Brand Positioning - Definition and Concept

Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference
to others. It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and
delivered by the brand’s benefits/reasons to buy; and it focusses at all points of contact with
the consumer.

Brand positioning must make sure that:

 Is it unique/distinctive vs. competitors ?

 Is it significant and encouraging to the niche market ?
 Is it appropriate to all major geographic markets and businesses ?
 Is the proposition validated with unique, appropriate and original products ?
 Is it sustainable - can it be delivered constantly across all points of contact with the
consumer ?
 Is it helpful for organization to achieve its financial goals ?
 Is it able to support and boost up the organization ?

In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen
and a differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium
through which an organization can portray it’s customers what it wants to achieve for them
and what it wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.

Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner
that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind. For instance-
Kotak Mahindra positions itself in the customer’s mind as one entity- “Kotak ”- which can
provide customized and one-stop solution for all their financial services needs. It has an
unaided top of mind recall. It intends to stay with the proposition of “Think Investments,
Think Kotak”. The positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced by the
competitive stance you want to adopt.

Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to
ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand Positioning is the
key of marketing strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by
explaining the brand details, the uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive
brands, as well as the reasons for buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base
for developing and increasing the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is
the single feature that sets your service apart from your competitors. For instance- Kingfisher
stands for youth and excitement. It represents brand in full flight.

There are various positioning errors, such as-

1. Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customer’s have a blurred and
unclear idea of the brand.
2. Over positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited a
awareness of the brand.
3. Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused
opinion of the brand.
4. Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims
of a brand.
Why Is Identifying the Target Market so Important to a
Company?
Identifying a target market helps your company develop effective marketing communication
strategies. A target market is a set of individuals sharing similar needs or characteristics that
your company hopes to serve. These individuals are usually the end users most likely to
purchase your product.

Craft Specific Messages

Selecting a target market allows you to craft messages that appeal specifically to them. A
lipstick marketer using a target marketing approach aims the message at female users, as men
typically do not wear lipstick. Within the female audience, women wear lipstick for varying
reasons. A savvy marketer reaches a younger audience with a lifestyle message that wearing
the lipstick is cool. A mature woman may respond to a benefit-based message that the lipstick
reduces chapped lips.

Focus on Potential
Organizations don't have the time or resources to be able to reach everyone with a product
message. Identifying a target market allows marketers to focus on those most likely to
purchase the product. Limiting the population funnels research and budgets to the customers
with the highest profit potential.

Reach the Right Audience

Once you’ve identified the target market, the target audience – the intended recipient of the
advertising message -- can be defined. Many times the market and the audience are the same.
When one person is the end user and another is the purchaser, the target market and target
audience differ. There are quite a few products used by men that are purchased primarily by
their wives. In these instances, the target market is male and the target audience is the female
who makes the purchase. Marketers design strategies to meet the needs of the target market
and use media channels and other touch points to best reach the purchaser.

Cost-effective Strategies
Once you know who you are targeting, it is much easier to make decisions on media
allocations. If your target market is young women, there is no need to purchase ad space in
every magazine. You can advertise only in those popular with that audience. You’ll save
money and get a better return on investment by using a target market plan. Media buys will
be more efficient as wasted audience – those unlikely to purchase your product – is greatly
reduced.

Compete Successfully
Businesses of any size can compete effectively by identifying an under-served market. You
no longer have to worry about trying to reach every customer who could use your product
and can focus a marketing plan to fit a smaller, like-minded part of the total market. By
focusing resources on a specific customer segment, a small business may be able to better
serve a target market than its larger competitors.

Target Market Analysis: Why It’s

Important
If you’re ready to forge your own path and let your entrepreneurial spirit run free by
establishing your own business, one of the essential components to your success will lie in
the establishment of a solid business plan. Of course, knowing how to write up your business
plan is the first step in the entire process. A good plan will include background information
on your company and its team, as well as the goals you’re setting and the timeframe in which
you aim to accomplish your goals and how you’ll effectively keep track of your progress
through the use of business analytics along the way.

As you can imagine, your business plan will be a living document in the sense that it will
continue to change and evolve along with your business and the market you fit into. Once
your first set of short-term and long-term goals are met, it’s your duty to then set forth new
goals that will continue to drive your company into the future and towards even more
success. Otherwise, your brand will stagnate and the competition will take over and push you
out of the market entirely. And if you realize that certain plans are unattainable after all, you
can choose to revise them or eliminate them along the way in order to save time, money, and
resources. Therefore, there’s no need to feel that what you write in your original business
plan is 100% set in stone, as you’ll need to be flexible as a business owner in order to
succeed.

One of the most important components of a good business plan is a description of your target
market and how you’ll cater to that market and promote your products and/or services to
them. In order to get all of that information, though, you first have to complete a target
market analysis.

What is a Target Market?

Put simply, your target market is your niche, or the customer base that you’ll be targeting
directly with your products and/or services. These are the consumers who have a need for
whatever it is that your business has to offer, so it only makes sense to figure out ways of
appealing to these customers by letting them know that you recognize their needs and you
have the perfect solution.

But sometimes your target market doesn’t even yet realize that they have a need for your
product or service. In that case, you have to work even harder to make them realize that
something is missing in their lives and that they would greatly benefit from making a
purchase from you.

Why is Target Market Analysis So Important?

