Outright brand ownership

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Question - how can I obtain/retain a significant brand share of my market?

Answer - one key component is to outright own a critical buying factor.

Key action points

Typically, differentiated brands are much more profitable than undifferentiated ones, and grow much faster.

By definition, to be differentiated, you need to own outright a buying attribute that influences the purchase of your products and services.

Once you own an attribute outright, it is very difficult for anyone to take it off you. Whenever they mention that attribute, they conjure up its owner - you - and reinforce your ownership.

The key attributes are usually outright owned by the brand leader for that segment or situation. It is rarely wise to attack a brand leader head-on (see our article "Attacking the market leader", link below).

Instead, find another critical attribute, and drive all out to own it.

In more detail ....

The Outright Brand Ownership tool makes a critically important point: By definition, for a brand to be differentiated, it must outright own an attribute which influences the purchases of its products/services in that segment.

The goal is to outright own the most important attribute(s) for that segment.

Usually, the most important attributes are only associated with one, or maximum, two brand(s) - typically the brand/segment leader. Other brands may be known to offer the same benefits, but are not associated equally with those attributes.

Whenever the attribute is mentioned, it conjures up its owner. Attacking the brand leader on an attribute it outright owns only serves to reinforce its brand leadership position.

Some attributes will have no outright ownership, but several brands share weak ownership. If this is an important attribute, this is where you should strike by shooting for outright ownership.

Some even important attributes are not associated with anyone at all. These would be even better to own. They may have been ignored by the competition as being particularly difficult or costly to dominate.

As an example, take Amazon, the company critics cynically suggested should be re-classified as a not-for-profit organisation a few years ago. They set out to dominate a new channel to market, but they did so by positioning themselves against a traditionally weak spot. High Street booksellers used to hate ordering books. They regarded it as an irritating and expensive process that interfered with the smooth running of their store. The customer regarded the process as time-consuming, slow, unreliable, and potentially as placing them in a confrontational situation with the staff. They often had to chase up the order several times. If Amazon had merely suggested that they could deliver your readily available best-seller cheaper and more conveniently, they would probably not have won. Instead, they positioned themselves as a one-stop-shop where you could buy any book in print in the world with equal ease, with reliable delivery times at a discount price. They then used this differentiated positioning to leverage other advantages of their sales technology - cross-selling, market placing, e-promotions, and the technology itself.

In this tool, preferably on the basis of research:

1. mark the cells green to indicate that a specific brand outright owns that attribute
2. mark orange those cells where a brand is weakly associated with that attribute
3. mark red those cells where the attribute is not owned

You can, and probably, should repeat the exercise for each segment, and for each buying situation, to understand the market fully.

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