CRAFTING BRAND

POSITIONING

Positioning is the art of designing

the company’s offering and image
to occupy a distinctive place in the
minds of the target market
 Positioning
 Who are the brand’s target customers?
 What benefits do they get?
 What is value proposition?
 A business or marketing statement that summarizes
why a consumer should buy a product or use a
service.
 This statement should convince a potential
consumer that particular product or service of the
company will add more value or better solve a
problem than other similar offerings.
 Value Proposition
 Companies use this statement to target
customers who will benefit most from using the
company's products, and this helps maintain an
economic moat.
 The ideal value proposition is concise and
appeals to the customer's strongest decision-
making drivers.
 Companies pay a high price, when customers
lose sight of the company's value proposition.
Customer Ratings
of Competitors
 Competitive frame of reference
 Who are the customers?
 What is the nature of my products?
 Who are my product competitors and
substitutes?
 The products or set of products with which a
brand competes and which function as close
substitutes
 Points of Difference
 Attributes or benefits (design, quality,
performance) consumers strongly associate
with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe
they could not find to the same extent with a
competitive brand
Differentiation strategies
 Product differentiation
 Employee differentiation
 Channel differentiation
 Image differentiation
 Services differentiation
 Points of Parity
 Associations that are not necessarily unique to
the brand but may in fact be shared with other
brands
 Category points of parity are associations consumer
view as essential to a legitimate and credible offering
within a certain product or service category
 Competitive points of parity are associations designed to
negate competitors points of difference. A brand can ‘break
even’ in those attributes where competitors are trying to find
an advantage and achieve advantages in other areas.
 Mexican food: Armadillo Grill
vs. Baja Burrito
 Where do I lunch today?
 The ambiance is poor in both places. The food is a bit better at
Armadillo Grill, and the salsa is definitely better. If a bunch of
other people agrees with me, and start going to Armadillo Grill
instead of Baja Burrito, the nice folks at Baja might have to
consider improving their food and salsa so that they are can
achieve parity with Armadillo Grill.
 The Baja folks have a point of difference against Armadillo
Grill– they are right across the street from NC State campus, in
walking distance from the dorms. Their location is a great point
of difference, but they could probably be doing even better
business if they achieved parity with Armadillo Grill on their
salsa.