CRAFTING BRAND POSITIONING Category Membership - products or sets

of products with which a brand competes

Segmentation - Dividing the market into a and which function as substitutes.
distinct group of customers using a
segmentation process.
Frame of reference Competitors
Targeting - Determining which group to focus
your marketing efforts on. Cola Pepsi, Thumps up
Positioning - Creating product positioning and
marketing mix that is most likely to appear to Carbonated Beverage 7up, Sprite
the selected audience. Softdrink Slice, Maaza

Brand - name, term sign, symbol intended to Non-alcoholic Chocolate milk,

identify the goods or services of one seller or Beverage energy drink
group of sellers and to differentiate them for
Beverage Wine, Beer
competitors.
Branning - Providing goods and services with Liquid Refreshment Water, Bisleri
the power of the brand.
Psychological A walk, yoga
Developing & Establishing a brand Positioning refreshment

Positioning - act of designing a company's Analyzing Competitors - process of

offering and image to occupy a distinctive
place in the minds of the target market.
Goal: To locate the brand in the mind of
consumers to maximize the potential benefits
to the firm.
Deciding on a positioning requires:
- Determining the frame of reference
by identifying the target market and
relevant competition.
- Identifying optimal points of parity
and points of difference brand
associations given that frame
reference.
- Creating a brand mantra to
summarize the positioning and
essence of the brand
Determining a frame of reference
Competitive frame of reference - defines
which other brands a brand competes with
and therefore should be focus of competitive
analysis
- Identifying competitors
- Analyzing Competitors
conducting SWOT analysis that includes a
competitive analysis.
Strengths - Weakness - Opportunities -
Threats
Others: Customers’ ratings of competitors
on key success factors
Identifying optimal POP and POD
Point-of-difference - Attributes or benefits
that consumers strongly associate with a
brand, positively evaluate, and believe they
could not find to the same extent with a
competitive brand.
Criteria for points-of-difference
- Desirability
- Deliverability
- Differentiability
Points-of-parity - These are the attributes
or benefit associations that are not
necessarily unique to the brand but may in
fact be shared with other brands.
Two Forms of POP
● Category Points of parity -
Associations customers view as
essential to a legitimate credible
offering within a certain product or
service category.
● Competitive points of parity -
Associations designed to negate a
competitor’s point of difference.
Value Proposition - It is a short statement
that communicates why buyers should
choose your products or services
● Straddle Positioning
It is a common positioning technique
used when a company tries to
straddle between two frames of
reference.
[BMW through a well-crafted
marketing program straddled
“Luxury” and “Performance” as both
POD and POP]
Multiple competitive frames of reference
1. Starbucks could define very distinct
sets of competitors, suggesting
different possible POPs and PODs
as a result:
2. Quick-serve restaurants and
convenience shops (McDonald’s and
Dunkin’ Donuts). Intended PODS
might be quality, image, experience,
and variety; intended POPs might be
convenience and value.
3. Supermarket brands for home
consumption (Folgers and
NESCAFÉ). Intended PODs might
be quality, image, experience,
variety, and freshness; intended
POPs might be convenience and
value.
4. Local cafés. Intended PODs might
be convenience and service quality;
intended POPs might be quality,
variety, price, and community.
Creating Brand Mantra
Brand mantra - A brand mantra is an
articulation of the heart and soul of the
brand and is closely related to other
branding concepts like “brand essence” and
“core brand promise”.
- Brand mantras are short,
three-to-five-word phrases that
capture the irrefutable essence or
spirit of the brand positioning
- A powerful brand mantra a business
can easily standout in the marketing
place.
Ex. “Authentic Athletic Performance” - nike
Brand Slogan - A brand slogan is an
external translation that attempts to
creatively engage consumers.
Ex. “Open Happiness” - Coca cola
Designing Brand Mantra
Communicate
- A good brand mantra should define
the category (categories) of
business for the brand and set the
brand boundaries. It should also
clarify what is unique about the
brand
Simplify
- An effective brand mantra should be
memorable. For that, it should be
short, crisp, and vivid in meaning.
Inspire
- Ideally, the brand mantra should also
stake out ground that is personally
meaningful and relevant to as many
employees as possible
Additional Info:
- A brand mantra is designed specifically
for employees but not customers
- “Brand Function” The term explains what a
product or service provides to consumers
i.e. benefits, experiences
- “Emotional Modifier” The term explains
how consumers should feel about the
brand.
- “Descriptive Modifier” The term further
describes whom the brand is basically for
i.e. athlete, family
Ex.
Differentiation Strategy
- Marketers must start with the belief
that you can differentiate anything
Principal Subjects
- Employee Differentiation
- Image Differentiation
- Channel Differentiation
- Service Differentiation
Competitive Advantage
- It is a company’s ability to perform in
1 or more ways that competitors
can’t match.
Leverage Advantage
- Is the one that a company can use
as a springboard to new
advantages.
Customer Advantage
- Is an advantage that a customer
sees in the company offering.
Note: For a brand to be effectively
positioned, customers must see any
competitive advantage as a customer
