Brand Positioning

What is Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers. More than a tagline or a fancy logo, brand positioning is the strategy used to set your business apart from the rest.

As prominent as it is in marketing, brand positioning is also one of the most misunderstood terms. And that’s a problem. Because here’s the thing: if you don’t know what brand positioning means for your company, you may end up spending time and money on tactics that don’t actually help you reach your goals.

The goal of this post is to help you understand what brand positioning means for you and your business.

How Important Is Brand Positioning?

With 89 percent of brand marketers concerned about creating engaging brand experiences and 77 percent of B2B marketing leaders convinced that branding is critical to growth, it is clear to see just how important brand positioning is. In addition to the critical element of customer recognition, brand positioning is important for your business in these four ways:

1. It defines your target market.

You can’t be all things to all people. If you try, you’ll end up with a product or service that’s too expensive for some and not good enough for others. What’s worse, you won’t be able to compete on price because your higher quality product will cost more to produce or deliver. You’ll be stuck in the middle — the place most products and services go to die (or at least become mediocre).

2. It helps you stand out from your competition.

In a crowded marketplace, it can be difficult for your business to get noticed. You may offer an exceptional product or service, but if you can’t stand out from your competition, it’s easy for consumers to shop elsewhere. With effective brand positioning, your company becomes memorable and recognizable. This improves the chances that customers will choose you over other businesses offering similar products or services.

3. It increases the value of your business.

Ultimately, a strong brand is an asset that will help improve the value of your business as a whole. When consumers know and trust your company, they are more likely to be loyal to it – in fact, according to research from Nielsen Global Brand Loyalty Study, 55 percent of customers remain loyal to brands that inspire trust and confidence in them. As such, you’re much more likely to retain existing customers and attract new ones with a positive brand position than you are if you fall flat on your messaging strategy.

4. It helps build trust with customers.

Customers want to know what they’re getting when they buy a product or service from a particular company, and brand positioning helps reinforce those expectations. By consistently delivering on promises related to its position in the marketplace, a company can build trust with customers over time. A strong brand also encourages word-of-mouth marketing, which is one of the most effective forms of marketing available today.

How to Create Strong Brand Positioning

It’s not easy to stand out in a crowded marketplace. After all, consumers are constantly inundated with advertisements and messages from brands vying for their attention and loyalty.

It’s important to create strong brand positioning for your business in order to build brand awareness, establish loyal customers and ultimately increase sales.

Here are three tips to help you along the way:

1. Do Your Research (and Keep Doing It)

If you want your brand positioning strategy to be effective, you need to do your research. This includes everything from identifying your competitors to analyzing your market share and tracking consumer behavior trends.

You also want to be sure that you’re using the right mediums to connect with customers and that the messages you’re sending out match the preferences of your target audience. The more relevant data you have about customers and their needs, the more effective your marketing efforts will be in appealing to them on an emotional level.

2. Use Data-Driven Messaging for Authenticity

Along with doing research about potential customers and their preferences, it’s important that you use data-driven messaging when developing your brand positioning statement and marketing efforts. This is one of the most effective ways to ensure that the information you’re sharing is authentic and relevant to your target audience.

3. Create an identity for your business

That is easily recognizable and memorable to consumers, whether it’s through social media posts or product packaging details like color choices.

Brand Positioning Examples

Brand positioning is an important part of any marketing strategy because it offers consumers a clear idea of what the brand is, who they are selling to, and what they are trying to do. The best examples of brand positioning can be seen in the companies that have made their mark on the industry and still remain at the forefront today. Here are five examples of brand positioning that you should learn from.

1. Red Bull: The brand that gives you wings

When it comes to brand positioning, Red Bull is the undisputed champion. The leader of the energy drink market has always been known for its clever marketing and product placement. But the company’s success goes beyond its clever advertisements – it all begins with their brand positioning.

Red Bull’s tagline “Gives you wings” doesn’t just describe what their product does. It also describes what their consumers experience when they drink it: a sense of freedom, youthfulness and fearlessness. Red Bull uses this to target younger audiences who are looking for a fun way to get an extra boost of energy while they work hard and play hard.

2. Nike: Just do it

Nike is another great example of how to nail your brand positioning strategy right on the head. Their famous tagline “Just do it” has become an iconic phrase in modern pop culture, but it also addresses one of their target audience’s biggest needs – motivation.

The apparel giant has positioned itself as a source of inspiration for those who want to achieve their fitness goals. This message is reinforced by their famous advertisements which often show athletes going through exercise routines or preparing for sports competitions.

3. HubSpot: “Inbound Marketing”

HubSpot has positioned itself as THE go-to resource for all things related to Inbound Marketing which is a term they coined themselves. They have gone on to be featured in many high-profile publications such as Forbes and Entrepreneur, becoming experts in the field over time.

4. Airbnb: “Belong Anywhere”

Airbnb is a great example of how a company can use brand positioning to reinvent an industry. The company developed a new way for people to travel by offering private accommodations in cities around the world. In 2014, Airbnb rebranded itself in an attempt to highlight its massive global expansion and appeal to more than just tourists. It now has over 2 million listings in 191 countries. As part of its rebrand, it introduced a new tagline: “Belong Anywhere,” which appeals to travelers who want to feel like they belong while they’re on the road.

5. McDonald’s: “I’m lovin’ it”

McDonald’s chose this slogan to reflect its promise as a family-friendly brand with affordable prices and a happy vibe. This is evident in its soundtracks, commercials, and even restaurant design. The company also uses this slogan as an opportunity to encourage people of all ages to do good deeds like volunteer work – reinforcing their message that life is full of happiness and opportunities if you take the initiative.

Your brand positioning should be dynamic and fluid. This doesn’t mean you have to do a major overhaul every year, but you do need to revisit it at least every quarter to see how you can make it better.

How to Improve Brand Positioning

Here are three ways to improve your brand positioning:

1. Test New Messaging:

The words and images you use in your marketing and advertising should reach people on a deep emotional level. Look at what you’ve been doing and make sure it’s as effective as it can be. Test different messages through A/B testing, surveys, focus groups or whatever makes sense given your budget and resources. Even if you don’t want to ask people directly (for example, if the product is still in beta), gather data through other means such as website analytics, sales numbers, etc., to get insight into how consumers are responding to the messaging. With this information, you can tweak your brand positioning accordingly.

2. Take a Customer-Centric Approach:

Brand positioning is all about understanding what your customers want from you and then delivering on that promise. When making decisions that affect your brand position, seek feedback from customers before proceeding with anything new or exciting (like a new product line or marketing campaign). You may get some great ideas by seeing things through their eyes.

3. Advertise on Multiple Platforms:

Promote your business across social media, email, website content and other online channels. It’s important to be present wherever your customers go, so they’ll see your brand multiple times in different places and will begin to associate it with the products and services you want them to think of when they see your name.

Final Thought

As we’ve discussed, brand positioning is an important part of any successful business. Recognizing and understanding these five categories will help you determine where your brand fits in with its competitors on the market, and where it needs to grow and change for the future. Keep in mind that the aim of good branding is to bring value to customers; do what you can to be beneficial, and you’ll have a solid foundation from which to build your brand on.

You don’t have to go it alone–with Neu Entity’s help, you can develop creative and evolving strategies for your brand to stay on top.