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Brand
Management (MKT624)
VU
Lesson
20
POSITIONING
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Introduction
The
topic of this lecture is a
continuation of the concept of
AUDIENCE as partially
discussed
in
the previous one1.
It also discusses the fifth and
the final principle of
repositioning. With
that
concept
wrapped up, it concludes
discussion on positioning with
the understanding of how
to
choose
a realistic positioning
statement.
·
I:
Inspiration:
Your
colleagues should be inspired by
the results that you
generate
out
of the formal and informal
research about the
positioning rationale. Those
results
should
create a sense of inspiration to
work for the brand
objectives.
·
E:
Engagement:
With
the right sense of direction
and inspiration, everyone will
feel
engaged in working for the
positioning.
·
N:
Naturalness:
If the
right people are in place, then it will
be natural for them
to
work
for the stated objectives.
Having the right people is
important for positioning
to
work.
·
C:
Criteria:
Establish
criteria for rewards on
achievement of objectives.
Those
rewarded
should set examples for
others to feel
motivated.
·
E:
Education:
Train
your people to become brand
ambassadors.
5.
Strong brand positioning is
customer-driven
Without
getting into repetition, a
correct brand picture
provides you with a lot of
data and
information.
Using that, you can come up
with what is exactly the
customer's needs,
strengths
and
weaknesses of your and competitive
brands. Armed with that
information, you can
create
the
right promises, deliver them, and
maintain the contract to
have a strong
position.
Communicating
the actual positioning
The
most challenging decision here is to
decide about the actual
positioning, meaning
the
communication
that you direct toward
the target. Having the
right information is not
a
guarantee
that you will come up with
the right most statement and
strategies.
Given
the sensitivity of the
matter you need to choose a
position, which has the
strongest
appeal
to the target audience and the one
the company can sustain over
a long time. Toward
that
objective, you should
develop a few strategies and
then see which one is the
most suitable
in
terms of positioning your
brand.
The
challenge stems from the
fact that your brand carries
more than one benefit.
Talking about
all
of them does not have
the punch. To keep your
message straight forward and
strong, you
have
to pick one of the benefits as
the basis of your
positioning statement.
In
the case of brand XYZ, the
positioning statement is very
clear. It takes into account
all the
components
the category in which
the brand is going to operate,
the competitive
benchmarks,
the
target market, and the point
of difference.
The
challenge here is, out of so
many benefits the brand is
going to offer (good price,
high
quality,
easy availability, and good looks to name
a few), which is the one
that will keep the
message
simplest and strongest to position
the brand in the
oversimplified mind.
Positioning
considerations
The
criteria against which you can
measure the decision
mechanism can consist of
the
following
considerations:
·
One
could be related to
quality.
·
One
could be related to
price.
78
Brand
Management (MKT624)
VU
·
One
could be related to
accessibility.
·
Another
could talk about the
taste profile.
·
Yet
another could emphasize on appearance
dimensions.
·
You
may think that talking
about revolutionizing the
service at lunch time is the
hallmark
of
the marketing effort and hence a
relevant consideration.
·
Or,
you may like to talk
about the variety the
brand XYZ offers.
·
Any
other that you may
think of.
All
of the above positioning considerations
sound convincing. Whichever
the company may
like
to choose has to stem from
customer's point of view so
that he can own it. For
that the
company
must evaluate it against criteria
like:
Evaluation
criteria
·
Are
the product's looks and
appearance compatible with
the positioning?
·
How
strong is the consumer
motivation behind this
positioning?
·
What
size of market is involved in such
positioning?
·
Does
it capitalize on competitors
weaknesses?
·
Is
this positioning distinctive and
specific?
·
What
financial resources this
positioning requires?
·
Is
this a sustainable positioning, or are
competitors going to imitate
this in no time?
·
Does
this positioning leave us an
alternative to switch to another
positioning in case
this
failed?
·
Does
this justify a price
premium?
The
best way to choose the
right positioning is to pick
each consideration and evaluate
it
against
all the evaluation criteria
one by one. Going through
this process of evaluation,
you will
come
up with the most convincing
positioning for the
brand.
Coining
the message
Once
you have decided the
positioning for the brand,
you can coin the brand's
message as the
outward
expression of the brand's
inner substance. This is the
message (slogan or ad line)
that
appears
in all your communications,
including the product's
package. You must take charge of
positioning;
otherwise competitors will be quick to do
that to your loss.
Positioning
is the single most important
activity in developing your
brand management
strategy.
If you craft it right, then
your decisions to introduce new brands,
extensions, pricing,
and
communication become fairly
straightforward, as you will see in
the coming lectures.
Summary
- positioning
Positioning
stems from the areas of
segmentation and differentiation.
Knowledge about the
business
you are in, the
target market, and the point
of difference that matters
for your product
lays
the foundation for
positioning of your brand.
Once done with that, you
communicate the
position
of your brand to the target
market.
Positioning
is very central to brand
strategy. All operational strategies stem
out of the
positioning
of a brand. Propounded as a concept by
two advertising executives, it
followed the
product
and the image eras.
