How to differentiate your brand for growth: Brand Positioning 101

26 January 2022

What distinguishes you from the competition? Coca-Cola and Band-Aid are both successful firms that have one thing in common: a strong brand. Indeed, their brand names have become generic phrases for any items in their sector that are comparable.

All organizations aiming for success should prioritize building a great brand, and the evidence is in the numbers. Companies that are regularly showcased experience a 33 percent boost in sales on average.

B2B firms with strong brands have a greater EBIT margin than those without. If that wasn’t enough, good branding results in enhanced consumer loyalty, a better image, and more.

What is brand positioning?

Brand positioning is a marketing technique that helps businesses separate themselves from competitors. It is defined as the space a firm holds in the mind of a consumer and how it differentiates itself from industry contenders.

Customers can quickly recognize and engage with a firm thanks to brand positioning, which is used by everyone from cell phone makers to online shops to NGOs. One of the most crucial aspects of success is how well and how many people are familiar with your brand. It’s not enough to create a generic website and hope that millions of people visit it. In fact, without a well-established brand position, no firm can genuinely prosper in the marketplace.

To determine the correct brand identity and establish a good brand image, brand positioning entails finding and defining elements of resemblance and distinction. The importance of brand positioning in marketing strategy cannot be overstated. By describing the brand, a strong brand positioning guides the marketing strategy.

Why do you need brand positioning?

You already have a reputation, whether you like it or not, so make a brand positioning strategy to assist you to take control of your brand image and reputation.

A soda business chose to sell a never-before-seen product more than a century ago: the first-ever cola beverage. It was able to establish itself as the original in this way. Coca-Cola is now a household staple with millions of sales throughout the world; it is regarded as the peak standard of soda in our minds.

A firm’s brand positioning helps it to stand out from the competition. This distinction aids in brand awareness, value communication, and pricing justification, all of which influence the bottom line.

Here are some things that a good brand positioning can help you achieve:

1.) Generate laser-focused messages

To create a brand positioning plan, you must first define your target audience, then completely comprehend their likes and dislikes, how they view your brand, and how they see your rivals.

This knowledge enables you to build highly customized and targeted ads that are more likely to elicit a response from your consumers.

2.) Make yourself stand out from the crowd

Your clients, regardless of what you’re offering, most likely have alternative options.

So, what makes them select your brand above others? What makes people choose your product over the one next to it on the shelf?

That’s how – differentiation.

Brand positioning enables you to carve out your distinct niche in the market and then convey that distinction to clients to set yourself apart from the competitors.

You might, for example, promote your company as delivering high quality at a reasonable price. You may also market it as a high-end brand with higher prices due to its exclusivity.

3.) Enhance clarity in marketing

A well-positioned business is more concerned about issues it solves for its target audience and the industry it serves.

The more tuned in your brand is to the requirements of your consumers, the more efficiently you can express your value proposition and brand narrative.

4.) Make the best creative judgments you can.

Understanding what your brand represents to customers allows you to design better-targeted creative marketing.

It’s tough to come up with concepts that stand out when your target market is too wide or there are too many rivals in your sector.

Developing a positioning plan can assist you in identifying a focused niche and narrowing down your target market. This makes coming up with innovative ideas to assist you to reach your objectives much easier.

5.) Price your products accurately

If you don’t know what your consumer is prepared to pay or what your rivals are charging, pricing your product might be difficult.

Positioning allows you to figure out who your competitors are and how much your target client is prepared to pay for the projected benefits you’re offering.

Brand positioning may also be used to support your pricing strategy. Why is your brand more expensive or less expensive than its competitors?

Types of Brand Positioning Strategies

It is important to note that not all brand positioning strategies are created equal, nor do they all have the same goal. Your positioning and vocabulary will differ depending on your product, service, and sector. We’ll go through some typical positioning methods below to get you going.

1.) Customer Service Positioning Strategy

We’ve all chosen a store, restaurant, or other service provider based on how well they treat their customers.

Companies use quick, courteous customer service to set themselves apart in industries where assistance is notoriously unresponsive. If their product has a particularly difficult installation phase, other firms emphasize their robust support system.

