Branding Strategy
In an age when new businesses appear and disappear seemingly overnight.
Where every other person you know is busy starting, owning or closing down an Amazon store.
And where you know of more prosperous E-commerce Gurus than E-commerce owners…
Branding and Positioning are two factors your business must possess, or it will soon perish in the collective memory of our product-bloated society.
what is branding?
It is a way to fix your company, your product, or you in the minds of consumers, whether you sell physical products, digital products or your own celebrity.
It is: “What does someone think of when they think of my product?” And conversely, does someone think of my product when they think of the type of product I sell?
While both Branding and Positioning are inextricably linked, they are not one in the same.
But they are each vital.
As a new brand you are an unknown in the minds of customers.
They may know your competitors and they may know the type of products you sell — but they don’t know you, and they won’t know or remember you without proper Branding and Positioning.
The mind works very specifically in regards to marketing. People don’t want to know what a thing is, they want to know what it’s like. They understand things through comparisons.
“What does squid taste like?” “It tastes like Chicken.”
With the above we have a comparison, but it won’t stick. To do that it needs its own identity.
To position it in their mind so as to give it it’s own identity our answer goes like this:
“What does squid taste like?” “It tastes like chicken, only more chewy.”
Now we have a comparison of an unknown to a known, but we also have a distinguishing aspect that separates the two and affixes the taste of squid firmly in the person’s mind.
There may be many other things that squid tastes like and there may be many other differences between it and chicken… but it doesn’t matter. They now know what it is as an individual thing. Or at least they think they do and that’s good enough.
Examples of this in the real world are all around us:
Southwest isn’t an airline, it’s the no-frills, low-cost Airline. It’s the airline with the comedic flight stewardesses, where you know you won’t get much but that’s okay because you won’t pay much either and that’s what you want.
What’s Apple? The high-quality, design-centric, ease-of-use Electronics company.
What’s Windows? The company that does more but requires a higher understanding in order to use it.
Each has its own public they serve who know them by very specific qualities.
THE PRODUCT LADDER
Positioning can be done many ways. In the above example Apple and Windows each occupy two different sections of an overall spectrum, neither better or worse than the other really, just different in their own unique ways.
But what about positioning by superiority as on a ladder?
What’s Pepsi? The alternative to Coke. You’ll almost never see the two sold together unless you’re somewhere that sells everything. If they’re together Coke will almost always be picked.
Pepsi isn’t a different soda like Sprite or Dr. Pepper. It’s a direct competitor to Coke and therefore occupies the lower step of the product ladder.
What’s below that? I don’t know, maybe RC cola. But not sprite or Dr. Pepper. They’re positioned to the left and right. Sprite is a citrus soda, it competes with Mountain Dew and Squirt.
Dr. Pepper is more a product of its own and so positioned to the side.
MAKING IT AS A BRAND
To make it into the game and stay there, one must be branded as a specific thing and positioned in relation to other products in order to be remembered. If it isn’t, no business will last.
Do you sell cosmetics? So do countless other brands, big and small. How are you going to stand out? How are you going to stick in the memory of those who see you and your content?
That’s what we determine as part of our research and strategy when we take you on.
Your overall message determines your brand. It is what delineates you from the rest, the qualities that make up who you or your Brand are as opposed to other brands or individuals.
It is also what your are known for in regards to quality and value. Are you high-end or for lower middle class, posh with gorgeous packaging or obviously lower-priced and so what a lower income family is looking for.
So many things go into this, from the overall theme and message of your brand, to how you communicate in your content, copy and ads.