As an ambitious business owner, you may be tempted to market your products to anyone and
everyone, but this will only waste your resources and time because you’ll be marketing to
consumers who either aren’t interested in what you have to offer or who wouldn’t benefit
from what you’re trying to sell them. However, by marketing directly to your target market
only, you can determine how much your customers are willing to spend on your offerings,
how often they’ll need to make purchases, and what you’ll need to do to keep up with
changing trends in the future. To learn about the other benefits of segmenting your market,
read this blog post.

Target market analysis also ensures that the products or services your company will offer will
actually be profitable. The last thing that you’d want to do as a business owner is dive
headfirst into the production process for a product, or into the logistics involved with offering
a service to the public, only to find out later on that it was all for naught because the
consumers you thought would be interested in what you’re doing really aren’t at all intrigued.

To guarantee the success of your company and to avoid wasting valuable time and resources,
you need to perform target market analysis. Doing so will ensure you’ve gathered more than
enough detailed information on your target demographic. You’ll determine whether or not
your demographic is correct or if you should be targeting another segment of the population.
And you’ll also be able to determine how your products and/or services should be marketed
before you even begin to offer them. Once again, it’s all about establishing the fact that you
have an audience for what your business has to offer before diving in only to have regrets
later on. Once you have your target market in place, you can rest assured that they’ll be
receptive to what you have for sale.

If you fail to perform a target market analysis prior to launching your product, your target
audience may never even know about your business because you won’t know how to target
your marketing campaign to your intended audience. Plus, by learning about your target
audience’s unique needs and expectations, you can tailor your offerings before the launch so
that you don’t need to worry about working backwards and tweaking your product or service
after it’s already been launched. This will ensure that every minute and every cent that you
spend on your small business marketing plan will be well invested and worthwhile.

Points of Parity versus Points of

Differentiation
Identifying your brand’s points of parity and points of differentiation is the essential first step
of every positioning project. That is, understanding the market you operate in and what
makes your brand different from competition.

I am sure you are very familiar with slogans similar to these: “Our employees make the
difference”, “Quality is our job number 1”, “We Deliver Great Customer Service”. These
slogans are indeed very popular, but also a very ineffective way to differentiate a brand.
That’s because they more often than not promote a brand’s point of parity instead of focusing
on the points of differentiation.

My goal in today’s article is to explain these two important marketing concepts. Hopefully it
will give you a better perspective on how to choose a strong differentiator, that is meaningful
to the consumer, and your brand can sustain long term.

Don’t forget to heck out the brand positioning tutorials page for more articles on how to build
strong and differentiated brands.

Points of Parity versus Points of Differentiation

Identifying the points of parity and points of differentiation is industry specific. There is no
generic rule that can be applied across the board.

Points of parity are those elements that are considered mandatory for a brand to be
considered a legitimate competitor in its specific category. It is what makes consumer
consider your brand, along with your competitors. So before you work on identifying your
competitive advantage, you want to make sure you identify what it takes to be a player in
your category, and have all these points covered.

I will use a personal example to illustrate this concept.

I am currently in the market for a new car for my growing family. When comparing various
offers, I consider the following aspects of buying and owning a car points of parity:

– a showroom located within reasonable proximity, where I can see the models

-a demo model that I can test-drive

-a 3 year comprehensive warranty

-available financing

I am not considering any car brand that is not able to meet these four criteria. Those elements
will not bring any benefit to a brand if advertised because the consumer considers them as a
given. (Nobody expects to buy a car with less than 3-year warranty).

On the other hand you cannot launch a new brand without making sure you meet the points of
parity.

Points of differentiation are the attributes that make your brand unique. It is your
competitive advantage. It is what your brand slogan should reflect.

Let’s come back to the automotive industry.

Hyundai took a point of parity and made it a point of differentiation: they were the first brand
that offered a 5-year comprehensive warranty in Canada (10 in the USA), instead of the
industry standard of 3 years.

Subaru made the all-wheel drive system its competitive advantage, brilliantly reflected in
their slogan “Confidence in Motion”.

No car brand communicates the “3 year warranty” or “front wheel drive system” a
competitive advantage. And rightfully so: these are points of parity, not points of
differentiation.

Point of difference
Point of difference refers to the factors of goods or services that establish differentiation.
Differentiation is the way in which the goods or services of a company differ from its
competitors. Indicators of the point of difference’s success would be increased customer
benefit and brand loyalty. However, an excessive degree of differentiation could cause the
goods or services to lose their standard within a given industry, leading to a subsequent loss
of consumers. Hence, a balance of differentiation and association is required, and a point of
parity has to be adopted in order to allow a business to remain or further enhance its
competitiveness.[1][2]

Significance of Differentiation
Standing out from the competitors
By differentiating itself from competitors, a business might have greater potential income.
Because having differentiated goods or services limits the choices of consumers, which drive
them to purchase goods or services from a particular company. In addition to that, the threats
brought by competitors would be lowered significantly, which means, by adopting
differentiation strategy, it would allow businesses to be more competitive and be able to have
a greater source of income.[3][4]

Effects on brand loyalty

See also: brand awareness

As the choices of consumers would be lowered significantly from differentiation strategy,

consumers are unlikely to accept other variations without being convinced. Which means, it
drives the consumers to lean towards a particular company, and establish a better relationship
with the company. Thus, businesses would be able to take advantage from brand loyalty and
further enhance the competitiveness.

Point of difference vs. point of parity

Points of difference and points of parity are both utilized in the positioning of a brand for
competitive advantage via brand/product.

