Developing Your Brand Strategy
PRIMARY BRANDING OPTION: Promote a “difference of kind.”
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Create a new category your brand can be the leader in.
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Promote the category, not your brand.
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Welcome other brands into your category in order to help it grow.
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Use a defensive strategy.
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Defensive strategies should always be used by the market leader.
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Attacking yourself is the best defensive strategy.
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The leader should always block strong offensive moves made by competitors.
NOTE: If your brand is the category leader, the word you own is the category name (Red Bull = energy drink, Xerox = copiers, Kleenex= tissues, etc.). Your brand stands for the category, and if you're lucky, it becomes the generic for the category ("Make me a Xerox.")
SECONDARY BRANDING OPTION: Promote a “difference of degree.”
Position your brand within an existing category by determining where it ranks in consumers’ minds.
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If your brand is #2 in the category, position it opposite the leader and use an offensive strategy.
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The primary concern should be the leader’s strengths, not your brand’s own strengths and weaknesses.
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The brand should seek a weakness in the leader’s strengths, not in the leader’s weaknesses.
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Attack on as narrow a front as possible.
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Example: Avis countered Hertz’s strength as category leader by proclaiming, “We’re number 2. So we try harder.”
If your brand is #3 in the category, use a flanking strategy.
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A flanking move is best made in an uncontested area.
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A flanking move should have an element of surprise.
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Follow-through is as important as the attack itself to counter any retaliation from brands #1 and 2.
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Example: Budget Rent-a-Car successfully flanked Hertz and Avis with a low-price strategy.
If your brand is #4 or lower in the category, use a guerrilla strategy.
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Identify a segment that is small enough to defend.
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Never act like a leader, even if successful in the attack.
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Be ready to enter and exit on short notice.
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Example: Inc. magazine targeted small business owners who were not well served by publications like Business Week.
A brand’s differentiating benefit may be:
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Being first
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Attribute ownership (on-core or off-core)
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Leadership
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Heritage
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Preference
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How a product is made
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Being the latest
Once you’ve determined your preferred brand strategy and differentiation benefit, fill in the following position statement:
[BRAND NAME] is the only [BRAND CATEGORY] for [TARGET AUDIENCE] that [UNIQUE FEATURE] so [COMPELLING BENEFIT OF THAT FEATURE].
Ideally, the point of difference should be distilled into a single word or phrase. It might be benefit-related (cavity prevention), service-related (home delivery), audience-related (young people), or sales-related (preferred brand).
The essence of your brand’s value proposition should be able to be articulated this simply:
[BRAND NAME] = [WORD]
BrandXcellence can guide you in developing your brand strategy in the way that makes the sense for you and your budget.