POWER OF BRANDING

'Power of Branding'

A brand is a seal of credibility, quality, endurance and reliability only after implementation of a rigorous positioning strategy. Positioning a product requires transformation of a generic product into a brand and then placing the same in the consumers’ perceptual frame. The concept of perceptual frame is often utilized when seeking to differentiate brands. Positioning is developing a sustainable image in a me-too market environment. In a cut-throat competition with increasing availability of a variety of branded products in its class, it becomes difficult to divert the revenue from the competitors’ pocket. Positioning is a mind game. It helps in understanding not only the existing needs of a consumer but also creates a tension in the consumers’ mind by attracting him towards the products again and again. Here tension means rendering logical as well as psychological drives to buy the product. It should correlate the brand attributes & benefits with the lifestyle, values, motives, and habits of a consumer in a very distinct manner than its competitors. Positioning exercises of the brand portray an unmemorable image about itself, in such a way that the brand is recognized as part of consumers’ daily life. The brand is no more unfamiliar for prospects and the degree of acceptability, with instant consciousness, is enhanced. A branded product expresses itself through various means & modes of communication in order to position itself in the consumers’ complex mind box. Positioning exercises also exhibits degree of confidence a corporate has in its own brand and such confidence is translated into consumers’ confidence through transparent communication. Reading daily newspaper, watching favourite TV serials, a reality show, a fashion event or a cricket match, travelling in a public transport, waiting at a hotel reception, visiting a cineplex, shopping at retail outlet etc. are all such points where a consumer is exposed to many portals of a branded soft drink, insurance, banking, telecommunications etc; in fact, all corporate are attempting to conquer long term perceptual memory of a consumer, actually assuming it to be short. It is reinforcing the memory of the prospects or the consumer again & again. The paper emphasizes mainly on benefit and differentiation strategies. Strongly linked to product feature positioning is benefit positioning, which is generally more effective than positioning which describes product features without their benefit to the consumer. Another parameter is differentiating or die. Differentiation is one of the key routes to competitive strategy that a marketing man plays. Differentiation helps the firm fight a non-price plank. Positioning of brands is possible by using consumers’ judgements of similarity or dissimilarity to calculate how close or different each brand is to every other brand.

Yours Raghvendra

Jodhpur, Rajasthan