Points-of-difference (PODs) – Attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a

brand, positively evaluate and believe they could not find to the same extent with a
competing brand i.e. points where you are claiming superiority or exclusiveness over other
products in the category.

Points-of-parity (POPs) – Associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may
be shared by other brands i.e. where you can at least match the competitors claimed best.
While POPs may usually not be the reason to choose a brand, their absence can certainly be a
reason to drop a brand.

While it is important to establish a POD, it is equally important to nullify the competition by

matching them on the POP. As a late entrant into the market, many brands look at making the
competitor's POD into a POP for the category and thereby create a leadership position by
introducing a new POD.

POP refers to the way in which a company’s product offers similarity with its competitors
within an industry. It could also be known as the elements that are considered mandatory for
a brand to be recognized as a legitimate competitor within a given industry.

As an excessive degree of differentiation would cause the goods or services losing its
standard, but not having differentiation would not benefit businesses as well. Therefore, in
order to avoid excessive differentiation, adopting point of parity would be the solution. In
terms of offering similarities, businesses should look at the benefits and all the positive
features of the competitor’s product, and take advantage from it. At the same time, businesses
could work on the negative aspects or even further enhance the positive features of the
particular product in order to achieve differentiation, and to take advantage from it.
Therefore, finding a balance between point of difference and point of parity is a critical factor
for businesses to succeed.[5]

Kevin Keller and Alice Tybout[6] note there are three types of difference: brand performance
associations; brand imagery associations; and consumer insight associations. The last only
comes into play when the others are at parity. Insight alone is a weak point of difference,
easily copied. Putting these together, check their desirability, deliverability and eliminate
contradictions.

Traditionally, the people responsible for positioning brands have concentrated on the
differences that set each brand apart from the competition. But emphasizing differences isn't
enough to sustain a brand against competitors. Managers should also consider the frame of
reference within which the brand works and the features the brand shares with other products.

Three questions about a brand can help:

1. Have we established a frame? A frame of reference signals to consumers the goal they can
expect to achieve by using a brand.
2. Are we leveraging our points of parity? Certain points of parity must be met if consumers are
to perceive your product as a legitimate player within its frame of reference.
 3. Are the points of difference compelling? A distinguishing characteristic that consumers find
both relevant and believable can become a strong, favourable, unique brand association,
capable of distinguishing the brand from others in the same frame of reference.

Assessment
The assessment of consumer desirability criteria for PODs should be against:

 Relevance
 Distinctiveness
 Deliverability

Whilst when assessing the deliverability criteria for PODs look at their:

 Feasibility
 Communicability
 sustainability

Differentiation types
Product differentiation
In order to achieve product differentiation, that particular product needs to have other unique
features and stands out from its competing products, or that particular product becomes the
only product that offers certain features to consumers by entering a new industry. Achieving
product differentiation is one of the ways for businesses to become the market leader.
However, if the product differentiation were too radical, it would lead to acceptance problems
on the consumer side, because the product might not meet the expected standards, or it could
be quickly obsolete.[7]

Price differentiation
Price differentiation is where a business offers a different price (lower or higher) from the
industry’s standard or its competitors. By offering a lower price, it would attract consumers to
purchase, as their demand is likely to be higher, when the price is lower. In terms of offering
a higher price, it also has the effect of drawing the attention from consumers, as consumers
would wonder the reason behind it, and higher price product tends to be more appealing to
the upper class group. However, in order to take advantage from offering a higher price, the
quality of the product has to match the price, otherwise, consumers would lose interests
because of not getting what they pay for.[8]

Differentiation focus
The principles of differentiation focus are similar to all the other differentiation strategies,
where it differentiates some of the features from the competitors. However, differentiation
focus targets a particular segment within a market, where it allows businesses to focus on
their strength. Thus, the user experience of the particular segment would be better, as all the
marketing and pre-production work of the goods or services are focused on specific segment.

Case Studies
Apple's Mac OS System

The Mac OS System is an example of a successful differentiation strategy. Mac OS offers a

variety of features and advantages that Windows PC does not have. For example, MacBook
does run faster in the SSD drives and flash storage through the use of PCIe connections, as
opposed to the majority of PCs, where SATA is being used instead. Additionally, the Mac OS
System has a better security against virus attack.[citation needed] Also, MacBooks come with
software included, for example, iMovie, GarageBand and FaceTime, for a better user
experience. Apple is able to stand out from its competitors with its unique features through
 product differentiation strategy, as well as being able to take advantage from using
premium-pricing strategy as their price differentiation.[9]

Snapchat

Snapchat,founded in 2011, was recognized in 2014, where 9% of the US smartphone owners

use Snapchat. Developers Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel took advantage from the growing
trend of the social media, and targeted people from the age of 13 to 34, as expressing
feelings and thoughts through the social media is one of the biggest phenomenon of
teenagers. It was a successful differentiation focus strategy implemented by Snapchat, as
they focused on a particular segment instead of targeting people from every age group. By
implementing differentiation focus strategy, it allowed Snapchat to focus on the features
that people from the age of 13 – 34 prefer, and as a result, user experience would be
enhanced, as the app is tailored for them. Thus, in 2014, Snapchat became the top three
leading social media app.[10][11]

Impact on Businesses
Advantages and disadvantages of differentiation
Despite the significance of implementing differentiation strategy, differentiation itself has its
advantages and disadvantages. In terms of advantages, one of the examples would be it
enhances innovation, where new goods and services would draw public’s attention, and
allowing businesses to survive in the global competitive market, as differentiated products
would stand out from other competitors and avoid the threats brought by substituted products.
In addition, differentiation would allow businesses to take advantage from brand loyalty. It is
because differentiated goods and services are likely to have a better user experience, hence,
the chance of having returning customers would be significantly increased.

