Brand Positioning , or brand positioning , is a common term in the process of doing marketing in general and branding in particular. So you really understand about Brand Positioning? As well as how to build a positioning strategy for the brand of your business? In this article, we also learn the most basic concepts.
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Brand Positioning – What is brand positioning?
In a simple way, Brand Positioning is the process of positioning the brand in the mind of the customer. It includes and relates to positioning strategy, brand strategy or even positioning statement.
In the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout, brand positioning aims to acquire a niche for a particular brand, product line or service using different strategies. price, advertising, distribution, packaging, and competitors.
The goal is to create unique impressions in the minds of customers, thereby aligning them with the specific values that the brand creates.
Brand positioning will happen whether the business actually actively does it or not because what customers think of you is brand positioning. However, what businesses need to do is a smart positioning strategy, a consistent management ability so that positioning does not distort over time.
Brand Positioning is also an important factor, helping businesses accurately assess the health of their brand – Brand Health .
Brand Positioning Statement – Positioning Statement and Tagline
Positioning statements are often confused with the company’s taglines and slogans. Positioning statements are used mainly within the business.
The Brand Positioning Statement is the guide for the company’s marketing and operational decisions. And at the same time help you make decisions that influence customer perception of your brand.
Tagline, on the other hand, is used for marketing purposes. Right below will be an example of a brand statement and tagline to make it easier for you to distinguish.
>>> Why Brand Needs Tagline, Slogan, Mission and Vision?
The importance of brand positioning
With 89% of brand managers interested in building and positioning brands based on customer experience, and 77% of B2B business leaders recognizing brands as paramount to growth, we partly understand the importance of Brand Positioning for businesses.
Here are 4 aspects that can confirm the inseparability between brand positioning and business survival:
- Market Segmentation: Today, the differentiation of each brand determines its survival in the market. If you walk in front of a forest of similar brands, which product to choose? The wisdom of businesses is to separate themselves from similar products, target a niche audience, and develop brands in that direction.
- Identify buying behavior: By locating target customers early, businesses can fully understand and understand their purchasing decisions. By giving the right answers, businesses automatically build a bond of trust and loyalty with customers.
- Maintain brand value: Instead of jumping into a never-ending price war, businesses have the right to set reasonable prices, uphold the core values of the brand and make customers buy their products “in vain”. condition”.
- Communicating the message: A good brand positioning strategy will help businesses communicate the right message to the right people. This brings a lot more effective communication and sales than marketing without positioning.
The 6-step process of building a brand positioning strategy
To be able to come up with a brand positioning strategy, you need to identify the unique and different points of the brand compared to the competition.
Here are 6 steps you need to take to position your brand in the market:
- Define how the brand positions itself
- Identify direct competitors
- Understanding competitor brand positioning
- Build highlights and value-based positioning ideas
- Build a positioning statement
- Test the effectiveness of the positioning statement
Step 1: Determine how the brand positions itself
Exactly how the brand is positioning itself right now is the key insight that determines the next steps. You need to understand your current positioning well in order to proceed to competitor analysis.
Let’s start by defining the target customer, who are they? Then, define your mission, mission, values, and what sets you apart from the rest of the market. Finally, think about the promise of the brand, and the persona and personality of the brand you own.
>>> Brand Personality – Create a personality for the brand
Step 2: Identify your direct competitors
After understanding yourself, now is the stage of analyzing the brand’s competitors, through market research activities . The obtained parameters will help determine the specific strategies, goals and actions of the business.
There are a number of different methods for competitor research, for example:
- Market Research: Research your sales team to see what methods your competitors use in the sales process; Make a list of competitors with high rankings in search engines based on keywords related to your products and services;…
- Use customer feedback: Ask customers before coming to you, whether they have used any products and services of the unit or not
- Use social networks: Search on social networks for information about your industry or business.
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Step 3: Understand your competitors’ positioning
Having identified your competitors, now you need to do more research. You need to analyze how your competitors position their brand in the market. Include:
- Products and services that competitors are offering.
- Your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
- What marketing strategy are they implementing successfully?
- Their current positioning in the market
Step 4: Build brand highlights
Building a brand is about identifying the points that differentiate and stand out from the competition.
The important thing is to turn the weaknesses of your competitors that you have learned above into your brand’s strengths. This is where your point of difference will speak.
Step 5: Build a positioning statement
A brand positioning statement is one or two sentences used to communicate your brand’s distinct values to customers compared to the competition.
There are four questions to answer before formulating a positioning statement:
- Audience – who is the customer portrait ?
- What is a product and service portfolio?
- What is the biggest benefit that your products and services bring?
