Company Positioning and Brand Strategy Are Not the Same Thing. It would help if you had both.

As a B2B SaaS company leader, you're likely investing heavily in building a great product. But to truly accelerate revenue and sustainable growth, you must complement that with nailing your positioning and developing a compelling brand strategy. Here's why both are essential:?

Master Your Company and Product Positioning First

Positioning lays the critical foundation for everything else. As positioning expert Bob Wright states, high-impact positioning answers three key questions: "Why should I buy your product and why now? How are you different? How will you make my life better?"

Wright outlines a comprehensive positioning approach built around a compelling narrative arc:

1) Name the burning multi-million-dollar problem your target customers face

2) Show the promised land if that problem is solved. There’s a better way…

3) Define the buying criteria needed to solve the problem

4) Clearly articulate your unique solution as the answer

5) Reinforce with differentiated value pillars and proof

6) Visualize your marketecture—Connect your story to your products/services

6) Provide a clear call to action to compel the next steps

Positioning is about staking out the right market category and ownable position in that category, defining your unique value, and articulating how you are the best and only solution for your customers' highest-value problems.

When done well, your positioning allows you to:

- Shape and own a category to engage economic buyers and increase ACV

- Stand out from competitors in a crowded market

- Shift from a product-centric “how it works story” to a buyer-centric “why you matter” story

- Focus and align all strategy, messaging, and go-to-market?

The Power of Emotive Brand Building

While positioning defines the rational factors, companies can then elevate their marketing impact by developing a resonant brand strategy focused on emotive feelings and identity.

As brand guru Sasha Strauss states: "A strong brand strategy provides companies with a sustainable competitive advantage by creating an emotional connection with customers beyond just product functionality. It allows you to charge premium prices, attract top talent, and foster deeper loyalty."

A brand strategy defines the distinctive personality, values, and aspired associations you want customers to experience with your brand. As the iconic poet Maya Angelou put it: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

In today's marketplace, buyers make final purchase decisions largely based on emotional resonance with a brand. An impactful brand strategy:

1. Differentiates and makes you memorable in the crowd

2. Builds loyalty by forging emotional connections

3. Attracts talent aligned with your purpose?

4. Justifies premium pricing by making you more than a commodity

5. Makes all marketing and sales more authentic and compelling

How to Craft a Winning Brand Strategy

Developing an effective brand strategy is an art and science that complements your positioning efforts. It typically involves:

1. Analyzing the ecosystem to deeply understand the emotive “why” behind the organization, customers, and partners

2. Articulating your authentic brand purpose, personality, and core values

3. Codifying a distinct visual and verbal brand identity system?

4. Developing a messaging framework that brings the brand narrative to life

5. Ensuring company-wide alignment and cultural embodiment of the brand

A brilliant brand creates an elevated experience people admire, talk about, and keep coming back for.

The Path to Differentiation and Growth?

While a buyer-centric positioning lays the rational foundation, combining it with an emotionally resonant brand strategy that taps into why customers do what they do allows you to market in a way that connects at both intellectual and gut levels.?

This one-two punch of positioning and brand strategy enables you to drive true differentiation, loyalty, and growth in a crowded B2B marketplace. Nobody wakes up in the morning wanting to buy another application or platform. They wake up thinking about how to solve business challenges and decide who to partner with based on shared values and an emotive connection.