However, differentiation also contains disadvantages, an example would high cost and time
consuming, especially in the introduction stage of the product life cycle.[12] It is because R&D
(research and development) and marketing would require certain amount of money and time
in order to be accomplished properly. Apart from the concern over cost and time, another
disadvantage would be differentiation hinders market entry. It is because successful
differentiation would attract competitors to replicate, and once competitors implement price
differentiation strategy, customers are likely to leave for a better offer in terms of the price.
Therefore, in order to avoid all the threats, businesses would have to ensure marketing and
branding have been well accomplished in order to take advantage from brand loyalty.[13]

Short- and long-term effects

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by
adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

From a short-term point of view, differentiation strategy is less likely to favor businesses, as
R&D (research and development) and marketing would require certain amount of money and
time. Also, it takes time for differentiated products to gain recognition and be accepted by the
public. Arguably, differentiated products are able to draw attention and spark people’s
interest, as they are newly introduced.[citation needed] Yet, given that the cost and time play a
significant role in an investment, the threats of differentiation would outweigh the benefits of
differentiation in the short-term. [citation needed]

On the other hand, from a long-term point of view, differentiation strategy is more likely to
favor businesses. It is because once R&D and marketing are being done, businesses would be
able to have a clearer picture regarding what do people prefer, then differentiation focus
strategy can also be implemented. Furthermore, differentiated products are likely to be
recognized, as people would discover and examine them, which means, the risk of not
gaining recognition would be reduced, and businesses are able to take advantage from brand
loyalty if the user experience is exceptional. On the flipside, it is also conceivable that
successful differentiation would hinder new entry, i.e. the competition in a particular industry
could become more competitive. Additionally, innovation is required in order to survive in
the competitive global market, which means, it could be challenging for businesses to ensure
their differentiated products are innovative and contemporary for people over a long period of
time. Thus, even though the upside of differentiation strategy is more likely to outweigh the
downside of differentiation strategy in the long-term, businesses also have to ensure its
sustainability at the same time.[citation needed]

Positioning Guidelines: For competitive brand positioning two issues must be considered.
These are__

 Defining and communicating the competitive frame of reference and

 Choosing and establishing POP and POD

A. Defining and communicating the competitive frame of reference: Category membership

is first priority in defining and communicating competitive frame of reference. Category
membership refers with which products or sets of products does the brand compete. What
types of benefit or goal might be achieve by using a product or service, category
membership identified it.

For highly established products and services category membership is not so important.
Customers are aware that Bata is a leading brand of shoes. In case of new product category
membership is so important to inform the customer. When Aarong was first introduced it
could have been positioned as a brand of cloths. But now Aarong offers new product and
services such as Aarong milk, jewelery, bag, shoe and so on. Its competitive frame of
reference will continue to evolve.

Sometimes consumers know a brand category membership but may not be convinced the
brand is a true, valid number of the category. For example, consumer may be aware about
that Apex Pharma produces medicine but they may not be certain whether Apex Pharma
medicines are in the same "class" as Beximco Pharma or Square. In this case it might be
useful to reinforce category membership.

Brands are sometimes affiliated with categories in which they do not hold membership
rather than with the one in which they do. This approach is a viable way to highlight a
brand's point of difference from competitors, provided that consumers know the brand's
actual membership. For new products, separate marketing programs are generally needed
to inform consumer of membership and to educate them about a brand point of difference.
For brands with limited resources the development of a marketing strategy that established
category membership prior to one that states point of difference. Concurrent marketing
program occurs when greater resources are available.

Ways of category membership: There are three ways to convey brand's category
membership. These are__

1. Communicating category benefits

2. Comparing to exemplars

3. Relying on product descriptors.

1. Communicating category benefits: It focuses that a brand will deliver the fundamental
reason for using a category. Marketers frequently use benefits to announce category
membership. Example, GP might claim to have high network coverage and cheap call rate
and show user delighting in its consumption.

2. Comparing to exemplars: Well known, noteworthy brand in a category can also be used
to specify a brand category membership. For example, some hands made product from BSIC
get a position on self of renowned brand Aarong.

3. Product descriptor: Relying on product descriptor that follows the brand name is often a
very compact means of conveying category origin. For example, Unilever have changed its
name Unilever Bangladesh in our country. For new technological product descriptor is so
critical.

Establishing brand positioning category membership is not so effective. Consumer confusion

may arise if many firms engage in category building tactics. A sound positioning strategy
requires not only the category but also how the brand dominates other members of its
category marketers have to specify.

B. Choosing point of difference: Desirability criteria and deliverability criteria have to be

considered in choosing POD. POD has the potential to become a strong favorable and
unique brand association if both these consideration are satisfied.

