Marketing

Take a position: The best way to position a brand is through a structured approach versus The best way to position a brand is through an unstructured approach.

Employ a well-integrated set of brand elements. Tactically, it is important for small businesses to maximize the contribution of all types of brand equity drivers. In particular, they should develop a distinctive, well-integrated set of brand elements—brand names, logos, packaging—that enhances both brand awareness and brand image. Brand elements s

In assessing potential threats from competitors, three high-level variables are useful: Share of market— The competitor’s share of the target market. 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.” Share of heart— The percentage of custo

Brand Narratives and Storytelling Rather than outlining specific attributes or benefits, some marketing experts describe positioning a brand as telling a narrative or story. Companies like the richness and imagination they can derive from thinking of the story behind a product or service. To help sharpen its marketing and positioning, Jim Beam, wit

We can examine competition from both an industry and a market point of view.7 An industry is a group of firms offering a product or class of products that are close substitutes for one another. ... Using the market approach, we define competitors as companies that satisfy the same customer need. For example, a customer who buys a word-processing so

one common challenge in positioning is that many of the benefits that make up points-of-parity and points-of-difference are negatively correlated.

Often a good positioning will have several PODs and POPs. Of those, often two or three really define the competitive battlefield and should be analyzed and developed carefully. A good positioning should also follow the “90–10” rule and be highly applicable to 90 percent (or at least 80 percent) of the products in the brand.

For brands anticipating rapid growth, it is helpful to define the product or benefit space in which the brand would like to compete, as Nike did with “athletic performance” and Disney with “family entertainment.” Words that describe the nature of the product or service, or the type of experiences or benefits the brand provides, can be critical to i

DESIGNING A BRAND MANTRA Unlike brand slogans meant to engage, brand mantras are designed with internal purposes in mind. Although Nike’s internal mantra was “authentic athletic performance,” its external slogan was “Just Do It.” Here are the three key criteria for a brand mantra. Communicate. A good brand mantra should clarify what is unique about