Chapter 7: Crafting the Brand Positioning and Competing Effectively

Chapter 7: Crafting the Brand Positioning and Competing Effectively


Developing and Establishing a Brand Positioning

• All marketing strategy is built on segmentation, targeting, and positioning.

Understanding Positioning and Value Propositions

• Positioning- is the act of designing a company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market.
• Value proposition- a cogent reason why the target market should buy a product or service.
• Deciding on a positioning requires:
• Choosing a frame reference by identifying the target market and relevant competition
• Identifying the optimal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand associations given frame of reference, including emotional branding
• Creating a brand mantra summarizing the brand's positioning and essence.

Choosing a Competitive Frame of Reference

• Competitive frame of reference- defines which other brands a brand competes with and which should thus be the focus of competitive analysis.
• Category membership- the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and that function as close substitutes.
• Industry- a group of firms offering a product or class off products that are close substitutes for one another.
• Competitors- companies that satisfy the same customer need.
• Marketers should monitor these three variables when analyzing competitors:
1. Share of market- the competitor's share of the target market
2. Share of mind- the percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement "Name the first company that comes to mind in this industry."
3. Share of heart- the percentage of customers who named the competitor in responding to the statement "Name the company from which you would prefer to buy the product."

Identifying Potential Points-of-Difference and Points-of-Parity

• Once marketers have fixed the competitive frame of reference for positioning by defining the customer target market and the nature of competition, they can define the appropriate points of difference and points of parity associations.
• Points-of-Difference (PODs)- attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.
• Three criteria determine whether a brand association can truly function as a point-of-difference: desirable, deliverability, and differentiability.
1. Desirable to customer. Consumers must see brand association as personally relevant to them.
2. Deliverable by the company. The company must have the resources and commitment to feasibly and profitably create and maintain the brand association in the minds of consumers. The ideal brand association is preemptive, defensible, and difficult to attack.
3. Differentiating from competitors. Consumers must see the brand association as distinctive and superior to relevant competitors.
• Points-of Parity (POPs)- attribute or benefit associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands.
• These types of associations come in three basic forms:
• Category points-of-parity- attributes or benefits that consumers view as essential to a legitimate and credible offering within a certain category, although not necessarily sufficient conditions for brand choice.
• Correlational points-of-parity- Potentially negative associations that arise from the existence of positive associations for the brand
• Competitive points-of-parity- associations designed to overcome perceived weaknesses of the brand in light of competitors points-of-difference.