Know-How Exchange : Branding

I can’t give you examples of position statements because they are internal instrument. Here’s what I recently wrote concerning positioning statements:

The position statement is a part of the strategy and communicates to those inside the company the any and all of the following:

• Placement within a market segment


• Placement of the product relative to other products categories and application


• Placement versus competitors' products


• Placement of the product in terms of features and benefits

The position statement is critical to have in place before the marketing "production" work is completed because it ties everything together. A position statement is not a tagline because the audience is different; for a position statement, you are addressing company stakeholders versus a tagline is addressing customers. The language and method of communications of both are usually different because both sets most likely are motivated and affected differently and by different media.

If you remember Miller Lite's tagline "Less filling...tastes great " - you can be sure their position statement was a little more complex - something like Miller Lite is aimed at beer drinkers who want to cut the calories but maintain the taste. Versus Budweiser, Miller Lite has a cleaner taste and the same number of calories. With is positioning statement, the admen can take off doing commercials and the stockholders can understand how Miller plans to increase the company value with this brand.
To create a position statement you first start by understanding the market:

• Who are the customers?


• How can you group them according to their needs (rank these “segments” from largest to smallest)?


• What are their needs?


• What are their influencers and motivators?


• To which media do they subscribe?


• What messages and forms of messages are they prone to be drawn to?

Next, understand the competition:

• Who are the competitors?


• What are they strengths and weaknesses?


• How well do they satisfy the customers’ needs (by segment)?

Then, understand your company:

• What are the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)?


• What are the core competencies of the company? i.e. What can the firm do best?


• How can the company use its core competencies to:
  
  • take advantage of its strengths to exploit the competitions’ weaknesses
  
  
  • make its weaknesses into strengths
  
  
  • take advantage of opportunities
  
  
  • avoid threats
  
  
• How can the firm leverage theses core competencies to satisfy the needs of the customers?

Lastly, a firm also must position the resulting product and/or service such that the customer perceives the product to the best value at the price. This is accomplished via a good solid marketing plan:

• Create a position statement. The position statement is a part of the strategy and communicates to those inside the company the any and all of the following (repeated from above):
  • Placement within a market segment
  • Placement of the product relative to other products categories and application
  • Placement versus competitors' products
  • Placement of the product in terms of features and benefits
  
  The position statement is critical to have in place before the marketing "production" work is completed because it ties everything together.


• Complete the branding plan
  • Name
  
  
  • Logo
  
  
  • Product characteristics - colors, features, quality
  
  
  • packaging and packaging characteristics (colors, font styling, logo and logo placement)
  
  
  • tag lines
  
  Branding is something that has to agree with the position 100% and also will have a very long life. Branding also communicates the value created. These factors have to weigh heavily.


• Finally, the media plan is created:
  • Press releases
  
  
  • Trade magazine articles
  
  
  • Advertising
  
  
  • Brochures
  
  
  • Application notes/white papers
  
  
  • Webpages
  
  
  • eMail/eZines
  
  
  • Direct mail

I hope this helps.

Wayde