It’s one of the great ironies of branding that, while we tend to care passionately about the precision and quality of the words that brands use to communicate, the language we use ourselves is hopelessly vague. Often, we use identical terms to describe different ideas and concepts. At other times, we use different words to describe identical ideas and concepts.
One of the most glaring examples of this is the confusion that often exists between ‘brand positioning’ and ‘brand strategy’. Positioning is often described as “the space in people’s minds that a brand wants to occupy”. The term was popularized in the 1970s by advertising executives Al Ries and Jack Trout, who argued that brands wishing to cut through in a noisy, over-communicated society, needed to develop an oversimplified message capable of reaching an oversimplified mind:
“Along Madison Avenue, these are called positioning slogans. And the advertising people who write them spend their time and research money looking for positions, or holes, in the marketplace.”
And here’s where the confusion begins: Ries and Trout flip-flop between two different definitions of positioning:
These are related, but different activities. What happens in someone’s mind is not the same as what happens in a marketplace. ‘We try harder’ and ‘uncola’ are not parts of a market, they are ideas that brand owners want to establish in our heads.
Philip Kotler is pretty firm in his point of view on which of these two activities is best described as ‘brand positioning’. As he explains in his 2017 book, Marketing 4.0:
“Since the 1980s, brand positioning has been recognized as the battle for the customer’s mind… Brand positioning is essentially a compelling promise that marketers convey to win the customers’ minds and hearts.” SEE ALSO:
That’s good enough for me. There are as many definitions of positioning as there are brand consultancies, but I’m happy to go along with the intention expressed here. It’s about hearts as much as minds.
The precise form of this belief can vary significantly. Over twenty years ago, I was told that a brand positioning is best expressed as a vision, mission, and set of values. Years later, it became popular to distill these into an ‘essence’ or a ‘brand DNA’. Subsequently, ‘brand purpose’ reinterpreted brand positioning for a generation in search of a deeper form of meaning. In reality, these are all variations on the same theme.
None of these describes strategy, although I’ve noticed that ‘brand positioning’ and ‘brand strategy’ are frequently used interchangeably. I find it helpful to think of them as distinct.
Strategy suggests an analytical, insight-rich, data-informed, logical process. In broad terms, it’s about deciding where to play and how to win. Brand strategy comes in many forms, but I’ve always found it helpful to think in terms of the 5Ws:
WHO: Which groups of people do we want to prioritize? WHY: What are the most powerful motivations and attitudes we can appeal to? WHERE: Where are the best places for us to reach them? WHEN: What are the most important moments and occasions to focus on? WHAT: What competing offers exist, and how can we improve upon them?
If you don’t have a clear idea of who you want your brand to resonate with, why they should care about it, where and when you need to be available to them, and what competing offers you’re up against, then you don’t have much of a strategy. When someone talks about ‘positioning a brand in a marketplace’, then I tend to think of brand strategy, not brand positioning. It’s the part of my work when I expect to be wading through data, facts, and insights. It’s when I expect to be spending my time scrolling through Excel spreadsheets. The result should be a laser-sharp definition of what a brand wants to achieve and how it intends to get there. This is the realm of KCQs, KPIs, and BHAGs.
A solid brand strategy is necessary, but not sufficient if you want to create a great brand. SEE ALSO:
It’s not enough simply to set out which parts of a market you want to compete in, or who you want to appeal to, or which of their unmet needs you intend to fulfill. This gets you to something like Marty Neumeier’s ‘onlyness’ statement for Harley-Davidson:
WHAT: motorcycle manufacturer; HOW: that makes big, loud motorcycles; WHO: for macho guys (and macho wannabes); WHERE: mostly in the United States; WHY: who want to join a gang of cowboys; WHEN: in an era of decreasing personal freedom.
It doesn’t exactly grab you. When I look at it, I wonder, ‘what’s the point?’ This is more compellingly articulated in Harley-Davidson’s mission statement:
“More than building machines, we stand for the timeless pursuit of adventure. Freedom for the soul.”
That’s a statement of belief. Although the two are clearly related, it’s more than a simple summary of the brand strategy, because it involves a creative leap. Without this, it would be as dry and uninspiring as a brand onion.
