The Definition Of Brand Positioning Marketing Essay

Introduction:

This report will offer the definition of brand positioning and analyze the importance of brand positioning in a company. The brand identity and value proposition and their relationship with brand positioning will be discussed. The discussion will be supported by some successful cases on brand positioning. Then, the market segmentation and target markets’ relevance to brand positioning will be demonstrated. Also, some unsuccessful examples will be assessed and their positive repositioning brand positioning strategies will be evaluated. Finally, with these insights, one highly efficient brand positioning strategies will be fully recommended.

Definition:

Brand positioning describes “intellectually and emotionally who the company is, what it aspires to be and why anyone should care. The positioning statement expresses how you wish to be perceived in the future.” In fact, specially, brand positioning is to allocate product, services, or organization in particular communicative channels exteriorly and interiorly in order to satisfy target customer needs and demands. It I s how the brand defines itself in proposing core, actual and extended values and benefits to target market(Clark, 2010). Positioning is relevant to how consumers perceive about provided or current brands in a market (Perreault, Cannon and McCarthy, 2008).

Importance of branding positioning:

Firstly, the brand positioning is quite significant because it implements the business missions, goals and plans into one or more sentences. It transfers business blueprint to clear strategies and matches corporate value and its products or services categories with target customers. To initiate an effective brand positioning strategy is to enable the company to consider what differentiated benefits should be offered and how to realize customer satisfaction with present benefits in a successful way (anne, 2008). Moreover, when differentiating the marketing mix to meet target segmentation’s needs and wants by offering customised benefits, the firm’s brand position has been primarily built up with a competitive advantage and capability. Hence, the brand positioning is capable for target customers to view the corporation’s market position uniquely which is suitable for target clients’ preferences and desires. In addition, when the firm clearly notice and understand what brand and market position it aims to accomplish with potential consumers, the product, place, promotion and other marketing mix plans and objectives could be integrated more efficiently and feasibly (Perreault, Cannon and McCarthy, 2008).

Brand positioning strategies with cases study:

“Brand position is part of brand identity and value proposition and is subset of brand identity and value proposition at target audiences to be actively communicated and provides competitive advantages.” (Aaker, 1996, p71). Therefore, brand positioning is highly related to brand identity and value proposition. When band managers concern about brand positioning, the brand identity and value proposition can be considered as a good starting point. In order to fully understand the interrelation between brand positioning and brand identity as well as value proposition, the concept and components of brand identity is needed to be clearly introduced and explained. “Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for.” (Aaker, 1996, p 69). Brand identity’s mission is to assist complete a customer relationship between a brand and its pertinent target markets via establishing a value proposition incorporating rational, psychological and self-expressive advantages. The significant role of brand identity is to provide tendency, objective and value for the particular brands. It is essential on a brand’s vision level strategically through propelling brand associations with target audience, which is the heart of one specific brand. According to brand identity system, regarding brand identity’s elements, brand identity includes four perspectives with twelve factors, which are “the brand as product, brand as organization, brand as person and brand as symbol” (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103). On the basis of the four perspectives of brand identity mentioned above, the following part will analysis how to link brand identity and brand positioning appropriately in order to generate constructive brand positioning strategies.

First of all, brand as product has six dimensions, embodying “product scope, product attributes, quality /value, uses, users and country of origin”. Personally, I regard “quality/value”, is the top priority since it is the closest bridge between firm’s products and services distribution and customer approach. With regard to the “quality/value”, the product-relevant attribute is the quality or value component. The competitive capabilities from brand positioning rely heavily on the quality and value aspects since many brands employ the “quality as a core identity element” for the competition in the same industry to support the soul of the brand upon operation and management. Even if the extended identity like brand personality and product scope are profoundly linked with quality or value because it emphasises the details the products (“product scope”) and services (“brand personality allocation”) can supply to end users. Strategically, brand positioning should be located clearly and accurately to answer what core identity and extended identity will be transferred to proper customers. Then, the core identity and extended identity can be used to build up quality and value elements (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103). That is how the brand positioning strategies work well with concerning brand identity’s quality and value part.

Secondly, brand as organization has organization attributes and local versus global. In most cases, brand as organization focuses on the organization attributes, like innovation, company cultures which are vital intangible sources for an organization. For brand positioning, in order to differentiate a specific corporation from other rivals in certain industry, innovation and culture management are the best strategies. In particular, organizational attributes can serve a lasting and solid role towards competitive situations since it is really hard to duplicate proprietary innovation and unique firm cultures. Hence, brand positioning has to consider the organizational features thoroughly before entering a new market due the difficulty of changing the brand as an organization (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103).