- Proof of those benefits
From these seemingly simple questions, you will create a “perfect” positioning for your brand. Example of Amazon positioning: “Amazon’s vision is to be a company where its customers are at the center of everything it does. Building a place where people can go and discover everything they want to shop online.”
Step 6: Check the effect
Finally, take some time to re-examine your brand’s positioning. It may not be effective in the early stages, but through the development process, if done right, this positioning will help the brand go further.
4 key elements in brand positioning statement
As mentioned above: “A brand positioning statement is a sentence or two used to communicate the distinct values of your brand to customers compared to the competition.”
There are four key elements in creating a brand statement:
- Target customers : Brief description of the behavior and demographics of your brand’s target customer group, What will make them feel most attractive?
- Define the market : The product category that your brand is trying to compete with, and how relevant is the brand and the customer?
- Brand Commitment : What superior brand benefits are used to make customers feel that they should choose you over the competition?
- Reason to believe : What evidence to convince customers to believe in the benefits you bring?
After answering the four questions above, you can draft a positioning statement, then choose the best ideas.
Positioning statement example
Amazon.com used this positioning statement in 2001 (at the time mainly selling books):
For online readers who love to read, Amazon.com is a retailer that can offer more than 1.1 million titles with instant access. Unlike traditional booksellers, Amazon offers a wide range of convenient options, and above all, very competitive prices.
Zipcar.com used a positioning statement when it was founded in 2000:
For urban, tech-savvy customers, when using Zipcar’s car sharing service instead of owning a car for themselves, you are saving a huge amount of money at the same time. cut daily carbon emissions for the surrounding environment.
>> Brand Archetype – Brand Template
Examples of taglines of famous brands
Once you’ve created a positioning statement, you can further create taglines or slogans to help shape your brand’s positioning more clearly. Here are 15 examples:
- Mercedes-Benz : The Best Or Nothing
- BMW : The ultimate driving machine
- Southwest Airlines: The short-haul, no-frills, and low-priced airline
- Avis : We are only Number 2, but we try harder
- Famous Footwear: The value shoe store for families
- Miller Lite: The only beer with superior taste and low caloric content
- State Farm: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
- L’Oreal : Because you’re worth it
- Walmart : Always low prices. Always. (Always cheap)
- Nike: Just do it
- Coca-Cola : Taste the feeling
- Target : Expect more. Pay less. (Expect more. Pay less)
- Volvo : For Life. (For life)
- Home Depot : You can do it. We can help (You can do it. We can help)
15 questions to evaluate brand positioning strategy
A smart and complete brand positioning is sure to be a powerful tool to centralize all your marketing, advertising and communication strategies.
If used correctly, brand positioning will help businesses make the right decisions to make a difference, attract potential customers, and capture more market share than competitors.
Here are 15 questions to use to evaluate brand positioning:
- Does this brand positioning help set the brand apart?
- Does this brand positioning match the customer’s perception of the brand?
- Is it possible to grow in the future with this positioning?
- Does this Brand Positioning help customers identify the core values of the brand?
- Does this positioning paint a coherent, clear picture of the difference from the competition?
- Is it customer-focused?
- Is this positioning easy to remember and inspiring?
- Is this Brand Positioning consistent across all areas of the business?
- Is it easy to understand?
- Is this brand positioning easy or difficult to imitate?
- Is it positioned for long-term success?
- Are brand promises trustworthy?
- Is your brand proprietary?
- Will it withstand the opponent’s attack?
- Does this brand positioning help you make effective marketing and branding decisions?
Repositioning – Repositioning
The fact is quite harsh that there is no marketer capable of positioning the brand in the mind of each customer, because for one reason, each person will have different thoughts and perceptions about the brand. that mark.
Positioning is the result of customers’ perception of your brand’s activities, more precisely, how customers experience your brand.
Behind every positioning or tagline is how businesses want to convey something to customers. When the role of brand positioning is most deeply understood, it becomes easier to build ethos around the brand.
>> 11 principles of successful brand management
Positioning the brand in the mind of the customer
To be able to position your brand in the minds of your customers, you have to start from within your business. All members who are related and have direct contact with customers must be the ones who best understand these positions. And from there, they will complement each other, gradually forming a clearer position in the customer’s mind.
Put everything you think can represent the brand, list all the brand touch points that interact with customers. Ask yourself these questions:
- How to increase customer engagement at every touchpoint?
- Does each touch point deliver the brand feel you want?
>>> Why brands need customer positioning strategy
Building a brand positioning strategy is not easy, it requires a thorough study of customers, competitors and the company’s internals. Hope the article will help you to discover new ideas in the branding phase of your business.
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