Positioning and Brand Awareness

A Positioning Statement summarizes the positioning of a company in a market. The statement is usually one or two sentences, and begins by defining who the target market is, and what their need is for the product or brand. The product is then stated along with what category of the market it belong to. Finally the statement shows the key differences between the product and its competitors, and why consumers should purchase this particular product.
Having a strong positioning statement is very important. It not only serves to define your product and the benefits it carries over its competitors, but can also increase customer awareness of your product so much to the point where your product becomes synonymous with the market it belongs to.

To describe this, I think it's best to use a very classic example. Picture this scenario: It's a Sunday night and your family has made one of those last minute decisions to eat out. By the time you arrive at the restaurant and everyone sits down to order, it's 8:00 already, and everyone is famished. The menus get passed around and all orders are in. Except for yours. Your mother tells you that you have 10 seconds to order, or you don't get anything. Feeling rushed, you order your favorite dish, whatever that may be, and while your Mom is saying "3, 2, 1", you shout "and a Coke". The waiter heads back to the kitchen, and all of the sudden something hits you: Why did you just say a Coke? You're not in the mood for a Coke. Whether you catch the waiter and change your beverage to a Pepsi will have to be discussed another time. However what matters is, is that you just said Coke not because it's what you wanted, but because it was just what you said. That is one of the powers of brand awareness, and is one of the results of having strong positioning in the company.

This applies to just about every market there is. If you were to play a game with someone, where one of you says a market category and you have to say the first brand or product that comes to your mind, you'll be able to tell which company has made the strongest impression on you one way or another. If I say "car insurance", Geico may very well be the one to pop into your head. "Soft Drinks"- Coke. "Technology"- Apple. "Phone services"- Verizon, etc.
Whether you choose these companies because you own one of their products, just saw their commercial on TV, or just because that's what you thought of, you can assume that the company has been pretty successful in marketing their products.