Identifying and Establishing Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is defined as the “act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. Positioning is all about identifying the optimal location of a brand and its competitors in the minds of consumers to maximize potential benefit to the firm. According to customer based brand equity model, deciding on a positioning requires determining a frame of reference by identifying the target market and the nature of competition and the ideal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand association.

Target Market

A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers who have sufficient motivation, ability and opportunity to buy a product. Market segmentation involves dividing the market into distinct groups of homogeneous consumers who have similar needs and consumer behavior and thus require similar market mixes. All companies never target all of its segments. There is a criterion under which segments are targeted.

Identifiably: Can segment identification be easily determined?
Size: Is there adequate sales potential in the segment?
Accessibility: Are specialized distribution outlets and communication media available to reach the segment?

Responsiveness: How favorably will the segment respond to a tailored marketing program?

From manufacturer perspective the model segments users of a brand is divided

into four groups based on strength of commitment from low to high, as follows:

1.Convertible: High likely to switch brands
2.Shallow: Not ready to switch, but may be considering alternatives
3.Average: Comfortable with their choice; unlikely to switch in the future
4.Entrenched: Highly loyal; unlikely to change in the foreseeable future

From customer perspective the model also classifies nonusers of a brand into four groups based on their openness to trying the brand from low to high, as follows:

1.Strongly unavailable: Strongly prefer their current brand

2.Weakly unavailable: Preference lies with their current brand, although not

strongly

3.Ambivalent: As attracted to the other brand as to their current choice

Brand Building Blocks cont..

Brand Feelings

Brand feelings are customers’ emotional responses and reaction with respect to brand. Brand feelings also relate to the social currency evoked by the brand. The following are six important types of brand-building feelings

1. Warmth: The brand makes consumers feel a sense of calm.

2. Fun: The brand makes consumers feel amused, playful, and cheerful and so on.

3. Excitement: The brand makes consumers feel energetic and feel that they are experiencing with something special.

4. Security: The brand produces a feeling of safety.

5. Self-respect: The brand makes consumers feel better about themselves.

6. Social approval: The brand results in consumers having positive feeling

about the reactions of others

Brand Building Blocks

Brand Building Blocks

To provide some structure, it is useful to think of sequentially establishing six brand building blocks with customers. These brand building blocks can be assembled in terms of a brand pyramid. Each brand building block will be examined in the following section.

Brand Salience

Achieving the right brand identity involves creating brand salience with customers. It relates to the aspects of the awareness of the brand, for example how often and easily the brand is evoked under various situations? Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize the brand, as reflected by their ability to identify the brand under different conditions.

Brand Performance

Designing and delivering a product that fully satisfies consumer needs and wants is a prerequisite for successful marketing. To create brand loyalty and resonance consumer experience with the product must at least meet. Brand performance relates to the ways in which the product or service attempts to meet customers more functional needs. Customers can view the performance of products or services in a broad manner. Reliability refers to the consistency of performance over time and from purchase to purchase. Durability refers to the expected economic life of the product. Serviceability refers to the ease of servicing the product. Performance may also depend on sensory aspects such as how a product looks and feels.

Brand Imagery

Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product including the ways in which the brand attempt to meet customer psychological needs. Brand imagery is how people think about a brand abstractly rather than what they think the brand actually does. Thus imagery refers to more intangible aspects of the brand.

Brand Judgments

Brand judgments focus on customers’ personal opinions and evaluation with regard to the brand. To create a strong brand four types of brand judgments summary are particular important: Quality, Credibility, Consideration and Superiority.

A brand is a mixture of tangible and intangible benefits, which if properly managed, can create value and lead to preferential choice, not only from customers but also from other key stakeholders (employees, investors, partners). Building a strong brand is a complex task. It is about creating value through the provision of a compelling and consistent customer experience that satisfies customers and keeps them coming back. When a company creates this type of preferential choice and loyalty, it can build a strong market share, maintain good price levels and generate strong cash flows. Building a brand starts with a clearly defined and persuasive value proposition - a compelling offer that appeals to potential customers. To do this, a company must develop a strong understanding of who their potential customers are, what they value, and how the products, services and internal resources should be optimised or configured to deliver this value. Furthermore, the company must develop the appropriate capabilities and resources (staff, culture, skills, infrastructure, partnerships, etc.), which must be built and aligned to support, deliver and reinforce this value proposition.

Building a strong Brand

There are four steps of building a strong brand. These are as follows:

1. Ensure identification of the brand with customers and as association of the brand in customers’ minds with a specific product class or customer need.

2. Firmly establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations with certain properties.

3. Elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identification and brandmeaning.

4. Convert brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand.

These steps represent fundamental questions that customers can ask about brands as follow:

1. Who are you? (Brand identity)
2. What are you? (Brand meaning)
3. What about you? (Brand responses)
4. What about you and me? (Brand relationship)