“The act of developing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market” is how brand positioning is defined.”
In other words, brand positioning describes how a brand differentiates itself from its competitors and how or where it appears in consumers’ perceptions. A brand positioning strategy calls for creating brand linkages in consumers’ minds in order to affect how they perceive a brand.
What makes brand positioning so crucial?
By influencing customer preferences, brand positioning strategies have a direct impact on consumer loyalty, consumer-based brand equity, and the willingness to buy the brand. The degree to which a brand is viewed favorably, differently, and credibly in people’ eyes can be considered effective brand positioning.
3 easy steps to creating a strong brand positioning
Step 1: You must do the following analyses in order to develop a distinctive and effective positioning for your brand:
- Know what your customers desire.
- Know the capabilities of your brand and business.
- Recognize the brand positioning used by each rival.
Step 2: Following that, you must select a positioning statement that:
- Will appeal to your target audience.
- can be provided by your business (capabilities).
- That sets you apart from your rivals.
Condensing a brand positioning statement into three words makes it simple to understand. For example, “Vegan, traditional, and feminine.” Aims of every brand include words like “quality-products, unique, successful,” so stay away from utilizing them.
Step 3: The final difficulty is to ensure that everything you do reflects this brand positioning (brand personality, packaging design, product, service, visual identity design, communications, etc.).
Brand Positioning Techniques
Finding the ideal location for a brand in the marketplace and in consumers’ minds is the goal of a brand positioning plan. This brand should be easily recognised by a customer for a certain need or desire. If the brand doesn’t succeed in doing this, it degenerates into a generic item or commodity on store shelves or in shopping centers. Therefore, the following factors are crucial for organizations to consider for successful brand positioning: the target consumer, the top competitors, the resemblance to competitors, and the distinction from competitors.
Therefore, we must reduce the target market in order to find the target client. A market is made up of segments, or groups of people with comparable behaviors. A personal consumption profile that takes into account factors like marital status, product consumption, usage frequency, and product expectations can be used to identify these categories. The demographic category also covers age, sex, income, race, and family. Consumers can be further segmented based on their geography, or whether they are local or international. Other segmentation can be carried out using the emotional profile, which takes into account things like religious affiliation, lifestyle preferences, and personal ideas and values. The business market is another significant market. Beginning with the target industry’s product class, or market segmentation, for businesses (chemical, agriculture etc.). Making purchases through a tendering or bidding process by end consumers is another component (government, not profit organization etc.). Last but not least, segmentation is carried out based on the firm profile, which includes factors like financial strength and geography.
In order to survive in the market, it is crucial to understand your rival. An excellent place to start is with a SWOT analysis.
Competition might not come from the same product category, but rather from alternatives, like tea vs. coffee. The goal here is to avoid losing focus by not focusing on the competitors too much. The consumer electronics industry has recently posed a threat to the garment sector.
The way a consumer perceives a specific brand could be used to identify the point of difference.
The brand will stand out from the competitors because of these features. A point of difference, which is similar to a USP, might take the form of greater quality, performance that is predictable, appearance, or customer service. For instance, in addition to Target and Macy’s, Wal-Mart also has to contend with Shaw’s and Macy’s. But what sets it apart from other retailers is the variety of products it can provide at reasonable costs.
Points of similarity are shared characteristics that are crucial for ensuring that customers comprehend the product. It aids in enforcing the straightforward principle of placing the product within the product class. This becomes crucial, particularly if the company is expanding and attempting to enter a new category. This is more common in the consumer products sector, for example at Old Spice. It started out concentrating on shaving items before expanding to grooming products like deodorants.
Establishing customer-based brand equity requires careful consideration of brand positioning. The strategic branding process is enhanced by the target market, knowing rivals, points of distinction, and points of resemblance.