Brand analysis and brand strategy are two integral concepts in marketing that are often confused with each other In this comprehensive guide, we’ll clarify the difference between brand analysis and brand strategy, explain when to use each, and provide tips for developing effective branding approaches
What is Brand Analysis?
Brand analysis refers to evaluating various aspects of a brand to gain insights into its current market perception and performance. It provides the foundation for strategy development by determining the brand’s strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
The key focus areas of brand analysis include
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Brand image: Assessing consumer perceptions of brand identity, personality, values and associations.
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Brand awareness: Measuring levels of brand recall and recognition among target audiences.
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Brand positioning: Identifying the brand’s points of parity and difference compared to competitors.
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Brand performance: Evaluating metrics like market share, growth, customer loyalty and profitability.
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Competitive landscape: Researching rival brands’ strategies and performances.
Various research methods like surveys, focus groups, interviews and data analysis are used to conduct brand analysis. The insights derived help shape brand strategy.
What is Brand Strategy?
Brand strategy outlines a plan of action to achieve specific brand objectives. It defines how the brand should be perceived, positioned and communicated in the marketplace to resonate with target consumers and attain business goals.
Key elements of brand strategy include:
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Brand vision: The long-term ambition for the brand.
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Brand mission: How the brand intends to serve its customers.
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Brand values: The principles that guide the brand’s behaviors and personality.
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Brand positioning: How the brand aims to occupy a distinct, valued place among competitors in the minds of customers.
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Brand architecture: The branding structure and hierarchy between parent, sub-brands and endorsed brands.
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Brand touchpoints: Channels and content used to express the brand across customer journeys.
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Guidelines: Rules governing use of brand assets like names, logos, imagery, tone of voice, etc.
When to Use Brand Analysis vs. Brand Strategy
Brand analysis and strategy serve complementary purposes:
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Conduct brand analysis before developing strategy to provide data-driven direction. Analysis reveals problem areas and growth opportunities while strategy acts upon them.
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Revisit analysis periodically after launching strategy to track progress through metrics and update approaches accordingly. Analysis gauges strategy effectiveness while strategy iterates based on fresh insights.
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Lead with extensive analysis when entering a new market or introducing a new brand to deeply understand the environment. Anchor strategy firmly in those consumer and competitor insights.
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Focus more on ongoing strategy refinement when managing an established brand with existing consumer awareness and loyalty. Use analysis tactically to address specific issues.
Best Practices for Brand Analysis
Follow these tips to extract maximum value from brand analysis:
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Take an outside-in view of the brand through the customer’s eyes rather than inside-out through the company’s lens.
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Identify the brand’s points of parity and points of differentiation compared to rivals. Look for unique emotional and functional benefits.
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Use both quantitative data and qualitative insights to evaluate brand image – numbers reveal trends while stories add context.
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Benchmark brand performance against historical data, category norms and competitors’ results to pinpoint strengths and improvement areas.
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Update analysis yearly at minimum, quarterly if possible, to keep pace with market changes and measure impact of recent initiatives.
Best Practices for Brand Strategy
Apply these practices for developing and implementing effective brand strategy:
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Ensure brand vision, mission and values align with business objectives while resonating emotionally with target audiences.
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Tailor brand positioning to the unmet needs of underserved segments for differentiation while retaining core customers. Have consistent messaging across touchpoints.
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Develop brand guidelines to govern usage of brand assets internally by employees and externally by partners, agencies, resellers etc.
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Design branded touchpoints to deliver cohesive user experiences. Leverage owned, earned and paid media synergistically to share brand stories.
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Invest adequately in strategy activation across people, processes, platforms and partners. Allocate resources to brand building, not just sales.
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Measure marketing KPIs linked to brand health like awareness, consideration, favorability, recommendation likelihood etc., not just sales.
Brand Analysis Enables Brand Strategy
Brand analysis provides the empirical basis to craft effective brand strategy rooted in consumer insights. It reveals who your brand is now objectively while strategy defines who it should become in future subjectively. Aligning the two sustains resonance with evolving consumer needs and expectations. Companies like Nike and Disney exemplify best practices by perpetually linking brand analysis with strategy.
