Building a brand driven culture is a lifelong commitment to a mindset and a way of life that takes time, planning and persistence.
One concept which could help a business’s journey towards establishing a brand name in the market is the three step process of “Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning. Brand identity is built on a thorough understanding of the firm’s customers, competitors, and business environs. The brand identity needs to echo the business strategy and the firm’s readiness to invest in the programs needed for the brand to live up to its promises to its customers. The three part process of brand validation and establishment does just that, by shedding light on the target areas the business should focus on, and the areas it needs to invest further in, in order to establish a higher reputation among not just its loyal customers, but also those who might use the businesses service in the future.
Airbnb is a great model to look at when the idea of “Segmentation” comes to question.
The business targeted their service to not just the customers, but to the suppliers as well. The idea of mutual inter-dependency and creating value out of already acquired inventory (In this case, apartments) is a classic case of how segmentation is a good strategy to use when one wants to identify which customer segment to cater to.
The Targeting aspect of this three part model will help a business narrow down their vision, and deliver an impact-full message. A Company needs to carve a vision of its brand should be viewed by its target audience. The brand positioning helps in prioritizing the emphasis of the brand identity and resultant communication themes which permit the company to set forth the communication objectives such as the type of message, brand diversity to be achieved, and themes that appeal to the target customers.
Advertising that is creatively executed helps the brand break through the clutter. Airbnb was able to achieve this by funneling their vision to people who travel and want to reduce their living expenses. By singling out the demand niche, they were able to target the right kind of suppliers, into providing their own homes at low costs, for an alternative medium of income and were able to meet the demand of their customers.
Finally, Positioning comes into play with respect to the reliability of Airbnb, because the model focuses on people letting strangers into their homes, many security issues may arise, however, the brand positioning is such that there is a kind of reliability associated with the brand, hence the input of new customers is much higher. Furthermore, purely because of their meeting a niche market which hadn’t been satisfied before, Airbnb was able to position itself as the pioneer of home-staying further bolstering its ranking in the hierarchy of the hospitality business.
All in all, it is my strong belief that AirBnb’s success is largely due to it’s three part process of Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning.