The most obvious advantage of this technique is that excellent customer service can and will justify a higher price point. Apple’s products, for example, are expensive, but its support service is courteous and responsive. These service contacts are also an important component of the flywheel; if a client has a positive service experience, they may become a brand promoter.

If you promote outstanding customer service but don’t deliver, you’ll get poor reviews, heated phone, and email rants, or negative social media shout-outs. To keep your promise, make sure your staff has the proper customer service strategy.

2.) Positioning Strategy Based on Convenience

A convenience-based positioning approach emphasizes how a company’s product or service is more user-friendly than its competitors. Location, ease-of-use, extensive accessibility, various platform support, and other factors can all contribute to convenience.

The product’s design may also contribute to convenience. Swiffer®, for example, promotes its WetJetTM mopping system as a handy alternative to a traditional mop due to its replaceable mopping pads.

When you position your product or service as the most efficient, it will naturally appeal to busy people. It will also allow for a higher price point to be justified.

A Swiffer WetJet, for example, costs $26, while an O-Cedar mop only $10.

Offering convenience, on the other hand, might be expensive. You’ll need strong logistics and software development teams to deliver on your promise if you’re delivering a service across numerous platforms or in different cities. For this positioning approach to succeed, developers must constantly be available to fix bugs and other difficulties.

The last thing you should look at is if your product is actually practical. Customers may find the WetJet mop inconvenient since they must return to the store to purchase refills on a regular basis. You could wish to provide automatic refill programs or subscriptions if you sell a similar product.

3.) Positioning Strategy Based on Price

Companies offer their products and services as the most inexpensive alternative using a price-based positioning approach. Because no one loves to pay more than they have to, positioning your product as the least expensive on the market will certainly attract a big client base. It’s simple to persuade prospects to convert by offering the lowest price.

The one drawback is that a cheaper price may imply a poorer level of production quality, even if this is not the case. It can also start a pricing war, but only in particular areas.

4.) Strategy for Differentiation

In comparison to the conventional competition, a differentiation positioning approach depends on a product’s distinctiveness or new features. Tesla is an excellent example; prior to the Tesla cars, there was no appealing, completely electric vehicle (EV) for purchase.

Consumers that appreciate innovation will be drawn to your brand and product if you follow this strategy. One possible drawback is that the audience may be put off by the lack of prior experience. If your product is brand new, provide the research and testing that went into its development. Consumers who are interested in new technology frequently want to know how it works.

Steps to build a good brand position

1.) Determine the existing situation.

This first step does not apply to fresh entrants to the industry; however, if the brand is already an established competitor in the field and wishes to revive its Brand Positioning and overall company architecture, it is critical for the top management and the branding department to carefully understand and identify the brand’s current positioning.

If the brand isn’t positioned where you need it to be, the company’s management must identify the flaws in the present Brand Positioning and go back to the drawing board to carve out a new and improved strategy.

2.) Determine the direct competitors.

Identifying the brands in the market that pose significant competition to the business is the next stage in the Brand Positioning process. The brand must evaluate and comprehend the competing brands’ core values, brand strengths, type of products and services supplied, ethos, and basics, as well as identify their value propositions and characteristics that distinguish them in the market and in the eyes of customers.

3.) Recognize the position of your competitors’ brands.

The next stage is to figure out how competitors’ brands are positioned, which entails determining their vision statement, mission statement, core values, brand foundations, and overall brand structure. It’s critical to thoroughly research competing brands’ positioning and brand strategies in order to develop a positioning that’s unique and different, providing you a competitive position in the industry.

4.) Determine the company’s distinctiveness.

This step entails an in-depth examination of the brand from within to determine the core values and underpinnings on which the brand is based. Of strengths, value propositions, long-term goals, characteristics, and attributes that distinguish the brand from other brands in the market offering similar products and services.

5.) Create one-of-a-kind selling propositions.

Following on from the previous phase, the following stage of Brand Positioning entails establishing unique selling propositions based on the brand’s characteristics, aims, traits, core values, and strengths, which will give the brand a distinct presence in the market and in the eyes of customers.

6.) Make a list of message statements.

Focusing on messaging statements such as the mission statement, vision statement, and tagline or brand catchphrase that is connected to the official logo/mascot of the business is next on the list. In keeping with the brand’s qualities and intrinsic nature, all marketing claims should be clear, concise, and distinctive.