The importance of brand equity according to consumers

In today?s market conditions, the requirements and expectations ofcustomers about productsand servicesgrowingby the dayandthey ask forhigh qualityproductswithvery low prices, even incommodities. Boththenational and international arena, differentiation has becomea prerequisitenot only forcompetitive advantage, butsurvivalsofcompanies. The food sector isagrowing marketwith the entry oflocal and international brandsandis becomingincreasingly competitivewiththeintroduction of new brands.In this contextin which competitorsplay aparticularly important role, the brandis gaining invalue.Research onthe value of abrand and its productsis in factimportantin determiningmarket strategieswhich it belongs, which enhancesconsumer? sbrand perception. This study provides important benefits for the managers operating in the food sector.Brand marketing literature is very wide concept and many definitions have been developed related to the brand. Brands are composed of the names differentiating products to their competitors, symbols and shapes. Brandmanagement system andbranding strategies, providesconsumerstodistinguish betweendifferent versionsof products on the marketand to repurchase.The most important developments of brand names and branding that are happening is the necessity of providing supervision and activites over trade and consumers.After 1950 the brand management system gained popularity. The reason of gaining importance due to brands is not only new brands entries to the market but also consumer demands and expectations differing in today?s market environment, more informed consumers, the increase of their expectations, the effects of the change on consumers as a more segmented market.To build a brand name and to add value to it continuously needs a strategic longterm planning.Especially in this market, which has a fierce price competition, there are lots of unbranded companies which are offering the same quality of products and services. The customers, sometimes may prefer this brands to get the advantage of the lower price. Therefore, the firms have to develop themselves, their products and services day by day to avoid from lowering the value of their brands.It is seen that brand management systems is used on a broad area from fast-moving consumer goods to service sector. It is realized that the products can get a more powerful position than their competitors. Through brand management studies no matter which sector it is. That?s why after making an investment for the brand, the concious companies have to manage the branding process professionally in order to protect and enhance their brands. In order to manage the brand professionally, they have to work with brand specialists.All companies have to find the best marketing strategy matching the nature of their products since the effects of the brands to the company value can be even calculated nowadays.Brandmanagement, is notonly ideasaboutthe responsibilities andactivities,but also shows how to integrate the marketing function of organizational structure. However, this was also described as a phenomenon which is based on the concept of removing the uncertainties and shows what was the brand. Therefore, considering the basic functions of brand management, marketing strategies and tactics are more important in accordance with carefully structuring. Because to create a brand depending on the quality of his product features, package, price, distribution channels, advertising, public relations efforts such as the introduction of a value to remain in the market environment, is quite difficult and requires long-term strategies. For this reason, the concept of brand management; businesses to survive, acquire a good place in the market place and take the first one on behalf of consumer preferences is very important. Today, seeing enterprises who has a high brand value and a very strong, successful brand management strategy supports the accuracy of this information.Brand management in the modern sense; has turned into necessary policies and strategies for achieving the tasks of the marketing department, formulation, implementation and supervision of a structured a quite complex series of actions. Generally brand management process is a continuous cycle based on research, planning, implementation and control.Firms with more than one brand,by the help of analysing which was successful brands, which ones should be given importance and what type of brands should not be seenas the source of transferring economic benefits, takes advantage of the results of brand valuation.The ideal brand equity measurement system delivers the appropriate, complete and current information about all other competitors to its decision-makers within the company. Prerequisite for a brand value of the measuring system, understands how brand value is organized and organising brand activities. This audience research shows how to prepare to brand and marketing activities within the scope of a number of key dimensions of performance and prepared to determine how consumers perceive the brand and is being prepared to determine how consumers perceive it. Many or a few changes made in the marketing program over time, in order to ensure that appropriate corrections, if necessary, it is important following the value of the brand.Because of their growing importance, researchers have begun to develop methods to better measure and account for brands. So there is a wide variety of models available for placing a financial value on brand equity. Although researchers and companies have been trying to find methods and disclose the financial value of brands, all of them involves several problems can be calledsubjetivitiy. Brand value, if correctly