Rather than choosing between brand analysis and strategy, integrate both in a feedback loop. Ongoing analysis guides strategy, delivering impactful brand experiences that drive growth. With this dynamic interplay, brands remain compelling both rationally and emotionally over time.
Great brand positioning is an antidote to indifference.
In contrast to brand strategy, positioning a brand is a creative act. It’s based on imagination, not insight; inspiration, not analysis. This is the part of my job where I spend time listening to people: What motivates them? What makes them proud? What inspires them? What are their hopes for the future? What does sustainability mean to them? How do they define success in its broadest possible sense? This part of the job is about understanding the future people want to create and the role they would like their brand to play in creating that future.
Brand positioning and brand strategy play complementary roles. Without a brand strategy to back it up, brand positioning risks being a hollow statement of ambition. Without a brand positioning to make it sing, brand strategy can descend into dull, lifeless drudgery. I’ve seen examples of both. There are organizations that love the fun part of coming up with a beautiful, bold promise, but shy away from the dirty, difficult task of working out how exactly that’s going to be delivered, to whom, and how. There are also organizations that create intricate brand onions, wheels, bridges, or platforms, but are utterly bereft of a creative expression that people can actually care about and believe in.
Trying to pin precise definitions on vague marketing concepts is generally a fool’s errand, but I’ve found the distinction between brand strategy and positioning is a helpful way to make sure when I’m speaking to a client that I’m fixing the right problem. Sometimes the issue is a lack of creativity. Sometimes it’s a lack of rigor. Often, it’s both. I’ve also found the distinction is a helpful way to critique my own work: Is the positioning ‘idea’ compelling enough? Is the strategy sharp? Is there an appropriate balance of rigor and creativity?
One final thing worth mentioning is that the relationship between brand strategy and positioning is similar to the relationship between a chicken and an egg: It’s not obvious which comes first. I’ve noticed that B2B brands tend to lead with positioning, while B2C brands lead with strategy.
For example, when Google says it wants to ‘organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’, it’s not describing a strategy. It’s making a promise with the expectation that this statement will establish a firm belief in the minds of its employees, its investors, its customers, and the rest of the world. The role of brand strategy is to translate the positioning into a concrete activity that stretches the brand into specific areas and specific audiences: maps, news, academia, communication, hardware, and beyond.
On the other hand, when Guinness shifted its brand strategy to focus on occasional drinkers, the brand team realized that the positioning would also need to change: The brand’s emphasis on ‘waiting’ was seen as a barrier to consumption for this group. The result was a shift of positioning and comms that moved away from ‘good things come to those who wait’ and instead repositioned the brand to celebrate people with the character and confidence to stand out from the crowd. SEE ALSO:
Honestly, I don’t think it matters which comes first. What matters most is that a brand’s strategy and positioning are mutually supportive: A clear strategic direction, married with a compelling positioning that’s capable of inspiring strong creative execution. Great brand strategists seamlessly bring together the analytical and the imaginative. This is how they do it.
Cover source: cottonbro
Strategic Design VS Brand Strategy
What is brand analysis & brand strategy?
Marketing professionals can use two related concepts, brand analysis and brand strategy, to define a company’s brand and increase brand awareness to help a company achieve its strategic goals. If you’re a marketing professional, you may want to learn more about brand analysis and brand strategy to help you be successful in your role.
Why do marketing professionals use brand analysis and brand strategy?
Marketing professionals typically use brand analysis and brand strategy for different purposes. Brand analysis can help them determine the current state of a company’s brand. It helps them understand how customers perceive the company based on brand performance.
How does a brand analysis differ from a brand audit?
Understanding how a brand analysis differs from a brand audit is key for businesses aiming to boost their market position and match their strategy with what customers expect. Both are vital for strategic management, but they serve unique roles and focus on different aspects.
What is a brand strategy & why is it important?
Brand strategy can help them create messaging to strengthen or improve a company’s brand awareness among customers. While brand analysis helps marketers understand a company’s current brand, brand strategy can help them develop a plan to improve the brand.
