On Positioning...Branding I could understand!

Branding is a key part of marketing...a subject that sort of dimmed for me when I was told about customer delight rather than customer satisfaction!

However, branding has begun to grow on me, especially after a couple of talks I had with various people about products and value. And today, I notice that I almost exclusively buy branded goods. What makes me trust a Nike Shoe over a shoe that was stitched by me (probably equally skilled) cobbler down the road? Why do I brush with Colgate Toothpaste rather than any other?

Branding attempts to answer these questions. So first question....what is a brand?

Walter Landor, one of the greats of the advertising industry, said:

"Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality."

Another good definition is given by www.buildingbrands.com
"A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer."

Now, the key thing that must be pointed out is that a brand need not always mean something positive, or provide any extra value for a product. For example, I could dislike Microsoft, as a result of which, I might refuse to buy their perfectly acceptable software. **

So, now fundamentally, we can say that a brand is a mental thing. It is the perception my product or service has in the mind of my customer and the general public. Again, an important point to note is that it is about perception....not necessarily reality.
So, a brand is more than just a logo, or a catchy tag line. It begins in the mind, passes through your pocketbook, and hopefully never ends! As some chap said, its about the entire experience...not just the product.

Traditional thinking has it, that if you slap a brand on something, you can charge a bit more for it. For example, potatoes sold loose would cost you Rs. 10 a kilo, but once it has been packed in a Spencer's Fresh wrapper, it can cost you Rs. 12. Why is this thinking prevalent?
A brand traditionally provides a degree of trust. And this trust has a cost to it, which is reflected in the higher cost of the branded item. Whether this thinking holds good today when every product is branded is debatable....now a brand has to add value...by enriching your experience rather than merely providing trust! (That previous sentence is an example of manageititis, a debilitating disease that is well nigh incurable).
So, what is the main thing that a brand has to do to succeed? Now, experts have it that a brand must position itself. Now, I found a nice piece on positioning here. But let me try to summarise it.
First, what is positioning?

Positioning is the art of occupying a specific portion of your customers mind, so that he associates you with a particular mood, thought, word, phrase...anything at all that he/she can remember. For example, when I see Kapil Dev, I still think "Palmolive da Jawab nahin!" Or when I hear "Venkatesha Suprabatham, I remember MSS and All India Radio".
Well, that is one question done...next, how is positioning done?
Now that is a much more difficult question to answer...and there is no perfect answer as well.
We can think of a few steps that can be followed to try and position a brand.

Step 1: Be Consistent!

There is a reason this is step 1. Its VERY important. After all, a person cannot remember you if you keep changing your message or your logo. Or if you jump in and out of products...release them, and then forget them. If you are inconsistent about your brand, you will be forgotten

Step 2: Focus and Sacrifice

Positioning means that you will have to focus on one set of customers or public that you want. Of course, human nature being what it is, it means that you will necessarily cause another section of society to hate your guts. Sorry, that is life. As Ries and Trout note: "Sacrifice is the essence of positioning." You can't be all things to all people. That route only leads to failure. An example is the iconic brand, "Harley Davidson". Yup...I love it! But strangely enough, I also know 2-3 people who absolutely despise it!

Step 3: Be the 900 pound gorilla

One of the rules of positioning is that there can only be 1 winner in the battle for a customers mind space. A given segment has only one brand in it. So, its important that you should be a market leader in the segment where you are branding yourself. Only that way, can you grow as the market grows.

Step 4: Innovate, only when you must

This is actually a corollary of Step 1, which is consistency. However, its no fun to be seen as boring, or unchanging. So your branding must keep its differences and still surprise the customer, even though its message must be consistent. Any examples? One that leaps to my mind is the awesome Amul ad campaign, where they have topical cartoons that still deliver the same message, "Utterly Butterly Delicious, Amul". This is a series that has run for almost half a century, but has still not lost its flavour or capacity to surprise.

Step 5: Listen to your customer

This has been said many many times, but is the hardest thing to do....we are all in love with the sound of our own voices. If your customer thinks your product is worthless, the best branding and positioning in the world is not going to save you. Assuming that your customer is a sucker is the fastest way to lose brand equity. It is worth remembering that brands which take their customers for granted tend to overprice the brands to reflect the price that they believe the customer should pay, rather than the brands own intrinsic value. While branding can affect a customers perceptions, consistently shoddy performance cannot be hidden behind a great brand. Strangely enough, the example for that comes from the brand with one of the highest equities. Mercedes-Benz. In the US, it was seen as a top end model, with spectacular reliability. But when a few years later, new management decided to reduce the quality; "the parts are just too good...they don't wear out even after the body of the car itself wears out"***; Mercedes-Benz plummeted to second from last on reliability.
So, a summary:

1. Branding is a mental thing. Its about perception

2. Positioning is about Consistency and sacrifice

3. The customer is not an idiot. Treat him like one at your peril

**I do not dislike Microsoft. I think they make good products!
***That part in quotes was a quote by me....not by a Mercedes-Benz...oops, Daimler-Chrysler person.