Building a brand is more than just fixing a catchy name on a product. Brand is all about relationships—it is how customers feel about your product. That feeling will either incline them to use your product or pass it by for something else. What control does a marketer have over the minds and hearts of buyers? Marketing authority David Jobber has identified seven factors in building a successful brand.

While a seller cannot create the public's perception of their product, the seller must influence opinion using strategic suggestions. This is called positioning, and to do it properly the seller must first identify the advantages of using the product or service. These benefits must align with the customer's needs, wants, and desires.

If you are lucky enough to be the first on the market to offer a particular product or service you may have an advantage—initially. If your product is successful you can be sure competition will arrive shortly; however, it is possible for the first successful brand to create a clear position in the minds of customers before the competition enters the market. Whether or not your product is the first of its kind, your first challenge is to establish credibility. Consumers must take your product seriously if they are to develop trust and loyalty to your brand.

Of course, before customers will buy a product, they must know about it. Communications play a critical role in building brand. Initial effort will focus on building brand awareness. As awareness increases, brand personality will be important to develop. Reinforcing position will be an on-going challenge.

This is where the next factor of brand-building comes into play. No amount of hustling can cover for quality. Statistically, higher quality brands always outplay their inferior counterparts in the marketing arena. Part of building a brand is communicating to consumers the benefits of using your brand—and consistently delivering on that promise.

Brand values must be understood and accepted internally as well as externally. This means that brand building involves a certain amount of internal marketing and training, so that any face-to-face contact customers have with the product is consistent and positive.

Even with the best of marketing, brand loyalty takes time to secure. Therefore, a long-term perspective is required when investing in a brand. Initially building up the brand will be an expense. Any business venture is a risk. If there comes a time when a brand has become tired or its market has gone into decline, the business may need to work at repositioning the product to reflect the change in consumers taste. Repositioning is an important, and none too easy factor, in brand building.

These seven factors: positioning, credibility, communications, quality, internal marketing, long-term perspective, and repositioning, are critical to building brand value. A proper marketing plan will address each factor. In addition, the marketing strategy should be evaluated and updated at regular intervals.