Take Apple, for example; they have built a brand equity that is number 1 based on Interbrand Best Global Brands of 2019. What other company can ask you the following:
1. Do you prefer Apple or Microsoft?
2. Do you prefer Apple iPhone or Android?
3. Do you prefer Safari or Google?
4. Do you prefer Apple iPod or Sony?
5. Do you prefer Siri or Alexa?
6. Do you prefer Apple Computer or Dell?
7. Do you prefer Apple Airpods or Bose?
8. Do you prefer Apple iWatch or FitBit?
Apple has built brand equity across so many products. Apple has found the formula to create brand equity that no other company has been able to match.
Brand equity comes down to what the customers feel and what they love about the products they are using. You want to build brand awareness and a brand image that will elevate your brand to the next level and get you closer to that brand equity status.