How do Brand and Position coexist? Have you ever considered the difference between the two words and their impact on the success of your company and your product offerings? These and other online business ideas support these articles.

Marketing campaigns that do not have the expected impact can be attributed to a misunderstanding of brand-centric market dynamics, when the main focus required should be Positioning. Brand and Position can be considered different sides of the same coin or as the old cliché; “One hand washes the other.” Without placing the Positioning in the first place, the value of the brand is not in the long term, because the position is where the fundamental difference of a brand lies. Think of positioning as the purpose or reason for being in business.

A brand campaign without a positioning strategy is like throwing money to the wind. In other words; Most companies wouldn’t launch products without using market intelligence and data, yet it’s amazing how many manufacturers fly blindfolded with their brands, unaware that their market value will ultimately be put at risk.

A basic mindset to understand the difference between Position and Mark is the example: Mark is the “sizzle” and Position is the “steak”.

Branding done solely on its own merit builds awareness, where the goal is to let the market know you. The simplest approach to Branding is to trigger an emotional response from the consuming audience trying to choose from thousands of product comparisons. For basic products where price is the most obvious differentiating feature in a crowded competitive field, too many marketers choose the easy way out with heavy promotions and price reductions to gain sales volume. Unfortunately, it’s not usually the most profitable strategy, as price has its moment, but the consumer still has inherent questions, and these will affect long-term decisions that will eventually erode the value and longevity of the brand in the marketplace.

The fourfold threat facing marketing in today’s world is:

• Saturated Competition
• Hyperoptions in elections
• Communication overload – white noise
• Price

Countless marketers, each with their own set of propositions, are competing for the same resources—time, attention, and money—that are available to the typical consumer.

In any category, the excess of options on offer is crippling. Remember the last time you stared at the many options available in the shampoo aisle. Is it any wonder that we have now evolved into a condition called Choice Anxiety?

Every day we are bombarded with more than 4,000 messages and more than 400,000 message units (individual pieces of information) delivered to the average American consumer. With so much “white” noise, the risk of your advertising not being seen is extremely high.

That’s the key reason you should define and use Positioning, which is about creating a sharp focal point around your most competitive difference and planting that Difference firmly in the minds of your prospects. Dare to be different as it counts for a lot but really defines why you are different from everyone else in the same category.

Don’t try to create a place in the world. Don’t obsess over your competitors and differentiating yourself from them. Instead, start with the question: Why? “Why do we exist?” “Why does anyone need us?” “Why are we useful?” “Why would consumers pay their hard-earned time or money?” “Why is it valuable?” Simply put, defining a sense of purpose will set you apart from your competitors and give you the value you need from this simple tactic.

Look how powerful Apple’s sense of purpose and delivery of highly anticipated product launches has been in creating its growth. Or how Facebook’s greatest inventions have arisen from its commitment to and encouragement of experimental behavior among its employees. Every high-growth business of the future will be defined by its purpose.

Positioning is becoming the most powerful concept in marketing today! Betting on a position means that an organization, product or service represents something in the minds of potential consumers. What do you represent? And how will you boost your market?

If you remember the sales analogy used many times over the years about steak and its sizzle. The positioning is all about the steak. The brand is all about the sizzle.

Positioning is about establishing the inherent value that the company or product offers, while creating a mindset that inferentially implies the inherent weakness of its competitors in comparison. Positioning aims to define that essential point of difference that you can possess, to ensure that consumers really know why they want your products or services over others. As a prerequisite tactic for strategic branding, positioning becomes the foundation of all brand communication.

When your Brand automatically follows your Defined Position, the result of the brand effect is much clearer by associating the difference in your market position with your brand name, so that the name and the idea become essentially the same.

Examples: Wal-Mart = Cheap prices. Porsche = Performance. Kenmore = Reliability.

What makes positioning a long-term marketing advantage is that it focuses on the most advantageous competitive difference it offers to the market. Example: Redken Labs differentiated itself in the shampoo market as the company supporting beauty through science in a category where everything else was bubbles in a bottle.

Hallmarks of positioning

o Use core truths and the competitive landscape to set the long-term direction of your brand.

o Recognizes all the P’s of marketing: Product, Price, People, Priorities and Place, organizing them within the context of a single overall strategy.

o Build trust and loyalty among your consumer base.

o Improves cost efficiency for optimal return on investment.

o Solidify what to do and what not to do.

o Relies on itself Building brand equity and establishing goodwill.

o Goes to the heart of the purpose. Stand up for something or you will fall in love with anything.

o Establishes a clear set point for the ongoing development and evaluation of all marketing strategies.

In closing, a marketer must be fully convinced of their understanding of current market dynamics and use information that supports the difference between their branding and positioning strategies to impact their bottom line in the long run. Initially misjudging the strategy to use in effective marketing campaigns can and will have a long-term impact on your particular brand. People today want to know what you stand for philosophically and what you are willing to do to meet their needs. Without a strong positioning strategy, the brand will ultimately suffer, and with the myriad options offered to the consuming public today, it may be the catalyst for the brand’s demise.