In many SME companies, brand management receives little or no attention in the daily run of affairs. Although the owners or directors are the ones to take the lead in this area, they either seldom have the time for it or are not even aware of “brand management” as a concept. And because this concept is not ingrained within such an SME, there are no other employees available to give it sufficient attention.

The entrepreneur, as a person, can be extremely important in building and acquiring recognition for a brand. But while this is recognized, the position of entrepreneur, and the possibilities available to him, are hardly used.

Little consideration is given to the possibilities offered by a (strong) brand, or to the conditions that must be met to create a strong brand. Co-branding – working with other companies to boost the value of a brand – receives no attention at all. And the fact that the company name is often not the same as the brand name further reduces its chances of gaining people's attention.

In short, brand management is not given the priority it needs for a strong brand image to be constructed. And in this the role of the entrepreneur is all-important, both internally and externally.

The creation of high(er) brand awareness is not often a conscious goal when determining a company's marketing budget. Only when questioned more closely is it clear that this is a target companies want to attain. But because, for SMEs, generating turnover is just as important a goal, in the short term a company's attention is clearly directed towards sales, and to stimulating them as much as possible, simply in order to survive.

Companies place, naturally, the brand name on as many surfaces as possible, for example, the packaging, the building facades and the company stationery. But the logical next step of placing the brand name on the product itself does not always occur to them. It would appear that such a step is, even for the entrepreneur, less than self-evident.

Within the broad range of communications media, it is striking that most emphasis is placed on television exposure: commercials and sponsorship of televised events. This calls for inventiveness and creativity, with which, for a relatively limited budget, it is possible to gain national recognition.

Entrepreneurs are proud of their products. This reveals itself not just in their wish for the brand to be seen as a signifier of “quality” but also as possessing an “attractive, chic and distinguished design”.

It is difficult to name one single success factor that a company should possess if it wants to create a high(er) brand awareness. What is clear, however, is that creativity is a not unimportant factor. What emerges from the study is that such creativity must first and foremost come from the owner; it should not be expected to emerge from within the company. However, such an attitude has often been created by the entrepreneur him/herself, as shown in the previous paragraph.

Little study has been made of brand management within SMEs. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that there is little or nothing to be found on this subject in the business literature.

This is in contrast to marketing within SMEs, about which a relatively large amount is known and has been published. It would simplify both understanding and interpretation if these two closely-related business areas could be brought under one umbrella, especially with regard to similar problems that owners encounter in both areas.

This appears, however, not to be possible. The problems encountered in brand management are rarely comparable to the SMEs' marketing problems described in business literature. They are also extremely diverse and, in the practice, totally different to those described in marketing theory.

The noticeably high marketing budgets that were observed can, perhaps, be explained with two small observations:

1. The companies studied are middle-sized. They are not the little corner shop. So some degree of scale is relevant here.
2. All the companies studied operate in the consumer market. To reach the consumer, they will usually need a higher budget than they would in a business-to-business situation.

• Concentrate on building one (or two) strong brands.
• Focus a creatively-developed marketing program on one or two important brand associations, to serve as the source of “brand equity”.
• Use a well-integrated mix of brand elements that fully support both brand awareness and brand image.
• Be logical in your policy and consistent in your communications.
• Ensure that there is a clear link between the character of the entrepreneur and that of the brand.
• Cultivate a passion for the brand within the company.

1. Design a brand-building “push” campaign and a creative “pull” campaign to attract attention.
2. Broaden the brand with as many secondary associations as possible.

It is easy to understand the reasons for the two guidelines being discarded; they simply do not come within the scope of most SMEs' concerns, a fact underscored by the observation that of the companies studied, only a few cooperate with other companies or engage in co-branding.

Re: 4). It is said that a person should be consistent in their policy and their activities. Do not turn left one day then right the next. “Repetition” is the magic word.

With regard to consistency in communications, someone once notably observed: “It's only when you can no longer see the message because you've worked with it so long, so often and so intensively, that it begins to register with your target audience.”

