Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand - by Keller, Sternthal, and Tybout
Have we established a frame of reference?
- The frame of reference signals to the customers they goal they can achieve through using the brand
- The frame of reference may change as the product goes through its lifestyle, and as new competitors enter the market
- Example: Fed Ex as an overnight delivery service, then as a speed and dependable overnight service, now more focused on tracking capabilities (to compete with email and faxes that are often lost)
Are we leveraging our points of parity?
- Think through the points of parity your brand needs to have with competitors if it is to be accepted
- New brands – normally points of parity are thought of new brands
- Brand extensions – can be dangerous, is your point of differentiation go against the minimum requirements for the consumer to recognize you as a legitimate brand in this business
- Established brands – over time points of differentiation becomes points of parity
Are the points of difference compelling?
- Three types of difference:
- Brand performance – how it meets the consumers functional needs based on intrinsic properties of the brand, does the product do what it says?
- Brand imagery – when choices are based on experience, who uses the brand and under what circumstances?
- Consumer insight associations – when imagery and performance is less attractive, show you know the customer
Don’t:
- Build awareness before position
- Talk about what customers don’t care about
- Invest in differences that are easily copied
- Focus too much on the competition
- Reposition unless absolutely needed
Must make sure position is internally consistent at any point in time.
“Ladder up” – first round describes concrete attributes, second round how those attributes change the users lifestyle, third round how better lifestyles lead to happiness
“The big idea” – identify the main idea and over time show a variety of attributes that imply the benefit