Difference Between Brand Awareness and Brand Positioning

Brand Awareness vs Brand Positioning

Brand awareness and brand positioning are two very different concepts in the brand market. Brand awareness is a consumer’s ability to recognize a particular brand and to have information about the brand, and brand positioning is the main process used by marketers to target their customers.

Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the ability of the customer to recognize and recall a certain brand under different conditions. It includes linking certain jingles, logos, etc. to a brand and recalling and recognizing the brand. Brand awareness helps in understanding the service category of the brand and recognizing which services and products are sold under that particular brand. It is an important part of the selling process as the customers may not consider buying a brand about which they do not have any information or are not aware of the brand. Most of the companies try to target the Top-of-Mind brand awareness. Different levels of brand awareness are:

Top-of-Mind- When a customer can immediately name the brand of a certain service product and the name of the brand immediately pops up in the mind of the consumer it is called Top-of-Mind awareness.
Aided awareness- When a consumer recognizes or recalls a brand only when the name of the brand is read aloud or reminded by using an aid in front of them it is called aided awareness.
Strategic awareness- When a consumer recognizes a brand which is Top-of-Mind and is also recalled as a better brand than any other brand available, it is called strategic awareness. The USP or Unique Selling Point of these products distinguishes it from other brands.

Brand Positioning
Brand positioning is a process used in marketing to position or create an identity or image of the name of a brand in the minds of consumers. For brand positioning, the companies identify the niche in the market for a specific product then they utilize the traditional strategies of marketing like distribution, promotion, price, competition, and packaging to make an impression on the consumer’s mind.

Positioning is a concept, and it was introduced for the first time by Jack Trout and later made popular by Al Ries and Jack Trout by their books; “Industrial Marketing” and “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” respectively.
Brand positioning is based on the concept that consumers are exposed to unwanted and overwhelming advertising every day, and they have a tendency to remove or discard any information that does not fit or find an empty slot in their minds. Thus, for positioning the brand name in the empty slot of the consumer, one must communicate the brand name under the most suitable time and suitable circumstances. Positioning also involves:

De-positioning–It involves changing the identity of the products competing with the identity of their (company’s) products.
Re-positioning–It involves changing the identity of a certain product in relation to the identity of the other competing products.

Summary:

Brand awareness is a concept which involves awareness on the part of the consumer about a certain product and their ability to recall or recognize its product service. Brand positioning is a concept which involves the process used by a brand to make a position in the minds of consumers so that they recall and recognize the product.

Sharing is caring!