The Four Steps of BrandBuildingBuil

The Four Steps of Brand
Building
Building a strong brand, according to the Customer-Based Brand Equity model,
can be thought of in terms of a sequence of steps, in which each step is contingent
upon the successful completion of the previous step. All steps involve accomplish-
ing certain objectives with customers, both existing and potential. The first step is
to ensure identification of the brand with customers and an association of the
brand in customers’ minds with a specific product class or customer need. The sec-
ond step is to firmly establish the brand meaning in the minds of customers by
strategically linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations. The third
step is to elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identity and brand
meaning. The fourth and final step is to convert brand response to create an
intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand.
These four steps represent a set of fundamental questions that customers invariably
ask about brands, implicitly if not explicitly:
Who are you? (brand identity)
What are you? (brand meaning)
What about you? What do I think or feel about you? (brand responses)
What about you and me? What kind of association and how much of a con-
nection would I like to have with you? (brand relationships)
There is an obvious sequence in this “branding ladder,” that is, meaning cannot be
established unless identity has been created; responses cannot occur unless the
right meaning has been developed; and a relationship cannot be forged unless the
proper responses have been elicited.