Re: 5). The study showed clearly how great the role of the entrepreneur is to the creation of brand recognition: as a source of inspiration and organization within the company but, principally, as the personification of the brand.

As entrepreneur, you are the brand and you should embody it in everything you do to deliver the message as clearly as is possible. Because it is so real and authentic, not even a multinational's multi-million dollar campaign can deliver as much impact or conviction.

Re: 6). The passion that entrepreneurs express when they talk about their brand must be transmitted to the rest of the organization. Because such businesses are not big to begin with, this can be done. And when this happens, the whole organization should radiate with an enthusiasm for the brand in everything it does. A small, passionate group of people can bring enormous power to bear on the building of a strong brand. So much so that if you were to wake them up in the middle of the night, the first words out of not just the product or brand manager's mouth but also that of the telephonist and storekeeper would be about the brand.

Keller's model is one of the few theoretical publications about brand management in SMEs. Yet how he decided on his proposed five guidelines is unclear. He may have based them on an earlier study, or he may simply have applied sound business reasoning to the matter.

If the latter is the case, that does not invalidate the conclusions even if, later, not every guideline was proved to work in practice.

Ultimately, it was possible to add a trio of new guidelines. Whether these carry more weight than the five proposed by Keller must be determined by further study. It should be stated that, in the opinion of the author of this study, this is indeed the case.

When all the results, as well as the subsequent conclusions, of the study are brought together, a combination of factors becomes apparent. These factors can be represented schematically by the “funnel” model shown in Figure 1.

The owner plays an important double role here. On the one hand he/she determines, as director and manager, the structure of his organization and how much attention it can give to brand management. For example, he/she can do this by appointing a marketing manager or, at the very least, by making the tasks the clear responsibility of a specific employee. But he/she can also accomplish this by setting clear objectives and making the organization aware of the importance of brand management. On the other hand, as the entrepreneur, he/she is often the personification of the brand and, as such, plays a direct role in communicating the brand to the outside world.

Such a scenario (described in the previous paragraph) is more readily noticeable in SMEs than in large companies. First, the influence of an entrepreneur on a business is greater and much more direct in an SME. Second, the brand is much more closely integrated with the entrepreneur in an SME. An attack on the brand is often seen as an attack on him because he is (often) the brand. And that can be both positive, as well as negative, for the company.

Following on from this, the company structure has more influence on the role of brand management in SMEs than it does in large companies. In SMEs, the central question is whether any attention at all is paid to brand management and how, if it is, it is built into the company. In most large companies, the central question is how much attention is there? How many people are in the Marketing department? How many brands does each brand manager manage? How many million Euros can be invested in brand recognition?

The market in which the SME operates also exerts an influence on the role of brand management within the company. The clothing market can be taken as an example: a brand there carries far more weight with a purchase than it does, for example, with the purchase of a radiator. The type of market also determines the role brand management takes within an SME. As well does the type of products a company makes and its market orientation. Finally, the number of competitors, not to mention their size, plays an important role with regard to the SME itself.

The difference with a large company has to do with the fact that an SME is much more dependent on, and guided by, the market but can bring little influence to bear on it; whereas a multinational can exert its will far more and can, if it wants to, change it or even create a (sub)market.

Both groups also exhibit distinguishing characteristics that directly affect the messages they communicate. An SME has, in absolute terms, a much more limited budget than a large company. And a couple of hundred thousand Euros does not go far if you want to build a strong brand. The budget also influences the desired level of creativity available to the marketing. How inventive can a company with relatively little money be in reaching its desired goals and communicating its message effectively?

One last aspect of the funnel model worth noting is that, for an SME, the desired goal of its marketing activities and communications is two-fold. As the study revealed, people want to create brand recognition. But they also want to generate turnover. Which means that they have to concentrate on selling!

Further study would reveal whether, based on its marketing activities and advertisements, its commercials and free publicity, a large company is also so bound to its selling ethos; or whether its foremost goal is the building of a brand and the generation of brand recognition, which is the more instinctive choice.

