Your subjective view of your brand and your customers’ opinions might be different. Here is how you can align them.
If you go to the supermarket to buy a chocolate, which one do you get?
You already have a name in mind.
Good.
There’s a reason why you picked that brand. It doesn’t matter why. It’s important that it was your first thought when asked about what chocolate you would like to buy.
But what if we tell you that the chocolate brand influenced your decision?
How did it do it?
The manufacturer knows that the type of chocolate they sell attracts a group of buyers, so they created a perception of their product to appeal to that customer. And since you thought of purchasing it, you’re part of their target group.
This example is brand positioning strategy in action. Now, you know how it functions. Brand positioning is vital for companies because it impacts the impression people get about a company. Everything related to the business, from its website to its products, ads, and social media platforms, impact this impression.
What are the Benefits of Brand Positioning?
Brand positioning is the process of owning a unique position in the public’s mind and articulation what a business wants its brand to be to its ideal client. Brand positioning is established in connection to competitors in a way that highlights differentiation, and therefore, it shows the brand’s value to the target public.
This may be the first time you hear the term brand positioning, but we assure you that it’ll become increasingly more popular over the next few years because it directly impacts your business’ success. The world is changing, and so does your sector. With these changes, expect the customers to acquire increased knowledge of the marketplace because they have greater access to information than they ever had. This leaves them with more choices regarding how they spend their finances.
All industries witness a shift from a buying mentality to a choose mentality. People bought whatever product or service they found available on the market in the past, but now they make conscious decisions about the brands they support by buying their products.
Brand positioning is vital in the present times because it helps your products and services differentiate from your competitors. You need to show your ideal client what benefits your products offer and make them believe you’re reliable. Brand positioning enables you to do this because it helps you communicate to your audience what you bring to the table and what makes you different from the others. When done right, it can boost your business’ strength.
Steps to Create Brand Positioning
The product offering between brands in the same sector is often quite similar. If this is also your case, you can differentiate your brand with the help of the technical aspects of your products.
Creating an easily recognizable brand begins internally. In order to develop the right strategy, you need to answer the following questions:
– Who is your ideal customer?
– What needs do you serve?
– Why should the public believe you?
An effective brand positioning strategy requires extensive planning, effort, and analysis. You must research the market to identify your business’s present authority and visibility level. Then it would help if you established some strategic, realistic, and coherent goals that impact the steps you take in order to reach your aim.
Here are the main steps you should take to develop a lasting brand positioning:
1. Identify your ideal customer’s preferences and needs
To position your brand in your sector, you need to discover what your clients seek and need. Use focus groups, interviews, and research to gather this knowledge. Besides these traditional methods, you can also use interactive content because it’s a more sustainable solution that provides information practically and effectively. And where do you count that interactive content also enables you to boost user experience and optimize your processes? It’s a great data source because it encourages the public to click on elements of interest or carry out specific actions. The information will help you know their preferences and create a profile of your ideal buyer persona to figure out how to connect with them.
2. Evaluate your competition
Nowadays, it’s recommended to focus the market analysis on the digital medium, as it’s the main battleground in which you face your competitors for the best brand positioning. As it may be a little challenging to analyze your competition if you lack knowledge, it may be wise to hire a team of marketing professionals like those from dpdk.com/creative-agency/san-francisco to perform a rigorous and complete audit of your competition and identify what the audience’s perception of their service is.
Competition analysis is paramount in brand positioning because it gives you a clear picture of what the public appreciates in your niche market and the actions and elements that could help you stand out. Look for the gaps your competitors left, so you can fill them and provide the public with solutions.
3. Adjust your value proposition to the market reality
The best way to promote your brand positioning is to connect with your public’s thoughts, perceptions, and values. Offering high-quality products or the best price on the market is no longer enough to make your company stand out on the market. Customers support the brands that connect with their values and perceptions. Research your ideal client to find out what motivates and stimulates them and align your brand’s message with their impressions.
4. Connect with your public on the human level
This recommendation reinforces the one from above. Your main goal should be to strengthen your relationships with your clients to always be in their minds and remain an attractive solution. Develop strategies that humanize your business and make it easily recognizable to the public. Storytelling is a powerful strategy that triggers empathy among the public and tells them your business is more than a corporate structure.
Final Words
Brand positioning should always be aligned with your business’ branding, so reinforce it with actions to ensure that it brings you the level of visibility you want.