1. Desirability Criteria: Marketers must assess from a consumer perspective and

desirability criteria. These are_

 Relevance: Target consumer must find the POD personally relevant and
important. For example, All clear shampoo by Unilever must specify whether it
will clear dandruff or something else.
 Distinctiveness: Distinctive and superior POD must be found by target
consumers. IF there are established brand marketers want to enter into the
market, the challenge is to find a viable basis for differentiation. Sometimes the
point of difference dominates its competition but that is not important to
consumer. Example, Homeopathy has found limited response to claim that this
medicine take long time to cure. Most consumer place more importance on fast
relief than long lasting relief. So Allopathic is superior to cure.
 Believability: In case of choosing a brand over the competing brand, the brand
must offer a competing and credible reason for choosing it. That is the unique
attributes of the brand. Example, GP argues that it has more network coverage
than other network. When the POP is abstract support for the claim may inside
in more general associations to company that have brand developed over time.
1. Deliverability criteria: Three deliverability criteria are__
 Feasibility: The product and marketing must be design in a way to
support the question that is, can the firm actually create the POD?
Unaware customer about the brand fact convinced easily.
 Communicability: Communicability is consumers' perceptions of the
brand and the resulting brand associations. Consumers' who are aware
about the product, it is very difficult to create an association that is not
consistent with existing consumer knowledge.
 Sustainability: Internal commitment and use of resources as well as
external market forces affects brand sustainability. Example, Squares
strategy for leadership in the pharmaceutical sectors, in part, is to enter
smaller markets where a second major competitor might be unlikely to
enter as Popular pharma
 Three considerations for developing positioning with three perspective, any brand must be
evaluated, namely the consumer, the company, the competition. Desirability is determined
from the consumer point of view, deliverability criteria are based on a company inherent
capabilities and differentiation is determined relative to the competition.
BRAND POSITIONING & BRAND MANTRA

If you ask people the question – 'Is brand positioning and brand mantra the same?'
they'd probably say 'might be they are synonyms. When used in its proper context they
differ.

Brand Positioning means identifying and establishing points of parity and points of
difference to establish the right brand identity and brand image among its consumers.

A brand mantra (which some refer to as the brand essence and others call a brand
promise) is a 3 to 5 word shorthand encapsulation of brand position. Merely it's the
articulation of the 'heart and soul' of the brand or a spirit of brand positioning.

IS BRAND MANTRA A TAGLINE?

A good brand mantra is not simple sloganeering. It is neither an advertising slogan nor a
tagline. It's not just something which the producers can use manifestly.

A tagline is just an external manifestation of the brand while speaking about brand
mantra – it's an influential tool having a profound implication for marketing of a brand,
which can guide the company as a touchstone when making difficult decisions.

Here are some of the examples which differentiate between the two.

Company Name Brand Mantra Tagline

Nike Authentic - Athletic - Performance Just do it
Coca Cola Sharing – Happiness - Tasty Thanda matlab coca cola
BMW Ultimate – Driving - Machine The Ultimate Driving Machine
Apple Smart – Technologic – Listen to Music Think Different

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BRAND MANTRA?

Brand Mantras are effectual only when they communicate what the brand is and what it
is not. Good Brand mantras derive their supremacy only from their collective meaning
which clearly indicate how the brand is unique compared to its competitors.

Good Brand mantra is normally composed of following 3 aspects.

Company Name Emotional Modifier Descriptive Modifier Brand Function

Nike Authentic Athletic Performance
Mc Donald Fun Family Food
Disney Fun Family Entertainment
Coca Cola Sharing Happiness Tasty
Apple Smart Technologic Listen to music

1. Brand Function: it describes the nature of the product or service or benefits the brand
provides to its consumers.

2. Descriptive Modifier : It further clarifies its nature. Ex: Entertainment from Disney is
not merely for kids its family oriented.

3. Emotional Modifier : It specifies how exactly does the brand provide benefits & in what
ways.
IMPLEMENTING A BRAND MANTRA

Brand Mantra generally requires the producer to intimately know when it has to be
developed & how their consumers view it as. Being a succeeding step brand mantra
should be developed along with the brand positioning.

Following the brainstorming session, the considerations which come into play while
deciding the final brand mantra are -

1. Communicate – brand mantra should speak about the brand function.

2. Simplify – make the brand mantra short, crisp & vivid so that it becomes memorable
to its consumers.

3. Inspire – It should ideally match between the brand personality & consumer mindset
thereby making the brand personally relevant to them. i.e., inspiring them to buy the
brand.

How and Why You Should Conduct a

Brand Audit
Is your business experiencing a downslide lately? Are your losing customers to your rivals?
Is there a sudden dip in sales and revenue? If so, and you are looking for the cause of these
issues, then gear up for a brand audit of your business right away.

The bitter reality of today’s business world is that competition is cutthroat. The only way you
can survive and stand out from your competitors is through “differentiation.” And what is it
that differentiates your business from others? Brand!

Why You Should Audit Your Brand

The purpose of a brand audit is to ascertain how your business is performing in the eyes of
your customers. It offers you the following benefits:

 Helps you to determine the positioning of your business and to plan corrective strategies
 Empowers you to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your business
 Guides you to align your offerings more accurately with the expectations of customers
 Enables you to get up to speed with the perceptions (positive or negative) about your
business

Let’s get into how you can conduct your own brand strategic audit…

Step 1: Create an Audit Framework

The first step of your brand audit process is to create a framework. Before you start
examining your website, make a list of topics to be covered and how will you go about the
process. I use mind-mapping for this and scribble down everything that directly or indirectly
relates to my business. These are the elements which need to be considered during the brand
audit:

 Your website’s purpose and use

 Your main competitors
 Your target market and product niche
 Your product strengths/weaknesses
 Your market positioning vis-à-vis competitors
 Your current and anticipated industry trends
 Your differentiators, like pricing, quality of service, first mover advantage, etc.
A sample mind-map outlining things that relate to my business.

