When creating a brand, a series of factors come into play, from selecting the different brand elements to creating a clear voice based on its mission and vision. However, two steps are crucial to connecting with consumers and creating loyalty, thereby boosting brand equity, which is the value consumers attribute to brands. A clear positioning and a brand personality that resonates with your audience are critical to creating an appealing brand that your consumers will love.
Today, we will dive deep into brand positioning and personality to understand these concepts better and learn how brands employ them to communicate efficiently with consumers and create a community that stands behind the brand, no matter what. This is something beneficial over time, especially when you want to increase prices or get involved in a major PR crisis.
Brand Positioning
Amazon Ads defines brand positioning as “the unique value that a brand presents to its customer.” In other words, it refers to how consumers will perceive the brand based on its identity and value proposition. It is crucial because this determines how consumers’ brains will perceive the brand and whether they will place it above the competition.
Within this concept, there is the brand positioning statement, which refers to a set of words describing the aggregated value of the brand according to the desired target market. It is a phrase where the brand describes its purpose, how it can solve its consumers’ main problems, and what makes it unique compared to other brands.
To build an effective positioning statement, marketers must consider their target audience, the product or service category, the benefits and uniqueness of the brand, ways to prove those benefits, and internally discuss the aspects that make the brand similar to the competition.
Disney’s Positioning
To understand this concept better, let us consider Disney’s positioning in the market. When you think about this entertainment company, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Some might say magic, movies, timeless entertainment, dreams, characters, and so on. Well, they are all correct since for more than 100 years, Disney has positioned itself as a leader in the entertainment industry, an expert in making dreams a reality through magic, bringing something for everyone in the family.
We can see that positioning in everything they do, from movies to theme parks, and even in how they train their employees to be part of Walt’s dream of sharing those magical moments with the rest of the world.
When discussing positioning statements, Disney’s is clear: “For individuals who want the best in family entertainment, Disney leads the media and entertainment industry with its iconic and beloved characters, stories, and franchises.” It is clear, concise, appealing, and self-explanatory because it would be surprising if a leader in storytelling did not have a strong positioning statement.
As you can see, Disney considers its purpose, target audience, points of difference, and reasons to believe in its statement while tying it to its main purpose and slogan, “The most magical place on earth.”
Brand Personality
When discussing personality, we are referring to “how your company expresses itself through its tone of voice, core values, beliefs, and visual identity,” according to Adobe’s blog. It emphasizes that it is not only how your brand speaks or is perceived but also how it makes consumers feel when they interact with the brand.
When developing a brand personality, marketers must think about how the brand would look if it walked into a room. How does it speak? How does it look? What would people think about it? Since brand personalities are full of human traits, this is the perfect time to bring your brand to a personal level for the consumer and transform it into someone they will get along with.
Disney’s Character
If we think about Disney, many characters from different movies come to mind; however, if we think about the brand itself, how does Disney look? If “that person” were to walk into your room right now, who would it be? Personally, I think it would look a lot like Walt Disney himself, since it was his dreams for many years that have been advertised to us in that way: A gentle and sweet person who believes in magic and is certain that any dream can come true with some effort. Someone who is always happy and smiling, and, of course, extremely creative.
That is how brand personality works. Your brand should have a cohesive message across its tone, voice, and overall look and feel to appeal to the target audience. Imagine if the moment you walked into a Disney park everything looked dirty and sad. Would you think you were on Disney property? Absolutely not. On the contrary, when you see the bright colors, characters, and happy employees at the entrance of the park, that is when your brain realizes you are at Disney. This consistency has characterized the brand for a long time, which not only gives it credibility but also builds a community around these ideas.
As you can see, brands with strong positioning and personality are identifiable from the rest. I bet you were able to recognize Disney’s brand positioning statement before even reading it since they make it clear in all of their marketing efforts and brand decisions to stick to their brand personality while being positioned in the consumer’s mind in the way they desire.
For that reason, marketers should pay attention to their desired audience to build a strong brand personality that will help them position themselves in the correct market and be a step ahead of the competition. Just like in life, not everyone is going to like everyone else, so if some people do not like your brand, that means they are not your desired target. However, you must ensure that the right message reaches the right consumers, who will connect with your brand on a personal level and help you build up your brand equity.
If you enjoyed this article, do not forget to check out our previous one on the difference between brands and products to better understand how they both work and their importance when crafting effective marketing campaigns. As always, have a magical day, and see ya’ real soon.
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