advantage
DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY
Differentiation strategy - is a marketing
approach which “urges” businesses to
develop a unique product or service. The
word unique means that a product/service
must be able to differentiate itself from its
competitors.
2 basic ways to choose differentiation
strategy
● Broad differentiation strategy
(BDS)
- A company usually adopts
the broad differentiation strategy when it
wants to target a wide range of customers.
● Focused differentiation strategy
(FDS)
- A firm following this strategy
will target a specific niche/segment of the
market. A firm may target one or multiple
segments. But, the firm will have to make
custom products for different markets.
Types of Differentiation strategy with
examples:
Product Differentiation - This is the most
visible or noticeable type of differentiation
strategy. Generally, consumers differentiate
a product by its physical appearance.
Service Differentiation - means creating a
unique way to serve customers. Well, every
the company serves its customers, so what
can be different. There are several factors in
servicing your customers, such as order
processing, customer service method, etc.
Distribution differentiation - A company
may differentiate itself from a cluster of
competitors through a distribution
differentiation strategy. It is impossible for
every company to manufacture a product
and then make it available to dealers,
distributors, retailers, etc., with its own
distribution channels.
Relationship Differentiation - Another way
for businesses to differentiate themselves is
by creating impeccable customer
relationships. From sales representatives to
employees, technical service
representatives to CSR, a company can
differentiate itself by a relationship
differentiation strategy.
Image Differentiation - It means creating a
reputable and differentiable image of
yourbrand. A company can only do that by
mastering all departments such as product
quality, customer service, product
performance, etc.
Price Differentiation - Price differentiation,
also termed price discrimination, is a
differentiation strategy that involves
charging different prices for the same
product.
Benefits of Differentiation Strategy
- Reduction in price competition
- Uniqueness in products
- Higher profit margins
- Customer loyalty
- Minimum or no substitutes
Reason for differentiation strategy to fail
- Attributes with little value
- Easier to copy
- Over differentiation
- Fail to understand the customer
COMPETITION DYNAMICS
Competitive Dynamics - Set of actions as
well as reactions of companies taking part in
a competitive business environment
comprising multiple rivals and stakeholders.
- actions taken by companies define
competitive dynamics as each firm takes
decisions and actions to strengthen its
competitive position relatively in the market.
- includes a continuous process in
which multiple rivals are trying to gain a
competitive edge over others through a
series of actions and responses.
- Competitive responses are taken to
counter the effects of a competitor’s
competitive action.
Example: One of the best examples to study
competitive dynamics is the current
smartphone industry where the life cycle of
products has become very less and each
competitor is pushed to take competitive
actions in response to others or become
irrelevant in the marketplace.
Total Market & Market Share
Expand Total Market
Defend Market Share
- When market leaders expand the
total size of their total market, then they
have to defend their business from the
competitors’ attacks
6 Types of defending Market Strategies
- Position defense
- Flank Defense
- Counter-offensive strategy
- Mobile Defense
- Contraction Defense
- Preemptive Defense
- Shotgun attack
- Pervasive distribution
Position Defense - Management decides
to strengthen its position in one or more
markets that the company is targeting
currently. The company focuses on the
single market and offers the product in order
to meet the needs of the market.
Flank Defense - Means that the company
should take precautionary measures not
only to protect its current domain but also its
weaker areas.
Preemptive Defense - Similar to the quote
"Prevention is much better than cure". You
start attacking the competitors before they
could get a chance to attack you.
Shotgun attack
- it’s when you randomly attack all the
competitors, instead of attacking any one of
them.
Pervasive distribution
- it’s when you cover a big portion of
the market and attack the competitors in
terms of low pricing. When you follow such
attacking strategies, then it would keep the
competitors busy defending their
market position.
Counter Offensive Strategy - Attacking
your enemy when he attacks you. When
competitors attack the market leader, then
he attacks back in order to protect his
position in the market.
Mobile Defense - Leaders defend their
market territory and expand their business
into new areas.
Contraction Defense - When a company
finds it difficult to hold the bigger market in
the long term, the company creates a list of
its weaker areas, and then withdrawing from
those weak markets.
Competing Effectively
Market Followers
“A company that is not the leading company
in a particular market but that chooses to
keep its position rather than competing in a
forceful way to increase its share of the
market.”
Market Follower Strategy
Imitation of products, and services of the
market leaders. Most prominent in this type
of strategy are shoes, clothes, and bags.
- "a company that sells a product or
service that few other companies
provide".
For example they only provide products for
Sports, so they only sell sport equipment.
Another example, their target customers are
