Create Strong Brand Positioning in Your Market

What is Brand Positioning?

Simply said, brand positioning is the process of getting your company’s name in front of your target audience. A positioning strategy, brand strategy, or brand positioning statement are other names for brand positioning.

The concept is to locate and make an effort to “possess” a market niche for a brand, product, or service through multiple techniques, including pricing, promotions, distribution, packaging, and rivalry. It was made popular by Al Ries and Jack Trout’s best-selling book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. The objective is to leave a distinctive impression on the buyer so that they link your brand with something particular and attractive that sets it apart from other products on the market.

Positioning is described as “an orderly strategy for finding a window in the mind” by Ries and Trout. It is founded on the idea that communication can only occur at the appropriate moment and under the appropriate conditions.

While brand positioning happens whether or not a firm is proactive in forging a position, management may have a beneficial impact on its brand positioning in the eyes of its target customers by adopting an astute, forward-thinking strategy.

Positioning Statements versus Taglines

Statements describing a brand’s stance are frequently confused with company slogans or taglines. Positioning statements should only be used internally. These assertions serve as a roadmap for your company’s marketing and operational choices. You may influence how your customers perceive your brand by using a positioning statement to guide important decisions you make.

A tagline is a public declaration that you employ in your marketing campaigns. A tagline can be created using ideas from your positioning statement, but it’s crucial to make the distinction between the two. (See samples of taglines and brand positioning statements below.)

7-Step Brand Positioning Strategy Process

You must first establish your brand’s distinctiveness and determine what sets you apart from your competitors before you can develop a positioning strategy.

To properly clarify your market positioning, follow these 7 steps:

1. Identify the existing positioning of your brand.
2. Determine who your direct rivals are.
3. Recognize the brand positioning used by each rival.
4. To determine your distinctiveness, compare your positioning to that of your competitors.
5. Create a unique, value-based positioning concept.
6. Identify your brand’s positioning (see below)
7. Check your brand positioning statement’s effectiveness (see 15 criteria below)

What is a Brand Positioning Statement?

A positioning statement, which might be one or two sentences long, tells your customers what makes your brand different from the competition.

Geoffrey Moore presents the following example of a positioning statement in Bridging the Chasm: 

The (product name) is a (product category) that is (statement of the need or opportunity) for (target customer) (statement of key benefit; also called a compelling reason to believe). Unlike (the main rival product), our product (statement of primary differentiation). But, in the part that follows, we offer a more straightforward format for creating a brand positioning statement.

How to Create a Brand Positioning Statement

A best-in-class positioning statement must contain the following four components:

1. What is a succinct breakdown of the demographic and attitudinal characteristics of the target consumer base that your business is hoping to appeal to and draw in?
2. What market segment does your brand compete in, and where does your brand fit into your clients’ lives?
3. What is the most compelling (emotional/rational) advantage that your brand can possess above the competition for your target customers?
4. What is the most convincing proof that your brand fulfils its brand promise, in your opinion?

These four inquiries should be thoughtfully addressed before you create your positioning statement.

Because only [business name] is [reason to believe], [company name] is the [market definition] that fulfils [brand promise] for [target customers].

Two Examples of Positioning Statements

In 2001, when it sold nearly only books, Amazon.com adopted the following positioning statement:

Amazon.com is a retail bookseller that offers rapid access to more than 1.1 million books for Internet users who enjoy reading. As opposed to conventional book stores, Amazon.com offers a remarkable ease, affordable rates, and a wide range.

When Zipcar.com launched its company in 2000, it employed the positioning statement below:

When you utilise the Zipcar car-sharing service rather than buying a vehicle, you save money while lowering your carbon impact, according to urban-dwelling, educated, tech-savvy consumers.

12 Examples of Taglines

You can develop a tagline or slogan that supports the stance you want to hold once you have a solid brand positioning statement. Here are 15 illustrations:

• The Best or Nothing: Mercedes-Benz
• The Greatest Driving Machine is BMW.
• The first business school in the world is Wharton.
• Excellent Flavor, Less Filling: Miller Lite
• State Farm: State Farm is there, like a good neighbour.
• Because We’re Worth It, L’Oreal
• Walmart: Spend less. Adapt Better
• Just Do It, Nike
• Coke: Genuine Magic
• Expectation: Be more. Spend less.
• For life, Volvo.
• How Doers Get More Done at Home Depot

15 Criteria for Evaluating Your Brand Positioning Strategy

Your marketing initiatives, advertising campaigns, and promotional techniques will all benefit from the focus and clarity that a thoughtful and well-written positioning statement can provide. If employed correctly, this claim can guide your decision-making and help you stand out from the competition, draw in your target audience, and increase market share.

15 standards for evaluating your brand positioning are listed below:

1. Does it make your brand stand out?
2. Does it reflect how your brand is seen by the public?
3. Can it promote growth?
4. Does it convey to your customers the special value of your brand?
5. Does it provide you a distinct mental image that is distinct from that of your rivals?
6. Is it targeted at your main clients?
7. Is it inspiring and memorable?
8. Is it uniform throughout the entire company?
9. Is it simple to comprehend?
10. Is it challenging to copy?
11. Does it have a long-term winning strategy?
12. Is the brand promise you make credible and believable?
13. Can your company claim it?
14. Will it hold up against counterattacks from your rivals?
15. Will it enable you to make marketing and branding decisions that are more successful?

Repositioning Positioning

However, the fundamental promise of positioning—that something will be positioned in the customer’s mind—cannot be achieved by any marketer. It must be disproved that marketers create positions. Each client has a different conception of who you are.

Positioning is the outcome of how your customers perceive what you do, not something you do. Positioning is not something we can develop independently; rather, it is a collaborative process with the target audience.

Your intention—or how you want clients to perceive your company—lies behind your positioning statement or tagline. Having a tagline or positioning statement can be helpful in defining your brand’s identity within your business once the true significance of positioning is understood.

The path to creating a company with a strong position in the customer’s mind is made possible by analysing the core of who you are and contrasting it with what your customers want. Why? Great businesses combine their positioning and their passion into a single statement that perfectly expresses both.

Integrating Your Brand Positioning in Your Customer’s Mind

You must begin within your company in order to position your brand in the minds of your customers. Every employee of your company who interacts with a consumer must perfectly represent your stance. Everyone should represent your stance to the best of their ability since everyone interacts with the client in some way.

Place everything that reflects your brand on a wall. This is the challenging part. Describe every stage at which your brand interacts with your customers. Ask with a perceptive and critical eye:

• How can I convey the ideal position of my brand more effectively?
• Does each touchpoint reflect the brand I want my customers to see and feel?

Many marketers lack the clarity and conviction necessary to act on what they say. Without assurance, you fall back on the present situation. You can produce something remarkable if you make everything you do an expression of your ideal positioning. It takes bravery to actively position your brand because doing so requires you to take a position on anything. Only then are you on the right track to controlling your very own position in your customers’ minds.
Do you want to know more about Strong Brand Positioning in Your Market? Contact us today at support@sunnydayconsulting.com or check our website at www.sunnydayconsulting.com.