Brand Strategy That Delivers: Part 1

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and today is Strategic Tuesday.  We are going to continue the Positioning theme and, over the next couple of days, talk about developing your brand strategy, positioning, or positioning statement.

A positioning statement identifies your target customers and provides the compelling image of how you want customers in the marketplace to perceive your brand.  Remember we talked about how beneficial it is to be number one in the minds of your customers?  That is the goal of your positioning statement.

Let’s take a look at Nike.  People often get confused between a positioning statement and a slogan.  In the case of Nike, they use the slogan Just Do It.  That means they don’t care if you’re the fastest miler in the world or the slowest, they just want you to go out and do it, preferably using Nike clothing and equipment.

A positioning statement is extremely important because it is the foundation for virtually everything else you do with respect to your marketing and branding.  It drives your strategy and tactics.  Having a great positioning statement will lead to better results in the future.

There are four components to the positioning statement.  I am going to talk about each one and will use Nike as an example to illustrate the points.

First is target customer.  You can’t be all things to all people so you have to focus.  In the case of Nike, they target athletes, but they want to reach athletes with a discerning taste for high performance sports clothing and equipment.  Customers that will pay a premium for equipment that works.

Frame of reference to identify the industry you are competing in is also required.  Nike is in the athletic clothing/equipment industry.  They may have other thoughts about it, but in my perception of their brand, that is the field that they are in.

Benefit or point of difference also has to be defined.  Identify what will make your product unique in the mind of your customer.  Going back to Nike, they use innovation to develop technologies in clothing, shoes and sports equipment that enhances performance.

Lastly, you have to provide customers with a reason to believe your product will do what you say it will do.  Think about Nike again.  They use professional athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods in their advertising.  They support college football, basketball and baseball teams.  Everywhere you look there is a Nike Swoosh.  They are telling you that if they can make the professional and college athletes play better, they can do the same for you.

Your assignment for Strategic Tuesday is to start thinking about the four components that comprise the positioning statement.  Tomorrow we are going discuss preparing your positioning statement and I’ll use Once a Day Marketing as an example.

That concludes Part 1 of our Brand Strategy That Delivers, please join us tomorrow for Part 2.  To discuss a one on one service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and we’ll see you next time.