Perhaps the most important brand management activity is positioning the brand properly. A well-positioned brand addresses important consumer benefits in unique and compelling ways. It also creates an emotional connection to the consumer. Finally, it provides flexibility for future growth (beyond current product and service categories).
The first step in position a brand is in-depth research. The research should provide you with the following:
Profound consumer insight
A thorough knowledge of the competitive set
An understanding of consumer benefits (by segment)
- You should identify functional, emotional, experiential and self-expressive consumer benefits. Of those benefits, you should understand which are “cost of entry benefits” and which are “differentiating benefits.”
- In-depth qualitative research, including laddering, protective and ethnographic techniques may be required to achieve the desired insight.
There are four key components to brand positioning:
Target customer – the primary audience to whom the brand is designed to appeal
Brand essence – the “heart and soul” of the brand
Brand promise – a promise of relevant differentiating benefits
Brand personality – adjectives that describe the brand as if it were a person
A powerful brand position should be:
Believable, understandable, unique and compelling
Aspirationally attainable
Admirable and endearing
Difficult to emulate
Timeless and enduring
Extendable
…Yet Also a Art & Science
Successful brand positioning requires strategy, a formula even. There are multiple ways in which to position your brand, but it’s not about which way is right–it’s about your intent. Today, customers want to feel like you really know who they are.
The biggest, most successful brands (think: McDonalds, Starbucks, Coca-Cola) are not wishy-washy or undefined in any area, really. Research has provided a few tried-and-true rules about brand success, and if you answered any of the questions below with the best brands out there in mind, you would have no problem.
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