Not like products features, a brand can be perceived as a real person with personality as trustworthiness, intelligence and seriousness. To make a great brand positioning, the brand personality cannot be ignored because the brand personality is much related to functional, emotional and self-descriptive advantages included in value proposition. Branding positioning should concentrate on brand personality since the functional benefits can deliver good communications to customer and emotional and self-expressive attributes can connect consumers’ personality to brand personality (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103).

Moreover, a brand’s value proposition is a description upon rational, emotional and self-expressive characteristics provided by the brand for the customers. A successful value proposition is supposed to bring positive customer relationship and make financial profits for the firms. The ultimate goal of Brand positioning is to achieve both planning and operational success with substantial market share and financial earnings. The road to realize the goal is to obtain a pleasant and profitable customer relationship mostly through value proposition. So, value proposition should be put in top list for efficient brand positioning (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103).

The last one is brand as symbol, involving brand “visual imagery, metaphors and heritage.” Visual stimulus and impression can attract people’s attention and retain unforgettable memories. “The McDonald’s golden arches and the Coke Classic can or bottle” are successful examples. The metaphors like the distinguished endorsers for brands and sustainable heritage are also important. All of these symbols can be used to dig brand positioning deeply (Aaker, 1996, pp69-103). The discussion above is written from a theoretical perspective.

A real example will fully explain the brand positioning intimacy with brand identity and value proposition from a practical perspective. The example is a case study on brand positioning from “the UK print industry in the B2B online environment.” Firstly, concerning quality and value issue, the benefits like “timeliness, print quality, service quality, consistency and innovation” were frequently declared in many print companies’ websites. For instance, “one London-based print management company’s website” attempted to offer different columns to distinctive customer industries. One of the categories was pharmaceutical section, the focus from this part was to provide explanation for “pharmaceutical business environment” and laws and regulations in pharmaceutical industry. Another section was the commercial and advertising one, the printing quality and campaign spending outcomes were highlighted. The dissimilarities on offering from the website to different industry are an appropriate brand positioning to particular targeted industries with different brand identities, as quality and values (Virtsones and March, 2009).

Secondly, with respect with customer relationship, there are two methods to be applied. One is to demonstrate how suppliers cooperate and the other is to describe the accountabilities of firms. Similar to social relationships among people, the firms treat their collaboration importantly with regular statement on partnerships on their websites’ news. This is a competitive brand positioning tactic to use partnership as a competitive benefit towards customer relationship (Virtsones and March, 2009).

Thirdly, organizations’ credibility as one of the organization’s attributes is quite important. When positioning the brand, the credibility is often taken into consideration. Most of the print companies incorporate clients’ feedbacks and comments on their website to justify its credibility and responsibility to a large extent. In addition, third-party sources online is quite common to support the credibility to some degree. Lastly but not least, for value proposition, the emotional aspect from prospective consumers shows plays a meaningful role in the UK print industry on the websites. The emotional portion is about the corporate social responsibly. The corporate social responsibility is consisted with “environmentally friendly production, local sourcing, employee relations, health and safety, community involvement and supporting the print industry”. Along with the rising popularity upon green economy and industry, lots of the print industry firms take advantage of the positive reaction from overall markets on “green branding positioning”. Even though this issue has not been admitted in the online environment, the green printed social communications and packaging are taken by print buyers as a channel to announce print firms’ corporate social responsibility (Virtsones and March, 2009).

Market segmentation and Target market:

It is quite significant not to consider market segmentation, target market and brand positioning separately, but it is better to analyse them in a big umbrella with integrity and completeness. In fact, it is a whole process for band manager to concern on decision making. Specifically, the procedure begins with market segmentation that is to divide up the total market into different useful groups with potential customers. The following step is called target marketing that intends to pick up one of the separated “customer groups” to offer products and services. The end step is brand positioning as short-term goal to best match the marketing providing with the targeted segmentations with future consumers. In order to fully discuss how the three stages are correlated and reacted and how should these stages to be linked for accomplish efficient brand positioning. These three steps will be explained individually and then will be taken into entire analysis. In the first place, market segmentation is to distinguish and categorize different group of consumers who need personalized customized products and services on the basis of different products, services, promotion, prices for tangible offerings and added process, participants, and physical evidence for intangible providing. Basically, four segmentations can be used to look for the suitable customers, embodying “Geographic segmentation, Demographic segmentation, psychological segmentation and behavioral segmentation.” (Londre Marketing Consultants, 2008).

