Branding tactics and positioning tactics are two advertising phrases that get thrown around a lot. What’s the difference between the two? In this three-minute emotional marketing lesson video, emotional marketing speaker Graeme Newell shows how to find the right mix for your marketing strategy. What is a brand? What is branding best at accomplishing? Learn how the world’s best brands create a powerful positioning strategy using just the right combination of branding tactics and positioning tactics.
The words positioning and branding are thrown around a lot in the marketing world, but are they being used properly? Today I’m going to talk about what is branding and what is positioning, and how great brands can use the two to great powerful, emotional connections with their audience.
What is Branding?
Branding is the creation of a brand, thus the name. This naturally leads to the question: what is a brand? Well, a brand is not a product, it’s a set of feelings. Take a brand like Nike for instance. Their products are reasonably well made, but they’re certainly not the cream of the crop. What drives their fantastic sales is their powerful brand. Nike uses branding tactics to great effect. They utilize an ageless formula in their branding tactics to make their brand truly universal – it appeals to everyone on the planet. When considering the question “what is a brand,” you have to always keep in mind the fact that the product really does not even factor into the equation.
What is a Brand?
A brand is how a customer wants to feel about him or herself. Brands then find that feeling and distil it down to its essence and make it into something that can be attached to a brand name. This is how companies like Nike and Coke are able to move amazing amounts of product despite the fact that competitors offer nearly identical products. What is a brand? A brand is a feeling. What is a brand? A brand is an emotional connection. All these things add up to make a brand, and all the great emotionally branded companies know this and use it to their advantage.
What is Positioning Strategy?
This section comes later simply because it is not often a very viable tactic by itself. Positioning is using the features of a product you have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack. Cell-phone companies do this often, as their products are constantly on the bleeding edge of technology. Dyson does this because its products are simply revolutionary. However it’s important to remember that a vast majority of products out there are simply not special at all. Positioning strategy is something that is to be used in small doses by established brands to support a hefty serving of emotional branding. While positioning will give the customer a justification for buying the product, branding will win his heart and compel him to buy.
Branding Tactics vs. Positioning Tactics
Branding tactics and positionaing tactics are very different things. Branding tactics must be constructed while always considering the questions “what is a brand” and “what is branding?” Positioning tactics, however, are created only with the thought of positioning the strongest product features to the front and showing them off for all to see. Branding tactics requires significant research and a deep dive into what the customer wants and feels, whereas positioning tactics simply take a great new feature and puts it on display.
So let’s recap what we learned today:
• What is branding? What is a brand? The answer to these questions is simple – emotions. Branding tactics revolve around the feelings of the customer and how he or she wants to feel about him/herself.
• Positioning strategy is something to be paired with branding tactics usually, but if you have a truly revolutionary product you can likely use just positioning tactics.