gamers so they only provide computer
parts, gaming accessories etc.
Their strategy is to focus on just one part of
the market and thrive there
Product Life Cycle
Decline - reduce the expenditure for
promoting, reduce the outlets of selling,
and implements sale prices to boost
customer sales.
Maturity - modify your market and enter new
markets. Modification of
products or improving existing features and
qualitie
Growth - improve product quality and
improve product features or support
services
Introduction - establish brand identity,
partner with the right firms to promote
your product, and provide samples and
trials to key target markets.
Economic downturn - is part of the
economic cycle, i.e., the natural fluctuation
of the economy between periods of
growth and contraction. Economic Downturn
occurs commonly because of oversupply
and uncertainty.
- Marketing was not taught to be
implemented only during a decline.Even if
the economy is at its best state, Marketing
must be utilized and maximized to generate
a greater growth.
DEVELOPING PRICING STRATEGIES
AND PROGRAMS
Pricing
- It is defined as the amount of money
that you charge for your products
- It is a term used to describe the
decision-making process before you
value a product or service.
- It must communicate how much you
care about your brand, product, and
customers to your potential
consumers.
- It’s one of the first things a consumer
considers when deciding whether or
not to acquire your goods or service.
Pricing strategies - It refers to the
processes and methodologies businesses
use to set prices for their products and
services. If pricing is how much you charge
for your products, then product pricing
strategy is how you determine what that
amount should be.
Importance:
1. helps solidify your position by building
trust with your customers.
2. as well as meeting your business goals.
Pricing strategies aren’t necessarily about
profit margins, despite common opinion. For
example, you can want to keep the price of
an item or service low to keep your share of
the market and keep competitors out.
Characteristic of pricing strategy
- Winning pricing strategy
Portrays value
convinces customers to buy
Gives your customers confidence in your
product
- Weak pricing strategy
Doesn’t accurately portray the value of your
product
Makes customers feel uncertain about
buying
Targets the wrong customers
Types of pricing strategies
Penetration pricing - The penetration pricing
strategy consists of setting a much lower
price than competitors to earn initial sales.
These low prices can draw in new
customers and divert revenue from
competitors.
Skimming pricing - In this type of pricing
strategy, prices drop as products end their
life cycle and become less relevant.
Businesses that sell high-tech or novelty
products typically use price skimming.
High-low pricing - High-low pricing is similar
to skimming, except the price drops at a
different rate. With the high-low pricing
method, the price of a product drops
significantly all at once rather than at a
gradual pace.
Premium pricing - Premium pricing occurs
when prices are set higher than the rest of
the market to create perceived value,
quality, or luxury.
Psychological pricing - Psychological pricing
strategies play on the psychology of
consumers by slightly altering price, product
placement, or product packaging.
Bundle pricing - Bundle pricing is a type of
promotional pricing where two or more
similar products or services are sold
together for one price.
Competitive pricing - The competitive
pricing strategy sets the price of your
products or services at the current market
rate. Your pricing is determined by all other
products in your industry, which helps you
stay competitive if your business is in a
saturated industry.
Cost-plus pricing - Cost-plus pricing
involves taking the amount it costs you to
make the product and increasing that
amount by a set percentage to determine
the final price.
Dynamic pricing - Dynamic pricing matches
the current market demand for a product.
Also known as demand pricing, this pricing
strategy most often occurs when the
product at hand fluctuates on a daily or
even hourly basis.
Economy Pricing - This type of pricing
strategy usually goes hand-in-hand with low
production costs.
Freemium pricing - Freemium pricing offers
a basic product or service for free, then
encourages customers to upgrade to the
paid, premium version to access more
features or choices.
Loss-leader pricing - Loss-leader pricing
brings customers to your store to buy a
highly discounted product (the loss leader).
While they’re there, they might buy other
full-price items they didn’t plan on—which
should more than make up for the loss of
the original product.
How to set the price
1. Determine your business goals
2. Know your target market
3. Deciding your pricing objectives
4. Positioning
5. Work out your costs
6. Profitability
7. Competitors
8. Think about other factors
SETTING PRODUCT STRATEGY
Product Strategy
- Forms the basis for executing a
product roadmap and subsequent product
releases. It also enables the company to
focus on specific targets.
Product
- Any item or service you sell to serve
a customer’s needs or wants. A physical or
virtual.
Product Characteristics
- Attributes of the product itself that
need to be controlled. Ex. Size Shape,
Color, Quality.
Market offering
- Combination of products, services,
information or experience offered to a
market to satisfy a need or want.
5 Product levels
- Core benefits [fundamental need and want
that consumers satisfy by consuming the
product or service.]
- Generic Product [basic version of the
product made up of only those features
necessary for it to function.]
- Expected Product [Includes additional