Step 2: Take A Look At Your Web Analytics

For online businesses, it is crucial to scrutinize web analytics on a frequent basis. Think of
these as vital signs of your business that keep it alive and running. These analytics include the
following metrics:

Traffic Analysis – This is an incredibly obvious first step, but necessary to see if your brand
is gaining popularity. An often overlooked component of analyzing your traffic is identifying
whether or not your traffic gains are actually coming from your geographical target markets.
You may be seeing traffic increases, but they might be coming from the wrong countries.
Make sure you identify what kind of traffic is increasing, before assuming everything
looks like it’s going well.

How and Why You Should Conduct a

Brand Audit
Is your business experiencing a downslide lately? Are your losing customers to your rivals?
Is there a sudden dip in sales and revenue? If so, and you are looking for the cause of these
issues, then gear up for a brand audit of your business right away.

The bitter reality of today’s business world is that competition is cutthroat. The only way you
can survive and stand out from your competitors is through “differentiation.” And what is it
that differentiates your business from others? Brand!

Why You Should Audit Your Brand

The purpose of a brand audit is to ascertain how your business is performing in the eyes of
your customers. It offers you the following benefits:

 Helps you to determine the positioning of your business and to plan corrective strategies
  Empowers you to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your business
 Guides you to align your offerings more accurately with the expectations of customers
 Enables you to get up to speed with the perceptions (positive or negative) about your
business

Designing Marketing Programs to Build

Brand Equity
At core of building brand equity is marketing programs or strategies. Marketing
activities can facilitate in increasing brand awareness as well as in creating the right brand
image. Marketing activities can be weaved around product, pricing and distribution channel.
But the way these marketing activities are carried out has gone under revolutionary change
owing to the modern technological driven world.

Reason why modern world is different can be understood from consumer as well as
company’s perspective. Today’s consumer is well informed about the product or service she
is purchasing, reason been digital connectivity through internet, mobile etc. Product reviews
are readily available forums or social networking sites, where in consumer can read
understand experience of other consumers. Consumer have more access to customized
products, there are websites which lets you design your own t-shirts or hoodies. Many of
consumer purchase decision are made online; internet along with technology has given
convenience to consumer. From companies perspective new technology frontiers has
improved the way they understand consumer. Companies maintain large database storing
consumption behavior; analyze this database to create consumer expectation matching
products and services. Marketing tactics can be implemented by emails, forums on social
networking sites etc. Internet retailing has created new supply chain model for companies,
which is a challenge as well convince, because traditional distributes and agents have made
way to courier services. For example products ordered from Dell are design, assembled in
company’s warehouse and then sent to customers.

Traditional marketing activities revolve around product, pricing and channel

distribution. However, efforts are always on to make sure marketing activities truly reflect
brand image and develop strong brand equity. One the marketing concept developed is called
experiential marketing. This unique concept is associated with brands and experience
consumer has with it. For example American Express, has been sponsor of US open for years,
they have created marketing plan especially for their card holders. The card holders are part
of daily draws, where winner are eligible to court side seats among many other freebies.
Another marketing technique popular among markets is a form of direct marketing. Brands
like Amway and Avon have followed this technique for some time now. In this form of
marketing focus is on individual consumer and not a large group, their habits are recorded
and on that basis other products are suggested. Flora 2000 is online florist who deliver
flowers all around the globe, time to time they send reminders of important events like
mother’s day or valentine day with special deals to consumer, knowing consumer had
previously made purchase around that period. Online retailer Amazon uses another marketing
technique where they suggest a product to consumer after getting nod from them. Amazon
takes permission from consumer before sending recommendation. This permission marketing
enables companies to build unique brand image leading to strong brand equity.

Product remains first frontier for consumer to create opinion for brand. Marketing
strategy around product is to highlight not only core benefits but also process or easy by
which purchase is done there by creating a long term relationship with consumer where
periodical information exchange can occur.
Pricing is crucial for brand image. To establish price, product cost should not be the only
consideration. But consumer perception for potential product value and sensitivity to price is
also of equal importance. Competitor’s price also cannot be ignored because price war will
not benefit anyone in the market. An effort has to be made to educate the consumer about
cost of serving them, for them to understand price of product.

Products are sold either through direct marketing channels or indirect marketing channels.
These channels also play an important role in building brand equity. Again channel choice is
dependent on product. Industrial product preferred way would be direct channel. But there
are various factors like product category, customization, price, complexity which play a role
in deciding marketing channel.

Marketers have to develop marketing programs keeping in mind above discuss points to
build a strong consumer based brand equity.

10 Branding Elements and What They Mean

1. Brand identity

Let us begin with the very basic. What exactly is a brand and what is brand identity? The
brand of course is an easily recognizable name that immediately tells people about a certain
organization that manufactures certain products or renders certain services. Brand identity is
the way people recognize the brand. It may be through the logo or other associated visuals.
The Swoosh logo of Nike is very simple, but is immediately recognizable worldwide along
with its punchline, “Just Do It”.

