When a new business is created or rebranded, it takes on a life. It has a certain persona, a mission, and a problem that it solves. Conveying those things to the marketplace can be difficult if you aren’t sure of your positioning.
Brand positioning refers to the perceived value or favor that a brand presents to its customer. Experts warn that being different from your competition is no longer enough – you need to position your brand as truly remarkable to break through the noise.
Additionally, brand positioning allows you to tailor your messaging, drive awareness, optimize value, and encourage communication.
To help you develop effective, stand-out brand positioning, consider the following tips:
1. Define your audience
If you take away nothing else in positioning or successful marketing plans in general, it’s to really define and understand your target audience. By identifying your audience, you can bring them to life through behavioral data, insights, etc. When you understand the behavior and habits of your ideal customer, you can better position your brand to be the best in the market through tactics like messaging, paid media, content development, etc. Learn more here about why audience segmentation is critical to marketing.
2. Reveal your value
Identifying the value your brand provides to the market can be done by analyzing your strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, competition, and value proposition. When studied together, these pieces of information can provide the unique benefit or trait that separates your brand from the competition – ultimately leading consumers to choose your brand. Write your value proposition in a clear, concise manner to easily convey what your brand brings to the table.
3. Align your strategy with your brand positioning
Once a positioning statement is complete (a document outlining your value prop, audience, points of differentiation, etc.), you need to make that positioning a reality. You can execute this by developing creative imagery, slogans, and tone of voice that aligns to the persona and value that your brand represents. Many marketers refer to this as a “style guide” that not only influences the creative aspect of their marketing but also is reflected in their communication styles. 4. Revisit your brand positioning
Society is always shifting and that requires consistent nurturing of your brand positioning to remain atop the competition. Check in with your brand positioning at least once yearly – potentially more if the nature of your business is rapidly evolving or new services/features are added to your brand. You may realize that your target audience shifted slightly from where it began and the current strategy you’re executing isn’t creating the reaction you want.
There’s nothing wrong with adjusting your brand positioning and changing to fit into a new view of your market. In fact, it could be just the type of adjustment needed to keep your brand healthy and profitable.
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