features that the customer might expect]
- Augmented Product [any product
variations or extra features that might help
differentiate the product from its competitors
and make the brand a clearer choice
amongst the competition.
- Potential Product [Includes all the
augmentations and transformations a
product might undergo in the future]
Product Classification
- Organizes products into four
categories based mostly on
consumer buying behavior, similarity
to competing brands and price range
Durability & Tangibility
Non Durable Goods - are tangible goods
normally consumed in one or a few uses,
such as beer and shampoo.
Durable Goods - Tangible goods that
normally survive many
uses
Services - Intangible, inseparable, variable
& perishable products
Uses
Consumer food
1. Convenience - Purchase frequently,
immediately & with minimum of effort.
2. Shopping - Consumer compares on such
a basis suitability, quality, price & style..
3. SPECIALTY - Have unique
characteristics & need special purchasing
efforts
Industrial Goods
1. Materials and parts - Goods that enter the
production in complete form
Raw materials, Manufactured, Materials
2. Capital items - long-lived business assets
Component Materials: Iron, Yarn, Cement,
Wires etc.
Component Parts:Small motors, Tires, etc.
3. Supplies/Business Services - short-term
Goods and services that facilitate
developing or managing the finished
product.
Supply: Maintenance & repair items
Operating Supplies
Business Services: Maintenance and repair
service
Product Differentiation - effective method
or way of differentiating and positioning a
company’s goods and services.
1. Horizontal Differentiation
Refers to any differentiation that is not
associated with the products quality and
price and will be decided by the customers
preference.
2. Vertical Differentiation
Refers distinction in products that customer
can evaluate and differentiate the products
based on its quality and price, it also
measures objectives based like list and
brand recognition
3. Mixed Differentiation
Combination of both above
Service Differentiation - design and
delivery of a service to have unique and
valuable characteristics.
1. Ordering ease
2. Installation
3. Delivery
4. Customer Training
5. Customer Consulting
6. Maintenance and repair
7. Returns
Product system - A group of diverse but
related items that function in a compatible
manner.
Product Mix - also known as product
assortment, set of all products and items a
particular seller offers for sale.
Product Mixes
1. Width - how many different product
lines the company carries.
2. Length - Total number of items in the
product mix
3. Depth - How many variants are
offered of each product in the line
4. Consistency - how closely related
the various product lines are in and
use
Product Mix - refers to the total number of
products of a company offer to
sell.
Product line - refers to related products with
similar users and functions.
Combining Products
Co-Branding - brand partnership type that
involves two or more brands collaborating
on a new product or services creating
marketing synergy.
Types of Co-branding
1. Same-company co-branding
2. Joint venture or composite
co-branding
3. Multiple sponsor co-branding
4. Retail Co-branding
DESIGNING AND MANAGING
INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
Marketing Communication - means by
which firms attempt to inform, persuade,
and remind consumers, directly or indirectly,
about the products and brands they sell.
Marketing Communication Mix
1. Advertising
2. Sales Promotion
3. Events and Experience
4. Public relation and publicity
5. Direct Marketing
6. Interactive Marketing
7. Word-of-mouth Marketing
8. Personal Selling
1. Advertising - Any paid form of
nonpersonal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods or services by an identified
sponsor via print media, broadcast media,
network media, electronic and display
media.
2. Sales promotion - A variety of
short-term incentives to encourage trial
or purchase of a product or service
including consumer promotions ,trade
promotions, and business and sales force
promotions.
3. Events and experiences -
Company-sponsored activities and
programs designed to create daily or special
brand-related interactions with consumers,
including sports, arts, entertainment as well
as less formal activities
4. Public relations and publicity - .A
variety of programs directed internally to
employees of the company or externally to
consumers, other firms, the government,
and media to promote or protect a
company's image or its individual product
communications.
5. Direct Marketing - Use of mail,
telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to
communicate directly with or solicit
response or dialogue from specific Developing Effective Communications
customers and prospects.
6. Interactive Marketing - Online activities
and programs designed to engage
customers or prospects and directly or
indirectly raise awareness, improve image,
or elicit sales of products and services.
7. Word-of-mouth Marketing -
People-to-people oral, written, or electronic
communications that relate to the merits or
experiences of purchasing or using products
or services.
8. Personal Selling - Face-to-face
interaction with one or more prospective
purchasers for the purpose of making
presentations, answering questions, and
Identify Target Audience
procuring orders.
- target audience is a critical influence
on the communicator's decisions about what
Communication Process Models
to say, how, when, where, and to whom.
● Macro Model
Communication Objectives
Category Need - Establishing a product or
service category as necessary
to remove or satisfy a perceived
discrepancy between a current
motivational state and a desired
motivational state.

