Be it during their commute to work, shopping at a convenience store, watching television, or scrolling through their social media feed, customers get exposed to hundreds of brands every day.
June. 04, 2024
What makes certain brands stand out and become synonymous with the products they offer, while others quickly fade away? The secret lies in their brand positioning.
Defined in simple terms, brand positioning refers to how you package and position yourself in the minds of your target customers. Beyond just a sticky tagline or an aesthetic logo, it communicates the essence of what you are all about and what you are not, the unique value that you provide to your customers, and how you are different from your competitors. It presents a compelling narrative of why your brand is remarkable and a class apart from the crowd.
In today’s era of cut-throat competition where the customer rules and has a multitude of options to choose from, brand loyalties are undergoing a stiff test. 71% of consumers have switched brands at least once over the past year, highlighting how difficult it is to acquire, engage, and retain your customers. This is all the more reason why having an effective brand positioning strategy is important for businesses in their quest to build credibility, boost market penetration, enhance customer engagement and loyalty, and outcompete their rivals.
A Step-by-Step Guide for Effective Brand Positioning
Setting up a strong brand positioning strategy can often be daunting – especially in times when market dynamics keep changing by the day. Here is a step-by-step guide that can help you get started and effectively position your brand among your target audience:
1. Analyse Your Current Brand Positioning
Before you develop new strategies to bolster your brand, it is important to have a clear understanding of where you stand currently in the market. Look at your existing customer base and analyse if they match your target audience. Collect authentic customer feedback through surveys and interviews to understand how they perceive your brand and what they like and dislike about your products and services. If you get varying answers regarding your brand image, it is a signal that you haven’t been able to position yourself clearly and consistently in the minds of your target customers. Having a clear picture of your current brand positioning can shape your future course of action, guiding you to pivot or persevere accordingly.
2. Conduct Research on Your Competitive Landscape
Once you assess your existing brand positioning, it is important to conduct extensive research to map out your direct and indirect competition. In particular, look at brands who operate in similar markets, and share similarities in vision, target audience, and service offerings. Evaluate their branding and marketing strategies, gain feedback on how customers perceive and engage with them, and learn from their successes and failures. You can then conduct a proper competitor analysis using SWOT or other tools to understand where you stand compared to them on parameters such as quality, cost, convenience, and customer service. This will help you identify your competitive edge and craft your unique selling proposition. Understanding the ins and outs of your competition can enable you to capitalise on gaps in their offerings, strengthen your brand positioning, and enhance your market penetration.
3. Understand Your Customer’s Needs and Preferences
The ability to accurately gauge the pulse of customers is what distinguishes great brands from the mediocre ones. Majority of customers today expect businesses to understand their needs and expectations and provide tailored service offerings accordingly. Personalisation is more important than ever, with 94% marketers acknowledging that it boosts sales. When you are consistently in sync with your customer’s unique wants and preferences, you connect with them at a deeper level, influence them emotionally to buy from you, and win their loyalty. Ensuring that your brand is highly user-centric and well-positioned to cater to your target customers’ needs can give you a significant edge over your competitors who adopt a more transactional approach.
4. Craft a Clear and Compelling Brand Positioning Statement
Iconic brands are able to clearly articulate who they are through concise yet powerful brand positioning statements. It is one of the most important strategies that can help you convey your unique position and benefits to your target customers. When customers read your brand positioning statement, they should be clear on what you stand for, why you are the best-in-class in what you provide, and most importantly what you bring to the table that no one else can. Making it clear, concise, and engaging can go a long way in making your brand stick in the minds of your target customers.
5. Test the Effectiveness of Your Brand Positioning Strategy
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution towards implementing your brand positioning strategy and guaranteeing success. It requires constant testing to understand what lands and doesn’t land with your customers. To assess the effectiveness of your strategy, see how your users perceive it. Do they have better visibility on your brand? Are they able to see your value and how you are a cut above your competitors? These are pertinent questions to ask, along with analysing brand awareness and engagement metrics.
While testing out your brand positioning strategy, paying attention to the nuances can make a significant difference. For example, the usage of a signature colour can increase brand recognition by 80%. It is also important to remember that if your brand positioning strategy works today, it doesn't mean it will necessarily work tomorrow – and vice-versa. Rather than being rigid and complacent, it is important to constantly adapt and evolve to suit the taste of your target customers.
6. Own Your Brand Positioning and Affirm it Across all Your Marketing Channels
A brand positioning statement is just a sentence on a piece of paper unless it goes out there and reaches your target customers. Therefore, is important to ensure that you fully own your brand positioning and consistently reinforce the messaging across all your sales and marketing channels. This is key to driving positive word-of-mouth and building strong communities of loyal customers who resonate with your messaging and keep coming back to buy from you.
Iconic brands aren’t built overnight. It takes consistent effort over a prolonged period of time to build a strong rapport and deep emotional connection between your brand and your customers. Effective brand positioning is the cornerstone of raising strong awareness, engaging and retaining your customers, and successfully growing your brand ahead of your competitors. It is important to not only establish brand positioning strategies but also to constantly evolve them as customer expectations and market dynamics change. Ultimately, this will be the engine that keeps your brand relevant to the changing times and ahead of the curve.