Secondly, a target market is a market full of groups of purchasers who have wants, needs or personalities in common and the company has to decide what and how to serve them in a positive and pleasant way. A simple example is capable of demonstrate a correct target market decision. For example, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc which is often branded as Wal-mart, an American public corporation operates a chain of large discount department stores and supercenters. Wal-mart has a successful brand positioning resulting from its customized target segmentation. Wal-mart segments its market selections as “Latinos Shoppers, African Americans, Empty-nester/Boomers, Affluent Shoppers, Suburban Shoppers and Rural Shopper.” (Londre Marketing Consultants, 2008).

Finally, positioning is about the action of position a brand in the perception of available clients over rivals’ products in a competitive environment or industry. The objective of brand positioning is to best link the attributes, benefits, values with targeted divisions of helpful customers. Now, it is time to put the target market, market segmentation and brand positioning into a big picture (Londre Marketing Consultants, 2008).

There are a couple of reasons to justify the importance of identifying market segmentation and choosing target markets before taking action to position a brand. The soul of brand positioning is to plan the firm’s tangible and intangible sources to target customers in a beneficial and useful market position. The companies just simply can not satisfy all the people in undivided markets with categorizations since the resources from firms are limited and are need to be used more efficiently. The company’s core value supported by sustainable competitive capabilities has to be applied to approach the most prioritized customers and compete with major rivals. Hence, in order to obtain positive financial profits and strong brand position in a market, the niche marketing is the popular trend, which targets “measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable and actionable” segments (Londre Marketing Consultants, 2008).

One of the dominant advantages to take an integrated strategy to market segmentation, target market and brand positioning is this strategy emphasizes the interrelation and transference effect among them. In fact, the three factors are highly interacted to each other and the success or failure of one aspect can highly influence the rest of the two aspects. The other leading advantage is the three elements have worked together to establish a systemic context. In the context, the analyses from users and suppliers or manufacturers are not isolated. One factor is working with the rest, while analyzing the producer’ side with useful resources and capabilities as well as the user’s side with diversified demands and desires. In the end, the three factors can meet the ultimate mission and goal set up by the firm (Fennell and Allen, 2004). The two subsequent cases will be illustrated in order to better understand the interrelationship among market segmentation, target market and brand positioning. On one hand, the two following cases how significant and meaningful the market segmentation and target market are and the absence of the two factors in brand positioning will lead to failed brand positioning. One the other hand, the two cases showed how the repositioning of brands can save the life of companies if the companies pay full attention and take action in the research of the market segmentation and the target market.

The first case is about Yahoo’s brand positioning strategies. Yahoo is an internet service supplier that serves both personal and business users worldwide. The firm “was founded in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Wang who were attending Stanford University’s PhD program.” Even though Yahoo has grown to be one of worlds’ leading worldwide online services providers and in particular it has a powerful search engine on the internet, Yahoo used to have some serious problems in the past years upon brand positioning. One big problem is as a leading actor of web site browser, Yahoo has put its search product to suffer due to lack of clearly identification of target markets’ needs and wants. In a long time, Yahoo has built up its deliveries in such direction to accumulate values or benefits to its end users or business partners via functionality. At the same time, they aims to make revenue through the whole process mentioned above. However, Yahoo did not attempt to either offer extended values of services to the target consumers or target the users by using advertisements. The real problem is Yahoo did not offer the most useful and relevant information from the websites through search engine to the website surfers. The users use yahoo as a product to offer functional benefits, like “Yahoo News, Finance and Mail.” However, it is hard to retain target customers by only offering the rational benefits. Nowadays, the online service users are looking for the best tool by which they can easily and effectively seek out what they need. In fact, the online firm’s brand positioning is supposed to position its brand as a platform and medium to offer different products and services (Drohn et al, 2007). Yahoo’s unsuccessful brand positioning is proved by its ineffective advertising campaign. For instance, Yahoo’s “Do you Yahoo?” advertising slogan is designed carefully to equal Yahoo to internet searching experience. This advertising goal did not be achieved under the expectation because the brand positioning makes the brand becomes too general to associate the emotional and self-expressive value propositions to its target markets. It delivers meaningless message to users without matching the heart of the audience which is being targeted and did not convince people to make use of Yahoo strongly. The Yahoo case has proved the research and investigation upon customers’ profiles and backgrounds are quite required since they can influence how to pass a right message by right language in the advertising (Gelphman, 2002).