Brand Awareness - Fostering the

consumer's ability to recognize or
● Micro Model recall the brand within the category, in
sufficient detail to make a
purchase.

Brand Attitude - Helping consumers

evaluate the brand's perceived
ability to meet a currently relevant need.

Brand Purchase Intention - Moving

consumers to decide to purchase the
brand or take purchase-related action.

Design the communication

- Message Strategy
- Creative Strategy
- Message Source
Select communication channels
1. Personal Communications Channels
involve two or more persons communicating
directly. They derive their effectiveness from
individualized presentation and feedback.
The kinds of personal communications
channels are:
- Advocate channels consist of
company salespeople contacting buyers in
the target market.
- Expert channels consist of
independent experts making statements to
target buyers.
- Social channels consist of
neighbors, friends, family members,
and associates talking to target
buyers.
2. Integration of Communications
Channels
- Although personal communication is
often more effective than mass
communication, mass media might be the
major means of stimulating personal
communication.
- Mass communications affect
personal attitudes and behavior through a
two step process. Ideas often flow from
radio, television, and print to opinion
leaders, and from population groups. these
to less media-involved
Total marketing communications budget
Affordable Method
- Set the promotion budget at what
they think the company can afford
Percentage of sales method
- Set promotion expenditures at a
specified percentage of sales (either current
or anticipated) or of the sales price. Set the
promotion budget to achieve share-of-voice
parity with competitors.
Objective and task Method
- The objective-and-task method calls
upon marketers to develop promotion
budgets by defining specific objective,
determining the tasks that must be
performed to achieve these objectives, and
estimating the costs of performing these
tasks. The sum of these costs is the
proposed promotion budget.
Factors in setting the marketing
communications mix
- Type product market
- Buyer readiness stage
- Product life cycle stage
Managing integrated marketing
communications
- is a concept of marketing
communications planning that recognizes
the added value of a comprehensive plan
and evaluates the strategic roles of a variety
of communications disciplines such as
general advertising, direct marketing, sales
promotion, public relations, etc; skillfully
combining these disciplines to provide
clarity, consistency, and maximum impact
through the smooth integration of
messages.
It involves:
- Coordinating Media
- Implementing Imc (Integrated
marketing communication)