Definition: Branding is when you associate things like design, signs, symbols or words with a particular brand. It’s something that that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors.

My notes: Branding is important, because it is an opportunity to connect your corporate values with your product or service. You get to tell customers what your company is about.

Probably the best way to illustrate what branding can do, is by contrasting it to positioning. (No, it’s close, but not quite the same.)

Let’s take a brand like Gucci: The brand can be knocked off. It’s positioning cannot.

That’s the difference.

Southwest Airlines: Take a look at this. It’s from their website.

The brand is heavily connected to the heart and the word ‘Luv’. It’s what Southwest is all about.

Their positioning is ‘freedom from fees’. Southwest are the ones offering the low price. That’s how they compete.

Isn’t that a great way of putting it?

Got to ‘Luv’ it.

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Definition: Positioning is how you differentiate your product or service from the competition, and present your brand on the marketplace.

My notes:
Positioning is what’s done in your advertising, by your products and employees. Actually, everything you do in the marketplace should communicate your positioning, however; Positioning is NOT something that happens in the marketplace.

Positioning happens in one place, and one place only: In the customers mind.

So, positioning is all about mindspace, and how the customer perceives your product in relation to their life and others products.

This is huge, people. Because if you can’t get attention and get through to the customers mind, and make a relevant impact – all of your advertising efforts are absolutely useless.

Think about it. If you want to position your product, here’s what needs to happen.
1. You have to get the attention of the customer

2. The customer has to become interested

3. The customer will have to spend energy evaluating your product in relation to others

4. The customer has to make a choice, to keep you within their mindspace or not

And all of this happens in an instant.

Here’s what can go wrong:

1. You don’t get attention

2. Advertising is not appealing enough or shown in the wrong context, hence ‘no interest’

3. You are communicating something the customer can’t relate to instantly
(Trust me. People do not have the time or interest to listen to the extra buttons on widgets they never heard of.)

4. You don’t convince the customer that you can make their life any easier or better now, or anytime in the future – therefore: The customer won’t have to waste mindspace on you.

In any of these cases: Game over. No positioning.

Solution: Use visuals, use headlines and use the Unique Selling Proposition in a cohesive and coherent manner to INSTANTLY communicate the benefits that you offer, in a way the customer can RELATE your stuff to others.

The RELATE part is very very important, because the truth is that people barely have mindspace available for NEW stuff, but we can always make room for BETTER stuff.

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