Know-How Exchange : Branding

Maryam

It's not rocket science. Positioning really is the same discipline, whether you're talking
- product/service
- brand
- corporate

The difference is in WHAT you are positioning. And the level or scale with which you have to position that entity.

I would not start attempt to solve the dilemma of trying to understand this from an academic viewpoint (although it sounds like this is where you are ultimately headed with your work).

Instead, first, I would look at developing my own case study. Pick a company in a field that interest you. Then look at a group of products they sell under a brand name. How do they position that brand?

Then look at how they position each product under that unifying brand-banner.

Then stand back and look at the whole corporation/enterprise. How does it get positioned?

Try again with another multi-product portfolio, largish company... Say, Telstra, Westfield, Arnotts, Simplot or Southcorp...

You can rapidly build a simple comparitive framework. It's just a series of steps, with the detail becoming sharper and more focused, and the granularity of the value proposition of the entity you are positioning becoming finer and finer as you go down the positioning chain from enterprise through brand to product.

Imagine trying to position a company that sold products that conflicted in their product or brand positioning with the corporate positioning the directors were expecting to achieve. It just wouldn't work, these things may play different notes but they had better all be in the same key!

Here are a few links that might help.

https://www.bayerjobs.com/about/i_positioning.html
https://www.brsgroup.com/positioning.htm
https://www.b2binternational.com/branding.html

I notice you have an Australian Yahoo address. I'm based in Melbourne, Vic. If you want to speak about this matter on Monday, e-mail me (my address is in my profile on here)and I'll give you my phone number.

Good Luck

Chris Blackman

Well, there isn't much difference between corporate and product branding....the strategies are practically identical.

I not only reccomend the articles on this site but the links below:

Branding:

I like https://www.brandchannel.com . Click on "directory" to get a nice list of resourses.

Another quantitative search tool is:

https://searchengineformarketers.com.

It has links to almost every aspect of marketing you can imagine.

Good Luck!

"Positioning" is often synonimous with "branding"..sometimes a confusing aspect of marketing jargon. But since you appropriately placed your question under the Branding section, I assume you already know this.

Perhaps to clarify a bit..

Product positioning deals with reality. It is straight comparison of product features. New product development usually tries to create product differentiation using quality control and production efficiencies. Therefore, you haveto base your positioning on what the product can actual do since it is a tangible object.


Corporate positioning deals with perception of an entire company. In many ways it is similar to product positioning but the objective is to create and transfer an image for an entire company. This becomes highly useful in the stock market for example. Corporate positioning is based more on the perception, a non-tangible "object"...rather an idea or belief.

That is the best way I can think of to describe the difference to you.

Here are some more links:

https://www.brsgroup.com/positioning.htm

https://www.b2binternational.com/branding.html

https://www.federatedpress.com/products/bookads/CBrand.htm

Interesting responses, and rather than wade in with a postion of my own, i would refer you to corporate reputation research - this has become a hot topic for academics (wrt to empirical investigation) in the last few years and there is plenty of literature in many journals. Post (or e me) if you are still having trouble.

for 2 cents worth though remember positioning happens whether you manage it or not, it is way that customers manage their cognitive process, - if your corporate brand is different from other brands you use, then you better have a strategy in place to manage its perception

Good luck

Gosh, I now see what a dangerous position it is, to be the first response ahead of so many other distinguished respondents. I guess that's what I get for not going out on Saturday night - or at least for not turning off my computer.

OK, there are differences between corporate, brand and product positioning. And yes, while you, the marketer, are doing all the "jockeying for position", it is always going to be the customer/prospect/audience who ends up putting you in position in their minds.

You can try to manage the perception on a low or even a large budget, but the cognitive processes "in the eye of the beholder" are what decide whether it's the position you wanted, or something else. The market decides whether or not the promises you make are sustainable.

I think what we need here is a clear summary framework that takes the key elements from all the above answers and makes a simple comparison. I'll see if I can address that in the next day or so...

This topic seems to be causing us all to drill very deeply - perhaps it's a potential one-day seminar topic?

I have created a comparative framework as promised yesterday. You can find it here, https://www.asvpconsulting.com/positioning/framework.htm and I would be glad to receive your comments.

Of neccessity it is an outline only. For specific case studies it could be made narrower, deeper and far more detailed.

Hope it's helpful. Apologies for the primitive html website, I'm learning this technical stuff as I go!