Brand positioning creates the value of your brand in the minds of your customers.
Brand positioning determines everything from who your competitors are to how much your target audience will pay for your products or services.
It’s what differentiates you from your competitors and connects your brand with its customers on a deeper level. It’s a topic that is often misunderstood and can stand in the way of success for businesses both large and small.
In this article we’ll share with you a simple 4-point guide on how to approach brand positioning.
01
Understand Your Current Positioning
Obtaining a clear understanding of your current brand positioning from all sides is paramount.
This includes understanding the beliefs and perspectives of the people within your organisation, your existing and potential customers, and those people who influence buyer behaviour.
Its implementation could be through research, interviews and research workshops, or just a simple coffee with a client, focusing on gathering the right information that will lead to insights, improved strategic decisions, and better marketing outcomes.
02
What Is Your Value Proposition?
By analysing your current value proposition, you’ll start to develop a strategic direction which guides the revolution or evolution of your brand positioning. At this point, you’ll be able to define where the brand’s positioning is strongest, weakest, and where its true point of difference lies. From here you can pinpoint what areas need improvement, and what differentiating elements can be maximised. This is the point at which you uncover internal versus external perceptions of your brand’s value proposition and set to work aligning them. As always, perceptions can be wildly different, so it’s important to maintain an open mind.
03
Developing The Brand Positioning Strategy
The most important aspect of brand positioning is that this is first and foremost about strategy and not tactics. At this stage focussing on the tactics (how you’re going to communicate your brand), means the why is neglected. The why is why your audience will believe you can solve their problems and meet their needs. which is fundamental to your success. Neglecting positioning strategy can result in brands that are “all icing and no cake”.
04
Expression
Following the Strategic Phase, you should be clear on exactly where your market positioning sits both logically, verbally, and instinctively. At this point you can start brainstorming, thinking about new approaches to articulate the brand positioning and and thinking about the chemistry that will define it. This could mean developing a complete new brand identity with a whole new brand ethos at its core. Or discovering that your current brand expression works seamlessly, providing unity, consistency and flexibility to your audience. Maybe a few tweaks is all it needs.
Summary
Your brand’s positioning is critical because it shapes the way people perceive your brand. It makes sure you are speaking to your people in their language. A language that creates emotional connection, drives action, and builds trust. It’s an essential tool for differentiation. With so many brands competing for attention, having a unique position helps you to not only stand out in a crowded market but ultimately become more profitable.