2. Brand image

Brand image is the idea of the brand that people develop in their minds. It also dictates what
they expect from the brand. For instance, Rolls Royce has the image of a luxury car maker.
So, it cannot be making a budget car even if there is a market. Its existing premium customers
won’t take it kindly as it dilutes the said image. It’s hard and sometimes impossible to change
brand image, so it’s best to know what you’re aiming at, before you invest hard earned
dollars.

3. Brand positioning

Positioning is the way a product is placed in the market. It basically defines what segments of
the market it is targeting. For instance Virginia Slims is a cigarette targeted at women. Basic
ingredients in all cigarettes are same but this one has been positioned to attract women by
making it slimmer in size and making the packaging sleeker.

4. Brand personality

Brand personality is just like the personality of human beings. It is certain emotional or
personal qualities that we associate with a particular brand. For example we can associate
youthfulness with Pepsi or ruggedness with Wrangler. Every element of the brand identity
including the colour of the logo and the typography on the brand name adds to the
personality.

5. Brand equity

Brand equity is the value of a brand. It may include tangible financial value such as market
share and revenue as well as intangible aspects such as strategic benefits of the brand. For
example Apple is a major technology brand and people perceive it is a premium, cutting edge
 manufacturer of quality products. So, it is not only the sales but the sheer image that takes the
equity to a different level altogether.

6. Brand experience

Brand experience is a combination of everything that a customer goes through while

purchasing and using that brand. For example how does one feel while ordering food and
eating at KFC? How does the staff behave and how fast do they deliver and of course how
did the food taste? Also, since it has many outlets all over the world, all of them are expected
to maintain uniform standards of experience.

7. Brand Differentiation

Differentiation, as the word suggests is how a brand stands out in the crowd. For instance
Dell Computers lets people choose their components and assemble their own system, thus
making it different from others who just sell readymade machines at the shop with no scope
for customization.

8. Brand communication

Brand communication is the message it delivers through various sources like adverts,
brochures, punchlines and hoardings. If the brand has to grow, it must be able to clearly
communicate its core benefits to the customers.

9. Brand gap

Brand gap is the difference between what a brand promises to deliver in its communications
and what it actually does. For its own sake, the gap should not be very high. A successful
brand must be able to deliver what it promises. No amount of advertising or content
marketing efforts can save a bad product.

10. Brand extension

Brand extension is basically the idea of going beyond ones origins and exploring newer
fields. For example Google started as a search engine. But now it provides many other
services including emails and mobile operating systems. This is how it has extended the
brand but it must be done in a manner so that the existing operations complement the newer
initiatives. Google gained market intelligence through its search operations and this is what
enabled it to develop other services. Films sell merchandise like clothes or toys pre/post
release, which are also extensions as they go beyond the main product (the film).

How to choose Branding Elements to build Brand Equity

There are 6 integral criteria for choosing your brand elements:

1) Memorability

2) Meaningfulness

3) Likability

4) Transferability

5) Adaptability

6) Protectability
1. Memorability: Brand elements that help achieve a high level of brand awareness or attention to
the brand, in turn facilitate the recognition and recall of a brand during purchase or consumption.

2. Meaningfulness: Here a marketer needs to ensure that brand elements are descriptive and
suggesting something about the product category of the brand. This is important to develop
awareness and recognition for the brand in a particular product category.

Secondly, the brand elements also need to have a persuasive meaning and suggest something about
the particular benefits and attributes of the brand. This is necessary for defining the positioning of
the brand in a particular category.

3. Likability: Brand Elements need to be inherently fun, interesting, colourful and not necessarily
always directly related to the product.

A memorable, meaningful and likable brand element makes it easier to build brand recognition and
brand equity, thus reducing the burden on the marketer and thereby reducing the cost of marketing
communications.

The above 3 criteria constitute the "Offensive Strategy" towards building brand equity

4. Transferability: is the extent to which brand elements can add brand equity to new products of
the brand in the line extensions. Another point, a marketer needs to keep in mind is that the brand
element should be able to add brand equity across geographical boundaries and market segments.
For example, brand names like “Apple”, “Blackberry” represent fruits the world over, thus as a brand
name it doesn't restrict brands and product extensions.

5. Adaptability: Consumer opinions, values and views keep changing over a period of time. The more
adaptable and flexible brand elements are the easier it is to keep up changing and up to date from
time to time to suit the consumers liking and views. For example, Coca -Cola has been updating it's
logo over the years to keep up with the latest trends, fashions and opinions.

6. Protectability: the final criteria in choosing a brand element is that it should be protectable legally
and competitively. Brand elements need to be chosen in such a way, that they can be internationally
protected legally, legally registered with legal bodies. Marketers need to voraciously defend their
trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringements.

Integrating Marketing Communication to

Build Brand Equity
Marketing programs play an important role in building up of brand equity. These marketing
programs are related to product, price and distribution channels. And these programs are
necessary to create brand image and also to build brand awareness. This task is done through
medium of marketing communication, in its most form is advertising. Marketing
communication is essential in establishing point of similarity, as well point of difference with
competition, making an impression in consumer’s mind leading to development of strong
consumer based brand equity and also to develop long- lasting relationship.