Also, Yahoo did not end the online war with giving up the war. Instead, in 2008, along with the arrival of new CEO, Yahoo had been lead to reposition its brand to “an open platform” and information touching base and replace the former brand position as products-centered core value (BUSINESS WIRE, 2008). The right brand repositioning is fully reinforced and strengthened by a successful advertising campaign. On September 28, 2009, Yahoo officially launched its global advertising campaign, covering” online, television, radio, print, and outdoor” advertising in order to selling the company’s new brand position to its customers. The brand repositioning purpose is delivered obviously and clearly through the words from the ad. The new “Anthem” ad’s text says: “It’s Yahoo.com, one of the most known, most visited sites on the planet. It crosses cultural boundaries, language boundaries, age gaps, gender gaps, and more…. But it’s a whole new place. It’s Y!ou.” The campaign thoroughly locate Yahoo as an information platform by offering “Y!ou” which starts with Yahoo’s “Y” letter the best online experience with various needs and wants (McGee, 2009).

Another interesting case is worldwide well-known cigarette brand, Marlboro, which is known for “its flavor, billboard advertisement and magazine advertisement of the Marlboro man. Marlboro’s initial brand positioning did not generate substantial revenues due to the wrong main market targeting at women. “It was born in 1924 as one of the first women’s cigarerrtes”. To target the female customers, Marlboro produced “Mild as May” to focus on women preferences. However, the lung cancer pointed out by the newspapers and the smoking’s harm to pregnant and breeding mothers make the brand fail to have large market share. After reanalyzing the target market, Marlboro decided to target male segmentation and repositioning its brand by hiring manliest endorsers. After listening to a research company’s report result which illustrated the men in town will not distinguish with cowboys, the company disclosed a campaign with “cowboy image”. In following year, Marlboro lifted its brand share from brand presence to top four selling brand (Prabhakar, 2010). That is a good case to prove how to transition the target segments via different sexes by gratify the customers” self-expression.

Recommendations on brand positioning strategies:

One of the most efficient brand positioning strategies is to internally integrate the frame of reference, points of parity, and points of difference in a long run. Good “brand positioning starts with establishing a frame of reference, which signals to consumers the goal they can expect to achieve by using a brand.” To understand the frame of reference in which the brands implement and demonstrate the attributes that brands share in common with the competitors. Furthermore, right brand positioning needs not only fully thoughts of brands’ points of difference, but also the points of parity with the competitive products in the same industry (Keller, Sternthal & Tybout, 2002).

Choosing the suitable frame of reference is a necessary starting point. It signifies that the categories of associations that will have functionality towards points of parity and points of difference. For example, Sony and Panasonic are in the same category, showing the frame of references can be other brands. But in other cases, like Sony, iphone, ipod are located in PC, mobile and MP3 categories with sharing the same frame of reference that serves as electronic products. In particularly, firms should carefully adjust and revise its brand positioning strategies due the changes of the frame of reference in different product life cycle. Specifically, the new product and the growing product are supposed to refer to distinct frame of reference. The new product often focus on the core value delivery and may do not have to take too close attention to frames of reference. But the mature products have to pay careful attention to frames of reference in order to win the intensive competition (Keller, Sternthal & Tybout, 2002).

After making decision on the starting frames of reference, the points of parity should step in to qualify the lowest standards in the frame and show the brand legitimacy and accountability to consumers. Again, different product stages in the product life cycle require different brand positioning strategies. If it is a new brand, the level of innovation is positively related to the level of difficulty of putting itself into a finished frame. When products establishes, the bottom line has been lifted as the differentiated features have become the lowest standards to meet. Hence, the brand positioning is updating with the development of products (Keller, Sternthal & Tybout, 2002).

A set of powerful, special and impressive points of differences can identify a brand from the rest in the same frame of references. “Brand performance associations”, “brand imagery associations” and “consumer insight associations” are there kinds of parity of differences over the target markets. In fact, “Brand performance associations”, “brand imagery associations” and “consumer insight associations” are the three value propositions with functional, emotional and self-expressive values. Therefore, the brand positioning strategies have to concern the key priorities on which values are mostly to be offer to certain customers. For example, fashionable girls care most about the self-expression on its attractive image in front of males. Nevertheless, the PC purchasers who are keen on high technology may put more thoughts on the quality and functions from the PC (Keller, Sternthal & Tybout, 2002).

Conclusion:

In overall, brand positioning is quite significant for a firm to achieve success. The brand identity, value proposition, market segmentation and target markets are some of the main factors that are profoundly pertinent to brand positioning. It is believed that the frame of reference, points of parity and points of differences could be one of the most valuable brand positioning strategies in the market.