Positioning
is what you do to the mind
of a consumer. You communicate a piece of
information
about
your product in a way that
it gets lodged in the mind
of the consumer. If the
product is
full
of promises and upholds the brand
contract, it becomes difficult
for competition to
dislodge
it.
79
Brand
Management (MKT624)
VU
Every
brand manager should strive to
create a strong position for
his/her brand. There
are
certain
principles that you must
follow to create a strong
position. While you improve
your
brand
to keep it current, you must
manage the desired shift in
positioning in a subtle way.
The
brand
must not lose
credibility.
You
must be careful and highly
analytical in choosing the
right position for your
brand, for you
should
position it from the
platform of one benefit. Talking
about all benefits in
your
communications
leads to confusing the
consumer. Different benefits
should be weighed against
a
set of criteria to choose
the best position for
the brand.
Bibliography:
1.
Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset
Management Driving Profitable
Growth through
Your
Brands"; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley
Imprint (123)
80
Table of Contents:
- UNDERSTANDING BRANDS – INTRODUCTION:Functions of Brand Management, Sales forecast, Brand plan
- INTRODUCTION:Brand Value and Power, Generate Profits and Build Brand Equity
- BRAND MANIFESTATIONS/ FUNDAMENTALS:Brand identity, Communication, Differentiation
- BRAND MANIFESTATIONS/ FUNDAMENTALS:Layers/levels of brands, Commitment of top management
- BRAND CHALLENGES:Consumer Revolt, Media Cost and Fragmentation, Vision
- STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT:Setting Objectives, Crafting a Strategy, The Brand Mission
- BRAND VISION:Consensus among management, Vision Statement of a Fast Food Company, Glossary of terms
- BUILDING BRAND VISION:Seek senior management’s input, Determine the financial contribution gap
- BUILDING BRAND VISION:Collect industry data and create a brand vision starter, BRAND PICTURE,
- BRAND PICTURE:Brand Value Pyramid, Importance of being at pinnacle, From pinnacle to bottom
- BRAND PERSONA:Need-based segmentation research, Personality traits through research
- BRAND CONTRACT:The need to stay contemporary, Summary
- BRAND CONTRACT:How to create a brand contract?, Brand contract principles, Understand customers’ perspective
- BRAND CONTRACT:Translate into standards, Fulfill Good Promises, Uncover Bad Promises
- BRAND BASED CUSTOMER MODEL:Identify your competitors, Compare your brand with competition
- BRAND BASED CUSTOMER MODEL:POSITIONING, Product era, Image Era, An important factor
- POSITIONING:Strong Positioning, Understanding of components through an example
- POSITIONING:Clarity about target market, Clarity about point of difference
- POSITIONING – GUIDING PRINCIPLES:Uniqueness, Credibility, Fit
- POSITIONING – GUIDING PRINCIPLES:Communicating the actual positioning, Evaluation criteria, Coining the message
- BRAND EXTENSION:Leveraging, Leveraging, Line Extension in detail, Positive side of line extension
- LINE EXTENSION:Reaction to negative side of extensions, Immediate actions for better managing line extensions
- BRAND EXTENSION/ DIVERSIFICATION:Why extend/diversify the brand,
- POSITIONING – THE BASE OF EXTENSION:Extending your target market, Consistency with brand vision
- DEVELOPING THE MODEL OF BRAND EXTENSION:Limitations, Multi-brand portfolio, The question of portfolio size
- BRAND PORTFOLIO:Segment variance, Constraints, Developing the model – multi-brand portfolio
- BRAND ARCHITECTURE:Branding strategies, Drawbacks of the product brand strategy, The umbrella brand strategy
- BRAND ARCHITECTURE:Source brand strategy, Endorsing brand strategy, What strategy to choose?
- CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION:Components of channel performance, Value thru product benefits
- CREATING VALUE:Value thru cost-efficiency, Members’ relationship with brand, Power defined
- CO BRANDING:Bundling, Forms of communications, Advertising and Promotions
- CUSTOMER RESPONSE HIERARCHY:Brand-based strategy, Methods of appropriations
- ADVERTISING:Developing advertising, Major responsibilities
- ADVERTISING:Message Frequency and Customer Awareness, Message Reinforcement
- SALES PROMOTIONS:Involvement of sales staff, Effects of promotions, Duration should be short
- OTHER COMMUNICATION TOOLS:Public relations, Event marketing, Foundations of one-to-one relationship
- PRICING:Strong umbrella lets you charge premium, Factors that drive loyalty
- PRICING:Market-based pricing, Cost-based pricing
- RETURN ON BRAND INVESTMENT – ROBI:Brand dynamics, On the relevance dimension
- BRAND DYNAMICS:On the dimension of knowledge, The importance of measures
- BRAND – BASED ORGANIZATION:Benefits, Not just marketing but whole culture, Tools to effective communication
- SERVICE BRANDS:The difference, Hard side of service selling, Solutions
- BRAND PLANNING:Corporate strategy and brands, Brand chartering, Brand planning process
- BRAND PLANNING PROCESS:Driver for change (continued), Brand analysis
- BRAND PLAN:Objectives, Need, Source of volume, Media strategy, Management strategy