Marketing communication needs to be flexible in current technology driven

environment where consumer are internet savvy and have access to information.
Traditional communication avenues like TV ads have to undergo subtle changes. Advent of
digital video recorders has seen consumer watching their favorite program post actual
telecast. But a trend observed here is that consumes tend to skip ads in recorded program. If
that is the case than fortune spent of getting spots won’t translate into effective
communication. Today’s youth tend to spend more time playing video games and not on
watching television. So communication developed should follow certain criteria to prove its
effectiveness.
For marketing communication to be effective in conveying its message a simple cycle has to
be understood. Marketers need to understand the present state of brand awareness and
brand image within consumer’s mind and then ask question, do they want to be in
current state. Now design communication in whatever form required that will take to desired
level, while clearly stating similarity and difference from competitors. Finally, research
consumers to understand whether desire effect or brand knowledge has been created.

But what factors need to be considered in designing this marketing communication? The
intended consumers should be able to get a chance to experience the communication. So if
consumers watch cartoon network and ad is not ESPN then end consequences are already
written. Next communication needs to be catchy so consumer would stop and look through it.
Once consumer is all attention then communication should be properly designed to pass the
message across. Consumer should not be left wandering about meaning. The important part is
measure, effectiveness of communication that is whether there is change in direction for
consumer as intended. Looking at above steps, it is easy to conclude that it is challenging and
difficult to design and execute marketing communication process.

There are various marketing options available to marketers. Each option has its own strength
and weakness. Advertisement is one the most common form of marketing communication;
this can be done through television, radio, magazines, newspaper, direct approach, etc.
Television is good medium to target large audience and greater geographical area, thereby
reducing dollar cost per customer. However this medium can be expensive and may not
create a strong impact. Radio on other hand has lesser geographical coverage and audience,
thereby creating focus on selective audience and reducing cost. However radio again can only
have audio and cannot grab attention the way visuals can. Magazines and newspaper can
provide good coverage with greater information content. However it is just visual and may
not generate desirable consumer response. Other form of marketing communication are direct
marketing which includes door to door, phone calls and mail, then, marketing at point of
purchase through cut outs and display, another way through billboards which can have both
visual as well as audio.

Marketers also extensively use promotional activity for marketing communications. These
are of two types’, consumer promotion and trade promotion. Consumer promotion can be in
form of sampling, evident at malls and super market, another way by providing coupons and
various other schemes. Trade promotion is targeted for channel partner like retailers,
distributors and these could be in form cash incentives etc.

To design a complete marketing communication program, marketers have to ensure that they are
able to establish connection with consumer and able to effectively communicate about brand,
there by creating a strong brand awareness and image. This will ensure in creating a strong
consumer based brand equity.

Leveraging Secondary Brand Association to

Build Brand Equity
There are various ways to create brand equity. Brand elements offer many alternatives style,
logo unique selling proposition etc. Then there are marketing strategies aimed at product,
price and distribution network. Here focus is on product and its attributes, correct and
convincing price structure, and finally choice of product reaches consumer. Marketing
communication is also strategic with respect to build brand equity with choice of medium
(TV, radio, etc) and sales/consumer promotion. But what would be course of brand building
for brand extension? Here brand has to draw some brand elements and brand knowledge from
already developed brand, which has already created impression in consumer’s mind, thereby
leveraging secondary brand association to create brand equity.

Marketers have various options available to them to facilitate leveraging process. These
options are association with companies, countries and distribution channel. Next set of
options relate to brand image and they are in form of brand ambassador, event sponsorship
and other related activities. Secondary brand association has its importance when consumers
are not aware of the new or upcoming brand. This leads to indifferent approach from
customer towards brand. However, if consumers do not have knowledge of associating
company than there could be no knowledge transfer and cannot translate into benefit for the
brand. Even if the consumers have brand knowledge how much relevance it holds for the
current brand also has to be ascertained.

If a company is to introduce a new brand the first step of association is with corporate brand
if it exists. For example, Nokia, when it introduce mini laptop it was referred as Nokia
3G Booklet there are creating association, as consumer are already aware Nokia mobile
phones. Along with company, country of origin can also be relevant source for brand
association, for example BMW and its association with Germany. Top class and renowned
German engineering process gets linked to brand BMW or other car coming out of Germany.
Another valuable association is through channel distribution; if company already has a strong
retail level penetration then introduction of new brand will have its benefit. But here question
is raised concerning brand positioning, if retail network is catering to high end brand, that
distribution network will not relevant for low end brand.

Above listed of association within current company’s infrastructure, however association can
also be developed with brand from different company. This concept is called co-branding, for
example branding of airlines referred to as Star Alliance consisting of 16 airlines. Benefit
with this kind of association is that there definite decrease in cost of introducing of brand plus
positioning becomes easier. However, companies lose charge or control to the overall brand
development process as it is peg with other brands. Lost in the crowd is another problem
leading from brand associations.

Another way of association is through usage of logos, characters from brands, franchise of
other product category. For example, Sony’s PSP coming out with console featuring
characters from Star Wars. But strategy has a drawback, sometimes popularity character may
last just for a movie or a season, in that case, brand has to undergo another round of
association. So choice of right character as shown by Sony is important. Celebrity
endorsement is another way of association, for example, Tiger Woods endorsing product
Gatorade. However this also has challenges if that celebrity is involved endorsement many
other brands. This could lead to dilution or recall value of brand. Also if fortunes of celebrity
goes turtle brand are also in for some pounding. Event sponsorship is another way for brand
association but again right choice of event is very essential to make the brand relevant among
consumer. Another form of endorsement is from third party for example dental association
certifying toothpaste brand.

Marketers some come up with right mix of above strategies to convey right brand
knowledge to consumers. It has its challenges but overall success of secondary
association in building strong brand equity cannot be ignored.