Brand positioning is how your brand is seen and perceived in the minds of your customers. If you want to win their attention and loyalty, read this article and learn the strategic approach to positioning your brand.
Every brand evokes specific connotations and has a specific image in your customers’ minds. Of course, your goal is to make these connotations and image positive and compliant with what you want to achieve. That, in short, is what brand positioning is all about. It answers such questions as:
- What does differentiate your brand from its competitors and other companies?
- What is your brand’s image in customers’ minds? What do they think about your brand? Do they like it?
- How do you want to be seen in the market?
Now, it is also vital to explain, what’s the difference between brand positioning and your company’s mission.
Brand positioning vs. company’s mission
Granted, these two can seem very similar. But there is a significant difference. Brand positioning is all about what you are and why. On the other hand, a company’s mission is all about what you want to be in the future. Let’s use a real-life example: Tesla.
Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”. And what would be their brand positioning? Some time ago, it was “the only stylish car that can go from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds without a drop of oil“. Do you see the difference? They want (in the future) to build a more sustainable future. But they make (now) good-looking, fast, electric cars. And that statement perfectly resonates with their target audience.
Tesla is not after customers that want to spend little money on a car. They are not after people who concentrate on the range. They want to appeal to customers who look for fast, good-looking, expensive cars. And that strategy works!
Benefits of solid brand positioning
Now, why would you want to build a specific brand positioning? Primarily because it directly translates into customer engagement and loyalty. Brands with solid positioning (i.e. valued by their customers) are strong and have a mature group of regular customers. And although brand positioning is not a direct sales tool, it definitely streamlines all the sales and communication-related processes. So, in other words, proper brand positioning helps your company grow.
That’s why each Tesla’s new car goes like hotcakes. Because their target audience values their products and knows they will fulfil their expectations. By the way, Apple managed to achieve a very similar result with a comparable strategy.
Perhaps, at this point, you’re wondering, can you achieve that effect, too? And, more importantly, how? The answer to the first question is yes! However, without a doubt, it takes some time and a well-thought-out brand transformation strategy. In most cases, you’ll need the help of a professional branding agency, such as Admind. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and talk some more about that strategy.
Creating a brand positioning strategy
As always, it all starts with thorough research. You can’t just wake up one day and decide that you want your brand to be fun or prestigious. If you want your brand positioning to be successful, you should start with analysing your customers. What do they want? What are their capabilities? How much money do they make? How do they spend it? Where do they live? What do they like?
Yes, it sounds a lot like creating a persona, and it’s true! Once you figure all that out, you’re on a straight course to finding out what resonates with your customers – what has the biggest chance of getting their approval and interest.
The next step is to deliver just that. Deliver precisely what your customers want and try to be different from your competitors. Your positioning strategy can be based on something related to:
- Customer experience (that’s what Amazon does – they are customer-centric in everything they do)
- Convenience (here, Uber Eats is a good example)
- Prices (either low like H&M or high like Louis Vuitton)
- High quality (Rolex, Mercedes). Interestingly, while low price can be an advantage in your brand positioning, low quality is never perceived positively.
Moreover, whatever you do, always think about differentiation. Consider a T-Mobile example. They use a unique colour palette (do you know any other company that’s pink, top to bottom?). And secondly – their offer is primarily for the younger audience – flexible and comprehensive.
Finally, when you know what appeals to your target audience and what you want to achieve, it’s time to concentrate on the production level. Everything you do – from packaging and ads, through logo and website, up to the quality of your products should reflect your desired brand positioning.
When you are authentic, persistent and keep brand consistency in your work, sooner or later, customers will start to see your brand the way you want them to.
Summary: work on your brand positioning
Brand positioning is a long-term endeavour, but it’s definitely worth your time. After all, your brand will have a specific positioning, whether you want that or not. And it will happen sooner than you think! Remember? It’s all about how customers perceive your brand.
And as you know from our previous blog posts, each interaction with your brand and its products builds a specific image of the company behind them. All you can do is make sure it’s positive and compliant with your efforts. And that’s why you need a brand positioning strategy.
Usually, it’s reasonable to work with an external branding agency. Why? For a few reasons:
- Such an agency can look objectively at your brand.
- Decent branding agencies have all the resources and competencies required to create (and execute) a proper brand positioning strategy.
- The scope of branding services is bigger than just brand positioning. Meaning you can use their help in other brand-related endeavours.
See also: real brand positioning examples.
If you’re looking for a professional and reliable partner, we recommend ourselves. Take a look at our branding services, especially Brand Development. Later on, we will be happy to assist you with brand governance and implementation, even on a global scale!
Contact us for more details!