Introduction
Positioning is how a brand is perceived by customers and how it differs from competitors’ products. In order to position products or brands, companies may emphasize the distinguishing features of their brand (what it is, what it does, and how, etc.), or they may try to create a suitable image (inexpensive or premium, utilitarian or luxurious, entry-level or high-end, etc.) through the marketing mix. Once a brand has achieved a strong position, it can become difficult to reposition it.
An indispensable brand symbolizes the company’s desired perception in the minds of its customers, prospects, and partners. And one that customers truly can’t live without. This process begins by developing a meaningfully differentiated brand positioning strategy. Whether launching a new brand or refreshing an existing one, a brand positioning strategy should impact every facet of the business, not just marketing and advertising-related activities, but also product development, service, support, and customer experience.
1. Creating a Successful Brand Positioning Strategy
To help you make the right branding strategy that not only helps you win customers but also keeps them loyal to you, here’s what you need to do:
2. Create your own brand identity
This step involves conducting an in-depth introspection of the brand to identify its core values and fundamentals, including the strengths, value propositions, long-term vision, and the features and attributes that make it unique compared to other brands offering similar products and services.
3. Create your current brand positioning
Are you currently marketing your product or service as just another item on the market, or are you marketing it as something distinctive? Your current brand positioning gives you important insight into where to go next. You’ll need to understand your current position to further analyze your competition.
4. Know what your competitors are doing
After analyzing yourself, it’s important to analyze your competition by performing competitor analysis. Why? You’ll need to see who you’re up against to conduct competitor research. That research will help you decide what you can do better in your strategy to gain an edge.
5. Identify how you are doing compared to the competition
Knowing your strengths is just as important as knowing your weak points. Coming from the point above, sometimes the best way to know your strengths and weaknesses is to check how your competitors are doing, what makes their campaigns click, and why their brand sticks to their target audiences. One way to do this is to conduct a SWOT analysis to help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the playing field.
6. Leverage your unique selling proposition
Identifying your brand’s unique selling proposition (USP) lets you stand out from the others. It’s what makes you. Building a unique brand is all about identifying what makes you different and what works best for your business. Chmielewska suggests, “Start by defining what ‘effective’ really means for your brand—and then build its image based on that.”
Chances are, after you conduct competitor research, you’ll begin to see patterns. You’ll start to see some businesses that have the same strengths and weaknesses. As you compare your product or service to those of your competitors, you might discover that one of their weaknesses aligns with your strengths.
7. Create your positioning statement
Taking the time to position your brand to appeal to a certain customer is just the beginning. Once your positioning statement is created, it’s time to test, experiment, and gather feedback from your customers on whether or not your positioning achieves its goal.
As Ryan Robinson of Close.io says, “Investing the time and effort into positioning your brand to appeal toward a specific vertical, type of consumer, or demographic is only a small part of the battle. It’s crucial to test, experiment, and actively gather (real) feedback from your target customers on whether or not your positioning is actually having its desired effect. We’ve doubled down on our positioning by consistently asking for (and listening to) feedback from new customers when they join, and it’s clear that both our content and its delivery style remain a key asset for our brand.”
For example, do we know what makes Nike and Coca-Cola very distinct from the others? Sometimes, not even mentioning their brand but hearing the words “Just Do It” or “Taste the Feeling” already gives you the notion that the campaign is led by these giant brands.
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