The core thought behind brand positioning is the idea that each brand (if at all noticed) occupies a particular point or space in the individual consumer’s mind, a point that is determined by that consumer’s perception of the brand in question and in its relation to other brands. The spatial distance between the points in that consumer’s mind reflects the subject’s perception of similarity or dissimilarity between products and brands. Four Important Characteristics of Brand Positioning The four salient characteristics of brand positioning are:. 1. Look to the Core Identity The core identity by definition represents the central, timeless essence of the brand. Thus the most unique and valuable aspects of the brand are often represented in the core identity. Further, there should be a cluster of brand elements surrounding each core identity component that (in addition to giving it richness and texture) opens up multiple execution alternatives. Finally, the Continue reading
Marketing Management
Marketing management combines the fields of marketing and management. Marketing consists of discovering consumer needs and wants, creating the goods and services that meet those needs and wants; and pricing, promoting, and delivering those goods and services. Doing so requires attention to six major areas – markets, products, prices, places, promotion, and people. Management is getting things done through other people. Managers engage in five key activities – planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Marketing management implies the integration of these concepts.
Brand Value Proposition
The bottom line is that unless the role of a brand is simply to support other brands by providing credibility, the brand identity needs to provide a value proposition to the customer. What is a brand value proposition? Brand value proposition is a statement of functional, emotional, and self-expressive benefits delivered by the brand that provide value to the customer. An effective brand value proposition should lead to a brand–customer relationship and drive purchase decisions. The central concepts of functional, emotional, and self-expressive benefits of brand value proposition are explained below. 1. Functional Benefits The most visible and common basis for a brand value proposition is a func tional benefit–that is, a benefit based on a product attribute that provides functional utility to the customer. Such a benefit will usually relate directly to the functions performed by the product or service for the customer. For laser printers, functional benefits might Continue reading
Factors Influencing the Product Line Decisions
The extent to which a company can add new products is not unlimited. Very often, the scope for having new products is in some way related to the existing conditions of the firm. The goods may be : 1. Cost Related Goods A company may decide to add a product which may be the result of a common production process. For example, a company which strikes oil may decide to produce petrol or mobil oil, kerosene, gas, wax, etc. A company producing sugar may decide to produce molasses. 2. Demand Related Goods A firm may decide to add a product which is jointly demanded. For example, manufacturers of Sulekha Ink have gone in for production of other related items of stationery like sealing wax. Food Specialties Ltd. added Maggi to their various food products. Weston Electronics, manufacturers of tape recorders, colour TV sets, Continue reading
Syndicated Data and Standardized Services in Marketing Research
Today, over $20 billion a year is spent on marketing/advertising/public opinion research services around the world. Spending on marketing research is $6.9 billion in the United States alone. During the past two decades, the research market has become highly concentrated, with about 54 percent of the market being held by the 50 largest worldwide organizations. The other half of the market is shared by a thousand or more small research firms. The concentration is even more pronounced in the United States, where the 10 largest firms account for 64 percent of total U.S. spending for marketing research. In the highly competitive retail market, understanding the customer is paramount. In order to fill in the gaps of consumer’s buying motive and actual buying, companies have to understand the customers, and of course, marketing research is the tool for gaining knowledge about the customers. Marketing research is a systematic gathering of information Continue reading
Why do Firms Go Green?
Environmental issues have gained importance in business as well as in public life through out the world. It is not like that a few leaders of different countries or few big renowned business houses are concerned about the day to day deterioration of oxygen level in our atmosphere but every common citizen of our country and the world is concerned about this common threat of global warming. So in this scenario of global concern, corporate houses has taken green-marketing as a part of their strategy to promote products by employing environmental claims either about their attributes or about the systems, policies and processes of the firms that manufacture or sell them. Clearly green marketing is part and parcel of over all corporate strategy; along with manipulating the traditional marketing mix (product, price, promotion and place), it require an understanding of public policy process. So we can say green marketing covers Continue reading
Brand Irritation – A Case of Negative Brand Image Building
There are some gaps in between a company and its customers. These gaps are due to customer expectation with the brand and that expectation is not met with the actual brand offerings including other factors, which made customer experience not only negative but at the level of irritation. This customer irritation ultimately turns into brand irritation if necessary actions are not take. Brand irritation word coined by the Mr Alison Eastwood in the year 2003 in his article named “Brand irritation”. But in this article he had discussed on the term brand integration (the use of commercial products in the story line of a television show, film, etc. and involving the development of specific objectives, strategies, plans, and tactics to drive the business) and connecting it with the use of brand integration in American idol and same kind of initiatives adopted by other brands. He relates it with out of Continue reading