Brand positioning

Author: Giorgia Piccolo

Connect With Giorgia Piccolo

Date of Publication: 23/09/2022

The relevance of visual identity

Managing a brand means understanding the relevance of the brand's visual identity. Therefore, it is necessary to understand what semiotic advantages a brand can obtain. An established visual identity offers 5 semiotic advantages for a correct brand positioning:

1. Acquisition of a market share: establishing who are the competitors and subsequent positioning;

2. Launch of new products: building a visual identity recognizable by the public is fundamental for inserting new products and new lines into the market;

3. Absorption action of decreasing market shares: if the consumer attributes distinctive qualitative characteristics to a certain brand, they will pay the regular price even in the presence of economically advantageous proposals. This brand loyalty is fundamental as it highlights that the company has implemented a positioning policy.

4. Enhancement through product differentiation: the naming of a brand makes the brand recognized in the market.

5. Purchase safety: building a visual identity that is recognizable and identifiable by the public is a winning strategy. This is because it reassures the consumer of his choice. It is not humanly possible for each of us to question ourselves in the face of each purchase. Otherwise, the anxiety of choice and the time available would cause such stress that each expense would require excessive use of energy. The consumer draws on those archetypes of trust and security that have been formed over the years.

The functions of the brand

The branding action illustrated so far allows the brand to perform 8 fundamental functions for the buyer and for the company itself:

- The function of practicality is a brand's ability to summarize the product's characteristics and the company itself. Each product must tell the whole company.

- The protection function is the ability of a certain good, product, or service to act as a signaling element of belonging to a certain company;

- The capitalization function is the ability to collect the work done at the communication level by a given company. This happens by making specific values ​​attributable to the company itself settle in the public;

- The orientation function is the ability to orient the public's choice of products, goods, or services within an unfamiliar product category. The brand that acts as an orientation in the purchase is a benchmark. The goal of a benchmark is to become a love mark, then first become a reference point, and then be loved;

- The playful function is the ability of a brand to influence the purchase thanks to an emotional stimulation of the buyer.

- Guarantee function is the ability exercised by a brand associated with a good, product, or service to encourage credibility on the part of the customer. For example, I buy an object because I am sure and it gives me a guarantee.

- The self-expression function occurs when a brand can be relevant within a social group by becoming an identity element. Some products have a life and then die because they are linked to a historical period but must instead be linked to a market.

- Positioning function: This occurs when the above seven functions are applied correctly.

The positioning of a brand therefore should work in terms of:

1. Technical-qualitative attributes of the product;

2. Practical and aesthetic benefits;

3. The target of a reference.

When these three elements find a correct balance, the brand positioning reaches its maximum success.

---