measured, could represent a useful data for the management of brands. But depending on the purpose of brand valuation and on the method used, different brand value will result.Despite this vital importance of brand equity concept, brand equity measurements are only limited to financial analysis. Yet, branding strategies should be structured by customer perceptions and preferences; and every branding effort should match customer priorities. In this context, the general structure of this study is built on the brand equity measurements focusing on customer based brand equity perspective.Evaluated with a broad perspective, brand valuation has both financial and strategic importance. Value from a brand, plays a crucial role in this process and the promotion of new products by transferring new product categories. The effect of the brand for creating demand, the product itself is much more effective than similar products with the same characteristics. In addition, brands help firms to have much more stable relationship between customers and contribute to the development of the functional and emotional skills between the firm and customer. A valuable brand, reduce the sensitivity of product prices as a result of high-level of brand equity, increase sales revenue by affecting the elasticity of demand for product prices.Besides the positive effect of demand on sales; valuable brand in the tough competitive environment, will provide the company important advantages by new products developments and patent issues. The success captured for the brand extension strategy, means the entry barriers for potential competitors. This provides a significant competitive advantage for the company.In this way, the rise of sales volume and profit margins provides stability and makes possible of the protection of market share and the production volume increase for the company.Changing consumer brand awareness to brand preference is getting more and more difficult and due to this choice it is difficult to create brand loyalty. In this context, brand equity has become crucial in the process of brand management. The concept of brand value has gained importance in the 1990s, and defined the brand is perceived as an asset convertible to cash. Brand equity has two dimensions: consumer-based brand equityand the financial-based brand equity.Consumer-based brand equity expresses brand values to consumers? minds and their ideas about brands. And financial-based brand equity represents financial value of the brand in case of the acquisition of another firm. Consumer-based brand equity is the basis for financial-based brand equity.Overall, it can be suggested that higher brand equity generates higher brand knowledge and a larger consumer response. Consequently, equity enhances the performance of the brand both from financial and customer perspectives.Brand equity which is generally defined as added value to a brand, that? s why it is chosen because of its important role in helping firms to gain financial value and becoming strong brands with its high price advantages in the market and providing the firms important strategic marketing advantages, high market shares, profits and revenues, brand loyalty, integrated marketing communications and brand extension opportunities.Identifying the antecedents of brand equity which are based on customer perceptions and attitudes and their relative importance are the focal points of this study. In this aspect, dimensions of brand equity are firstly discussed in order to highlight and refine upon branding strategies.The thesis is discussed in four sections. First of all, the brands? historical development, the formation of the brand concept, advantages and benefits from a brand are mentioned. In the next section, after examining the approach to brand equity, measurement methods and the dimensions of brand the research part of the project is started.The essential goal is the factors affecting 20-30 years food products consumers? brand perception; and the differentiation of socio-demographic features, brand consumption, brand time consumption, brand consumption frequency and brand communication factors are also examined. Cronbach Alpha test measures reliability of the variables. The relationship between brand consumption, socio-demographic features, brand time consumption, brand consumption frequency, brand communication factors and brand perception is determined by using T-test, Anova test and Pearson Correlation Analysis.Another purpose is finding products or product segments (biscuits and wafers, crackers and breakfast foods, cakes and tarts, chocolates and chocolate products ets.) preferred by consumers and their other choice of brands.It is seen that consumers surveyed in terms of socio-demographic including gender, income level and level of education has been affected by brand perception. Age, marital status, professional status and number of family member were not significantly correlated with the brand perception. It has been observed that the brand usage and the increase of brand consumption period have a positive contribution to the brand value. Consumers often communicate with brands by TV commercials.By the analysis of the overall brand value?s variables; it was seen that there is a meaningful, positive and almost high-level relations between brand value factors.As a result, successful marketing activities are known as a creation of goods and services meeting consumer needs and desires. Brand performance is at the core of brand value measurement systems. The way to achieve brand loyalty which is the highest point of the brand pyramids, passes through at least offering the expectations of the consumer goods and services. For this reason, the brand value measurement system is an inevitable reality.