Branding IS Positioning

6 replies
Man...

I see it all of the time.

People post their copy for critique, but it almost always lacks any semblance of branding.

Why?

What's the adversity in cultivating your brand when you're constructing your copy?

Branding does a lot.

One of the biggest benefits of building your brand is becoming synonymous with what you're selling.

For instance...

Let's say you're selling kick scooters.

You don't want people Googling "gas powered kick scooters."

You want them Googling "Go-Ped."

Let's say you're selling a home fitness DVD set.

You don't want people searching for "work out from home."

You want them searching for P90X (yeah, you'd be so lucky if this was YOUR solution!)

Why do you think brands rule the marketing world...

...and not direct response campaigns (or at least direct response campaigns that don't lead prospects to a branded solution?)

Brands stick in people's minds.

Consumers and prospects alike remember concise, succinct, powerful... simple messages.

Brands exude an aura of trust.

After all...

The longer a brand is around, the more people buy it without even thinking.

It's established and takes precedence over the competition - simply because it's known and catchy.

Here's the thing:

To a certain degree...

...It doesn't matter how long your brand has been around.

If your product or service has a more refined look and feel than the "shady" direct response marketing campaigns out there (and you've positioned your solution perfectly,) you can create the illusion of having a long-standing reputation - almost overnight.

But here's the catch:

You actually have to take the time to intimately know how your solution affects people beyond crafting a punch-'em-in-the-face headline and/or a bunch of clever, buzz-worthy hooks.

Accomplishing this requires having the vision to see how your end-product will be presented - from the look and feel to the color scheme to your logo and header graphics.

It ALL matters when you're creating and establishing your brand in the marketplace.

This is elite copywriting, because you've got to distill all of the emotion you want to trigger and project in one fell swoop.

But if you can do that...

IF you take the time to hone in upon your brand (and the verbiage that goes along with it) BEFORE you write your copy, you'll be way better positioned to transcend the trends and be around for the long haul.

At the end of the day...

Branding IS positioning.

And if you're not positioning yourself well in front of your prospects (like a surfer getting in front of the perfect way,) you're already dead in the water.

Mark Pescetti
#branding #positioning
  • Profile picture of the author Mark Andrews
    Banned
    Survival of the fittest...

    A flower puts on it's best display in terms of color and scent to attract the best bees to it's flower head to pollinate it.

    It does this because with all the competition out there, it wants it's species to survive and prosper over and above the competition.

    It positions itself 'in the marketplace' in this case in front of the bees who will most likely not only be attracted to it to pollinate it but to spread it's seeds on to good healthy soil for the next generation to take root.

    A little illustration for you to act as a metaphor for how you should be thinking about your branding and positioning in your marketplace.

    Smoking hot,


    Mark Andrews
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
      Originally Posted by Mark Andrews View Post

      Survival of the fittest...

      A flower puts on it's best display in terms of color and scent to attract the best bees to it's flower head to pollinate it.

      It does this because with all the competition out there, it wants it's species to survive and prosper over and above the competition.

      It positions itself 'in the marketplace' in this case in front of the bees who will most likely not only be attracted to it to pollinate it but to spread it's seeds on to good healthy soil for the next generation to take root.

      A little illustration for you to act as a metaphor for how you should be thinking about your branding and positioning in your marketplace.

      Smoking hot,


      Mark Andrews
      Love it Mark!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
    It may seem like semantics, but I would say positioning is branding.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
      Originally Posted by Rezbi View Post

      It may seem like semantics, but I would say positioning is branding.
      Just like my wife, it goes both ways.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shazadi
    Well said. I do a lot of "branding" at the agency I work at, and people in the direct mail/internet marketing niche tend to scoff at that until I explain. It's not about being creative for the hell of it, it's about positioning a product as something the market has never seen before. Something that stands out. Branding requires you to share the benefits of your product with people so it catches their attention and sounds relevant. It's pretty much exactly what you need to do to be a great copywriter, because if you just rehash the same old spiels over and over again you're going to lose people - or worse, never get their attention in the first place.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
      Originally Posted by LauraKryza View Post

      It's pretty much exactly what you need to do to be a great copywriter, because if you just rehash the same old spiels over and over again you're going to lose people - or worse, never get their attention in the first place.
      Absolutely.

      Branding gives you the opportunity, as the business owner or copywriter, to say something in a totally unique way and grab people's attention.

      Once you establish your branding nuances, lingo, ideals, phases, etc., you can create a rapport with prospects in ways that your competition is communicating, generically.

      This makes you JUMP out as the leader; the authority.

      This can give any campaign the leading-edge advantage it needs to immediately start converting at a very high level - while establishing the staying power that empowers you to continue making an impact years down the road.

      It's also a solid foundation to build your prospect-building-relationship - by continuing your branded messages in emails sequences, blogs, videos and so on.

      The bottom line is...

      There's a huge difference in the impact you can create with branding, emotional and financially, that you just won't generate with a more generic approach.

      The key is...

      You can't just create a clever name, tagline/slogan and leave it at that.

      Your overall verbiage/copy has to communicate your message in a way that brings your brand to life.

      Mark
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