Why brand positioning is important for your business | Brandwell
Brand positioning needs to be at the heart of your marketing strategy. A brand position refers to target consumers’ reason for choosing your brand over others. It directs your marketing strategy by explaining the brand details; unique qualities; similarities with competing brands; and reasons for buying and using your brand. It is also the basis for increasing the knowledge and perceptions of consumers to create brand loyalty. In this article, we’ll give you tips and insights into how and why brand positioning can help your sales and company grow.
What is brand positioning?
Brand positioning is an overall strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct position, relative to competing brands, in consumers’ minds to become customers.
It helps you to differentiate your product or service from the competition. You need to show your target audience what you do and make them believe in it.
A consumer will weigh up the pros and cons and your ability to meet their needs before making a purchase. How you position your brand to meet these needs will determine how likely they are to buy from you.
Define your unique selling point (USP)
What does your product offer that your competitor can’t or simply doesn’t offer? The answer is your unique selling point (USP).
A USP should tell your buyer why your product or service is different and better than your competition’s.
Having a unique selling proposition makes your company exceptional and separates it from the cluster, which should persuade your customers that you are the better choice.
Basically, your unique selling proposition represents what your business stands for and will inform how to write a brand positioning strategy.
It communicates how you plan to address your customer’s deepest needs, their complaints against other competitors by providing them with a sufficient solution that will satisfy their needs.
What are the advantages of brand positioning?
Brand recall
Brand recall is the percentage of a target market who name your brand when presented with a product category. It’s different from brand recognition which is the percentage of people who can name your brand from a visual symbol.
Market differentiation
Market differentiation is the process companies use to make a product or service stand out from its competitors in ways that provide unique value to the customer. Differentiation identifies features and benefits that:
- customers value when they are evaluating choices in a purchasing decision
- competitors cannot easily copy.
When both conditions exist, the offering is more attractive to target customers.
Differentiation is at work any time you’re choosing between two products in the same category. For instance, what makes you choose Coke or Pepsi? Is it because of the taste, the cost or the level of sugar or caffeine? Or it could be something less tangible, like the way you just want to smile when you drink Coke; or how you feel amped-up when you drink Pepsi. These tangible and intangible qualities are what differentiate one soft drink from another.
Emotional appeal
Emotional marketing tells a story that connects with an audience in a human or personal way. With consumers increasingly making buying decisions driven by feelings rather than logic, emotional marketing creates meaningful relationships that result in brand fans, replacing the loyalty marketing approach of years past.
Brand message and identity
When you create a brand identity, you’re essentially applying your brand values to any visual elements that will be used to promote your business. This means that a brand identity is more than just a logo; and consists of a variety of marketing materials.
Brand messaging is the message you communicate to your target audience that describes what you do and how you’re different from the competition. This messaging is usually conveyed through content or information you share with your audience.
What is a brand positioning statement?
A positioning statement shows why your product or service is more desirable to than the nearest competitive alternative. It is one of the essential components of your communication strategy. A positioning statement should define the addressable target audience, the product and its category, a specific benefit, and how it differs from the nearest competitive alternative. It’s a subset of the value proposition which speaks directly to the heart of the individual target persona.
How do I write a brand positioning statement?
A brand positioning statement should be written in a format that includes an identification of the target market, the market need, the product name and category, the key benefit delivered and the basis of the product’s differentiation from any competing alternatives.
You can use this simple rule for your brand positioning statement:
[Your Company] helps [your customers] by [our unique solution].
Brand positioning examples
Have a think about companies that have earned their place as household names. It only takes a few seconds, right? Your quick recall of these brands means their brand positioning is working.
We have identified the following examples of successful brand positioning that have captured consumers. Were they on your list?
- Google: Organising the world’s information
- Apple: Creating a better world through technology and design
- Vegemite: Vegemite tastes like Australia
- Optus: It starts with yes
Your brand’s position is one of your most valuable assets. It can have a significant impact on buyers’ decisions and create market differentiation by providing or articulating critical information about product features and benefits. Brand positioning aids consumers’ search and helps them in determining where to buy products without having to search through multiple brands.
Brandwell is ready to be your business partner when you’re ready to brand or rebrand.
Check out our free branding guide to get started.
Brandwell – Creative Branding Agency Melbourne