It is obvious from the study that the role of brand management varies considerably in different companies. In one company it will not be an issue at all; in another, the whole organization will be geared towards it. There is, thus, considerable variety in the internal position of brand management.

Furthermore, what was also striking was that there exist companies with no recognition that are working hard and gearing their whole organization to gaining that recognition. At the same time, the study also found that there are companies that had created a high level of brand recognition but with little conscious effort.

Two axes are plotted on the graph in Figure 2. The vertical axis represents the role of brand management within the organization, measured against the (external) recognition of the brand on the horizontal. The relationship of all these factors forms a new theory of brand management in SMEs: “the brand development model”.

The following observation is appropriate here: there are no objective criteria for measuring the recognition of a brand in SMEs and absolutely none for measuring them in relation to each other. Within SMEs, little research is undertaken into the effects of marketing spend and concepts such as spontaneous or aided brand recognition are well known but never measured. The entries on the horizontal axis are, therefore, subjective. Further research could offer a more objective method.

This is less so on the vertical axis. The previous model (Figure 1) clarifies the role of brand management in the SMEs and shows that the structure of the company, and the position of brand management therein, is a variable that influences the eventual “total role”.

To determine the internal role, the (embedded) position of brand management within the organisation needs to be studied.This can be accomplished by clear delegation of responsibility for this topic, by making clear the targets and goals and by creating an awareness of it throughout the organisation. In addition, the size of the budget (as a percentage of the turnover) says something about the importance attached to brand management. And finally, the already much discussed role of the owner plays an important part.

How these factors can all be measured in relation to each other was not the subject of this study; this is a subject for subsequent investigation. However, it is possible to give a reasonable indication of the outcome of the variables provided.

The difference with regard to multinationals lies in the fact that the vertical axis represents a logical base for them, and one that is almost always present. We do not have to impress on Philips, Coca Cola, Koninklijke Niemeyer and Nike that brand management needs to be paid sufficient attention if large scale brand recognition is to be realised. Within the SMEs people are not always aware of this, nor are the companies geared towards such a concept, because the possibilities for such companies are limited.

The quadrants of the brand development model in Figure 2 are explained in more detail below:

• I Beginning and underprivileged brands. In this quadrant it is important to make a distinction between two types of brands/companies. There are brands/companies that have just been set up which have not yet managed to create awareness and in which awareness of brand management needs to grow before it can be given a greater role. These are the beginning brands. Then there are brands/companies that have been in existence for longer but have not succeeded in gaining name recognition and have not organized a bigger role for brand management within their organization. They do not behave in an entrepreneurial fashion, they fail to embed the idea of brand recognition within their organization and they make little or no budget available for such a concept. Such brands will probably stay in the same position in the model for the next ten years. These are the underprivileged brands.
• II Emerging brands. The building of a brand takes time. Brand recognition is not something that happens by itself. Making a brand recognizable demands that a conscious effort is made to achieve such recognition. In this quadrant, the owner makes everyone within the organization aware of the need for this, gears the organization to it and makes the budget (however difficult this may be) available for it. In this regard, his/her own role as a publicist is also extremely important. The brands in this quadrant are known as the emerging brands.It is probable that a brand beginning in quadrant I will need to pass through this quadrant as its grows into an established (quadrant III) brand.
• III Established brands. If the owner and the organization of an SME are determined to build up a strong brand and do actually attain such an objective, then their brand can be considered an established brand. They have attained a high degree of brand recognition, which they maintain, and now they need to build on this to create as much brand equity as possible. In short, it is possible to reap the benefits of this success and extend it in the future.
• IV Historical brands. In this quadrant lie the brands that have managed to create a reasonable to large degree of brand recognition, despite the fact that there was little structural support for such an achievement within the organization. They are exceptions that, owing to events in the past and to the passing of time, have ended up in this position. The actual type of product probably has much to do with this. These are middle sized companies that, due to a striking product or a historical background have managed to build up an enormous brand recognition without actually having paid much attention to it. That is why brands in this quadrant can be labeled historical brands.