Following Part 1, Part 2 continued for another twenty minutes with Professor Hong Sung-tae, this time under the theme "Branding Strategy for Hansik's Global Rise."
Targeting: who are you selling to?
Bibigo's approach — tailoring its sales strategy country by country — is enough on its own to show how much it matters, in branding, to decide who you are selling to. Deciding who to sell to is the same as narrowing down your main target. The main target is the group of customers who will love your product and service the most, who will aspire to it. It cannot be defined by demographic markers alone; a deeper lifestyle analysis is needed to understand their values, spending patterns, and the way they live.
It also matters to give that main target a concrete face — to invent a muse, a fictional person who stands in for them. A muse does not actually exist, but she plays a key role in bringing the branding strategy into focus and building empathy with the target customer. Imagining the muse's lifestyle and the things she prefers lets you design the brand's image, message, and experience around her. A specific main target and a well-drawn muse hold your direction steady, and carry through into a branding strategy that stands apart from the competition.
Positioning: what value are you putting inside?
Positioning is the process of defining the core value that sets your brand apart from its competitors. Beyond the functional side — taste, for example — you have to ask what your brand offers in emotional value, in cultural experience.
A sharp position is necessary, but you also have to know how to run it well. A restaurant can be endlessly entertaining, but if the food is no good, it will not survive — so building a balanced portfolio matters just as much.
About an hour in, Parts 1 and 2 came to a close. In the next installment, we take up what did not fit into the lecture itself and turn it into a Q&A.
Continued in the next installment ▶
