Difference Between Brand Identity and Brand Positioning

The terms’ Brand identity’ and ‘Brand positioning’ are critical components a business needs when dealing with the consumer market. Brand identity is how a consumer will portray the company based on the various factors of the brand.

Brand positioning is a concept that affects the mindset of your target consumer. It is practiced by the company to make the consumer think about their brand in their time of need.

Key Takeaways

1. The brand identity encompasses the visual, verbal, and emotional elements that represent and differentiate a brand from competitors. In contrast, brand positioning creates a unique and compelling market space for the brand in the minds of target customers.
2. Brand identity elements include logos, color schemes, and messaging, while brand positioning involves defining the brand’s value proposition, target audience, and competitive advantage.
3. Both brand identity and brand positioning contribute to a brand’s overall success. Still, brand identity focuses on the tangible elements that define the brand, while brand positioning concerns how the brand is perceived and distinguished within the market.

Brand Identity vs. Brand Positioning

Brand identity refers to the way a brand presents itself to the world, including its visual design, messaging, and overall personality that can help to differentiate a brand from its competitors. Brand positioning refers to the way a brand is perceived in the marketplace relative to its competitors.

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Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Brand Identity	Brand Positioning
Definition	The identity is created to shape the brand’s perception in the consumer’s mind.	Companies use brand positioning to shape the consumer’s decision process and direct them toward the company’s brand.
Elements	A few essential elements are logo, tag lines, style consistency, colors, packaging, and messaging.	Essential components or elements are target customers, brand personality, brand essence, and brand promise.
Role in branding	The purpose is to communicate the brand’s overall message and promote business goals.	The purpose is to make the brand stand out from the others in the market and look different.
Order of implementation	Identity building is always done after the company has positioned itself.	It is the first step that is implemented before any identity building. Here, everything is analyzed.
Implementation process	Identity is implemented by – deciding the mission statement, brand personality, brand personality, and the company’s beliefs.	Thorough research of competitors is done. Consumer market needs are analyzed as well.

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What is Brand Identity?

‘Brand identity’ is how a company wishes to be seen one day by the customer market. It is a way to build a brand image with the help of various elements.

It is the soul of the company, its online and offline presence, and how the customer will perceive the brand as a whole.

Building a brand identity requires one to take into consideration the following elements –

1. Logo
2. Tag lines
3. Style Consistency
4. Color pallet
5. Targeted messaging
6. Business cards
7. Web design

All of the above are essential for the brand’s identity because these elements help create an image or display the brand’s idea to the target customer through visual and auditory stimuli.

The brand should stand out. It must be memorable and flexible in terms of how it looks. The customer must be able to navigate through any interfaces provided easily.

The process of forging an identity comes after the target customer market is analyzed (analyzation/positioning step), and a strategy is in place on what the image should look like in the customer’s mind.

Here are a few key aspects to keep in mind while creating a brand identity –

1. Mission statement
2. Brand voice
3. Brand personality
4. The beliefs of the company

 

What is Brand Positioning?

A company practices brand positioning to analyze the target audience. A company must first look at who else is competing in the market to build an image and establish an identity.

Once a company has a detailed report of – its competitors, an understanding of consumer benefits, and proper consumer insight, it moves onto the next step to find out how it can exploit the differences of the competitors and use them as an advantage.

This would help the company position itself apart from the rest of the companies in the market.

The brand must find a way to embed itself in the consumer’s mind. The consumer market moves quickly, and to help the customer save time, the brand makes itself the go-to choice for a specific need.

This would help the customer decide faster.

There are a few critical elements for brand positioning –

1. Target customers
2. Brand personality
3. Brand Essence
4. Brand promise.

Brand positioning is done to get an idea of how to shape the identity or image of the brand. The company needs to catch the eye of the consumer.  

And by understanding what the consumer wants and how the company can deliver the product differently, the brand can succeed.

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Main Differences Between Brand Identity and Brand Positioning

1. Brand identity is how the company wishes to be perceived by the consumer. Brand positioning is how the company makes itself the best option for a specific need.
2. The brand identity uses elements such as logos, web design, and colors. Brand positioning uses factors such as target customers, personality, essence, and promise.
3. Brand identity’s purpose is to promote the message of the company. Brand positioning uses all the analyzed data and helps determine a stand-out plan.
4. Brand identity is done after the company has positioned itself.
5. Brand identity is implemented by using the data from positioning and building an image accordingly. Brand positioning is done by researching the competitors and consumer market.

References

1. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=52290
2. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/39683/1/c39683.pdf