Brandscape

When it comes to building your brand, there is one task that is crucial to success – Developing your Brand Positioning.

Your brand positioning outlines your company’s product and image into a unique space in the hearts and minds of your target market. Simply put, it’s telling your audience why they should pick and continue to choose your brand over anyone else’s.

It lets your brand start communicating its unique message from the get-go so that customers, employees, stakeholders, and suppliers know exactly what you are all about. It’s an important starting point, a springboard for all your creative and marketing decisions across all your channels and touchpoints, that defines the personality and tone of your brand.

Whether you cultivate it or not, once your brand is out there, it will gain a reputation. As part of your strategy, a well-defined Brand Positioning will help you control that reputation from the start.

When thinking about your Brand positioning, there are three aspects that you need to fully understand that will help define your understanding of the space that your brand will occupy. They are yourself, your customers, and your competition. Sure, it may seem a little obvious, but remember that it’s this honest groundwork at the start that will benefit you later in the process.

Yourself (the Brand)
One of the first things to understand is what makes your brand different. Knowing this will help you create something new and remarkable in the market. It’s easy to identify your difference when it’s something tangible, but when it’s not, and the difference comes down to an attitude or a motive, it can be much harder to define. Getting to grips with your product benefits or service features on an emotional level can help create strong connections. If you have a vital mission and values, it’s about how this manifests itself to your customers – what does your brand mean to them, and how will it fit into their lives.

Your Customers
Identify your customers and the world that they live in. Look at their aspirations and lifestyle, the other brands they interact with and make connections with your own. Do they share similar values to those of your brand? Ask them what they want from a brand such as yours – the service, the quality, the price? Talk to them in their language – let your voice echo theirs.
All essential questioning helps you build your brand picture. It’s always good practice to constantly evaluate your customers. Markets and attitudes are continually shifting, so you might need to tweak your course to keep them engaged and their attention on you.

Your Competition
It’s imperative that you understand what your competition is doing and the way that they are doing it. If you simply emulate what’s out there already, then there is a good chance that your brand will struggle in a competitive market with no real point of difference. Instead, do some thorough research and analysis to see what they are doing right and what they might be doing wrong – remember, their weakness could be your unique strength. Ask customers what they think. Does their service stack up? Does the product meet the market needs? Are they missing something?

Research into any one area may inform and influence the direction or questioning in others – and that’s fine; this helps you become more focused and give a better approach to your brand image and language moving forward. Investigating and then combining these three aspects can help clarify the correct positioning of your brand.

All this information is invaluable in helping you position your brand. The process can be daunting, with many more nuances and subtleties in the mix than have been outlined here. Over the years, we have created a range of positioning tools that can help you define the sweet spot for your brand to perform in.
So, if you would like us to help you with your Brand Positioning, in fact, any aspect of branding or packaging, we’re well positioned to show you how it’s done.