Brand Positioning

As new brands pop up constantly, it becomes increasingly important to stand out from the crowd and obtain a good brand position in the market. A strong brand positioning strategy can elevate a brand and often overlooked brand into a formidable competitor on the market.

However, brand positioning is not an exact science, and what goes into achieving solid brand positioning is often difficult to convey. Nevertheless, in this article, we will do our best to define brand positioning, reveal several brand positioning strategies, and highlight the impact of strategic branding.

What is Brand Positioning?

Brand positioning is the place that your brand occupies on the market and in the minds of your target audience.

Brand positioning is a type of marketing strategy, highly based on differentiating yourself from competitors. That is why, to occupy a unique spot on the market, your brand must also be unique in its communication toward its target audience.

Philip Kotler, the man who is often called the ‘father of modern marketing’, defined Brand positioning as:

The act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market

A brand positioning strategy must deal both with the product or service being offered and the image of the brand, as perceived by the target audience.

How to Define Brand Positioning?

Brand positioning is often seen as a metric of how well the brand logo and the brand positioning statement are performing. However, there is more to the concept than this.

Hubspot emphasizes that brand positioning is more than a fancy logo or catchphrase, defining it rather in more broad terms, as a strategy used to set your business apart from the rest.

In order to do well market positioning, the following steps should be considered when creating your brand positioning framework.

1. Identify your current brand positioning

Assessing your current situation will generally be the first step toward creating a brand with the positioning you are looking for. Taking note of your current positioning in the market will also give you hints on what needs to be done to move in the desired direction

2. Identify competitors

As brand positioning is a marketing strategy that is highly based on differentiating your brand, knowing who your competitors are is a must. This will also help you identify things that your brand does better.

3. Create a brand positioning statement

Your brand positioning statement will be a simple one to two-sentence statement that communicates the value of your brand offers. A good brand positioning statement will be convincing but also unique in relation to your competitors.

4. Maintain your brand image

A good brand positioning strategy is not a one-time statement to share on social media. The positioning of your brand is reflected not only in its core values but in the way your employees talk to customers, the services and products you offer, general customer service, and many other branding elements which must be maintained over time.

Why is Brand Positioning Important?

Brand positioning is one of the most important elements of a marketing strategy. Although it may not seem like it directly influence sales, the way your brand is perceived may make or break the brand’s position in the long run.

Brand positioning as a foundation

The positioning of your brand may accurately be described as its foundation. If your brand has a good marketing strategy on top of good positioning it has a much better chance of success.

Brand positioning can help communicate value, which allows you to set higher prices, create a higher level of brand awareness, and differentiate your brand from competitors.

What Are The Best Brand Positioning Strategies?

A strong brand positioning strategy will certainly include a strong brand positioning statement, good target audience selection, and a marketing strategy to reach consumers. However, the best brand positioning strategies also have a couple of additional key elements. Let’s take a look at a few excellent strategies to boost the positioning of a brand.

Differentiation strategy

This strategy may sound simple, and in theory, it is. But, underneath the hood, a lot of work goes into successfully differentiating your brand from other brands on the market. The strategy of differentiation requires your brand to have a unique product or service to offer.

Good marketing is almost a requirement for this strategy, as a customer may not be convinced by an offer that seems risky and different when compared to everyone else.

Price-Based Positioning Strategy

Another strategy that is almost as old as the action of trading something for currency, but is highly effective nonetheless. Lowering your prices will temporarily attract new eyes and may help you to position your brand as one which offers the best price-to-quality ratio, but it comes with drawbacks.

Keeping your prices too low for too long may solidify your brand as a lower-quality product in the minds of the consumers. That is why it is generally not recommended as a long-term strategy.

Additional Tips & Tricks

• If a customer thinks of your brand first when they think of a certain type of product, your brand has achieved top-of-mind brand awareness, and simultaneously excellent brand positioning
• An advantage of working on your brand positioning is a higher personal awareness of what your brand stands for, its core values and beliefs, which can help you communicate more effectively with each customer
• A strong brand positioning will make the customer feel good to pay a higher price for your product or service, as they will consider it a product that warrants the high price

Now You Know What Brand Positioning is!

Brand positioning is a term in marketing as well as a type of marketing strategy which is highly based on differentiating your brand from others, and gaining the positive perceptions of your target audience. This is achieved through careful communication, a well-thought-out brand positioning statement, and a marketing and branding strategy.

You learned what brand positioning is, why is it important, and strategies for brand positioning and you’ve got a few tips & tricks in your pocket. With all this knowledge and information, it’s up to you now to determine if optimizing for brand positioning is the marketing approach you need to take for your company or organization.