How to make trademarks become the representative symbols of the brand, make intellectual property rights the talisman of the brand, and realize the gorgeous transformation from "trademark" to "brand" requires positioning knowledge. If a trademark is only registered with the Trademark Office, it can only be called a trademark. Only a trademark that is registered in the minds of customers is a brand. After a trademark is registered, how to register it in the minds of customers is the key to brand building. Regarding the realization path from "trademark" to "brand", we mainly talk about one question, two premises and six keywords.

1. One question: strategic positioning

A core question to be solved in fighting a war is where is the battlefield, that is, to figure out the location of the decisive battle. The positioning of business war is to choose the correct place, time and competitor for the decisive battle in order to be invincible. This is positioning. Positioning refers to establishing the most advantageous position against competitors, which requires an emphasis on the change of thinking, from internal thinking of business operations to external thinking of winning customer choice. When a brand extends to another category, it will begin to face new competitors, and the influence of the existing brand cannot give you a competitive advantage in the new competitive environment.

Customers’ purchasing behavior is based on supplies thinking, expressed in brands. The mind likes one. Only if you get one of the best positions in the new category and occupy the top level of the category ladder will you win the choice. For example: when you want to drink beer, Budweiser, Tsingtao, and Yanjing pop up in your mind, because they occupy the category ladder of your beer and it is possible to be selected. A better situation is: when a child shouts "Mom, I want Xizhilang", it means that the brand "Xizhilang" has been successfully registered in the minds of customers and represents the jelly category. A successful brand must be synonymous with endorsing a certain category or a certain feature in the minds of customers. The category is easy to understand, for example: "Baidu", which represents search (category), and the feature, for example: Head & Shoulders endorses anti-dandruff (feature) , Rejoice endorses suppleness (characteristic).

2. Two conditions: a good trademark and the courage to make a choice

1. A good trademark

To fight, you need to be famous, so a good brand name It is the prerequisite for brand success, so brand naming is the prerequisite for positioning. In this era of information being buried alive, a good brand name itself is productive. For example: the names of brands in the automobile industry, such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, can be associated with each other; why did Three Squirrels reach 2 billion in just three years? The brand name creates awareness among consumers. Squirrels eat nuts. It is natural for three squirrels to differentiate into a nut category, which is in line with the laws of mind. This is what Han Feizi said: "Evaluate names to locate them, distinguish them clearly to distinguish categories". To build a brand, having a good name is crucial. Therefore, a registered trademark must have several elements: one should be simple and easy to remember, the second should have a hint of association, and the third should be related to the category.

2. Dare to make choices

Success often begins with focus, and focus comes from giving up. The result of chasing two rabbits at the same time is that you can't catch one. The correct way is to focus on chasing one first, and then start catching the second one. If you continue like this, you can catch many rabbits. The brand power of a brand is often inversely proportional to the number of categories it represents. When a brand endorses multiple categories, it will lose focus in the minds of consumers. People tend to regard brands that focus on a certain product as expert brands. When a comprehensive brand competes with an expert brand, the expert brand will definitely win. . Therefore, when companies make strategic positioning choices, they must dare to make mental choices. Without trade-offs, there is no need to choose, and there is no need to formulate a strategy. Strategy means making trade-offs.

Three or six keywords

Positioning is a tool for building a brand, and its decisive battle is in the mind of the customer, so it is called mind-centered. As for how to position, we must grasp the following six keywords:

1. Trend

What the people want, the general trend, especially what young people need to see when starting a business? Looking at the future today?. Because they saw the trend, brands such as UBER, Didi, and China Private Car came into being. We need to recognize the trends in the industry.

The world's trends are vast and powerful. Those who follow them will prosper, while those who go against them will perish. If the general trend is over, it is better to die happily than to live reluctantly. At least there will still be opportunities to start new businesses.

2. Differentiation

The current "supply-side reform" proposed by the country is due to the serious overcapacity caused by "homogenization of products", and the "supply side" revealed by positioning theory Reform not only refers to differentiation in the market and product quality, but also to achieve brand differentiation in the minds of customers.

3. Letter of trust

Businesses are built on trust, which means "no trust is established". For example, Dong'e Ejiao said that it has been inherited for more than two thousand years and is a national intangible cultural heritage. This is called a certificate of trust. When carrying out brand communication, you must show up with a certificate of trust. When Luhua Peanut Oil was spread, it was said to be the designated oil of the Great Hall of the People and the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This is also a certificate of trust. In short, to build a brand, you need to find a certificate of trust so that you can win first and then fight.

4. Visual Hammer

Why the Coca-Cola glass bottle is ingrained in your brain is because it took 42 years. This is the power of the visual hammer. A good visual hammer must be sustained and penetrated into the minds of customers. For example, the M letter of McDonald's, the windbreaker of Barbery, and the green of Starbucks are all good visual hammers. On the other hand, our company changes its packaging every day. Today it is red, tomorrow it is white, and the day after tomorrow it is green. The minds of consumers are confused and they give up on you.

5. Communication war

The ultimate goal of brand building is to enter the minds of customers, which requires communication methods to ensure that the "information" reaches the target customers. Make special use of the two major tools of advertising and public relations to make brand communication surge and ensure that positioning enters the minds of customers.

6. Strategy map

Which path is suitable for your own company? The important thing is to first have a correct and clear positioning against competitors, and then build a strategy around the positioning. The strategic fit of the series. The operations involved in product, research and development, sales, channels and other operational actions are derived from "positioning", and each operation action in turn strengthens the positioning again, and based on this, an interlocking strategic system is established. In a nutshell, this is strategic positioning, which is the competitive weapon for brands to win customer choice.