How to build a brand positioning strategy

Introduction

What is brand positioning? It's a shorthand way of saying, "We are who we say we are." Or, more accurately, "We are who our customers think we are." You can't build a brand without knowing what it stands for. Your brand positioning strategy has to be informed by your research, but it should also be informed by some common sense as well. What do people associate with your product or service? What makes you different from the competition? How do you want your potential customers to feel when they think about your offering? The answers to these questions will help you craft a compelling and memorable statement that sums up how your company wants to be perceived.

Define your brand.

Define your brand.

• Define your brand's purpose. What is its reason for being? What problem does it solve or what need does it fulfill in the lives of customers and prospective customers?
• Define your brand's promise. How will you deliver on this promise to customers, and how will they know that you're doing so consistently over time?
• Define your brand's personality (or characters). Who are the people behind this product or service--and what makes them different from other companies that provide similar offerings? How can we use these personalities as part of our marketing strategy to connect with consumers on an emotional level rather than just making logical arguments about why they should buy from us instead of someone else?

Know your audience.

In order to build a brand positioning strategy, you need to know who your audience is. This includes knowing their needs, wants and values. It also means understanding the culture in which they live and their demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity). You should also consider psychographics--the things that make them unique as individuals--and behavior: how they shop for products or services like yours.

Finally, it's important to understand attitudes toward brands like yours in general; this will help shape how you position yourself on social media platforms where consumers interact with brands like yours often.

Understand your category.

To begin, you need to understand the category. What are the benefits of your product? What are the benefits of your competitors' products? How does your brand position itself within this category?

To answer these questions, take a look at how other companies have positioned themselves in relation to their category and brands. For example:

• Is there a common theme that unites all of them (e.g., "We're simple" or "We're innovative")? If so, what do those words mean when applied to each company's offerings and how does it make them unique from one another--and why should people choose yours over theirs.

Determine your competitive set.

In order to build a brand positioning strategy that's effective, you need to know who your competitors are. If you don't know who your competitors are, how can you hope for success?

To define the competitive set, start by listing all of the brands within the industry and then narrowing down from there based on factors like size, price point and distribution model. Once this is done, research each brand in detail so that each one can be analyzed individually. This will allow for better understanding of each company's strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities for improvement within their respective markets.

Analyze your competitors

Now that you have a clear understanding of who your target market is, it's time to take a look at what your competitors are doing.

It's important to understand how other brands in your industry are positioning themselves and their products or services. This will help you determine if there are any gaps in the market that could be filled by creating your own brand positioning strategy.

If a competitor has already established itself as the leader in its category, then consider whether there is any way for you to differentiate yourself from them by offering something unique or better quality. A good example would be Apple versus Samsung smartphones -- both companies offer excellent products but differ significantly on pricing and user experience (UX).

Leverage best practices in your industry.

When you're developing your own brand positioning strategy, it's important to look at what others are doing. This can help you learn from the best and avoid making the same mistakes as other companies in your industry or field.

You should also look at how brands outside of your industry position themselves--especially if they're competing for the same audience as yours. This can give you ideas about how to stand out from the crowd by being different, rather than just better than everyone else (which is not always possible).

Finally, take a close look at how your own company positions itself right now: what messaging do they use? What benefits do they emphasize? How do they talk about their products or services? You can use this information as a starting point when thinking about how consumers perceive them as well as what kind of changes might improve things further down the line.

Create a list of guiding principles.

• Create a list of guiding principles.
• What are the principles of your brand? What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for? Are there any key messages that need to be conveyed in order that people understand what it is that makes your brand unique and special, or what differentiates it from others in its category or market space.
• A good way to start this process is by creating a mission statement for your business, which should reflect what it is about yourself as an individual/company/brand (or combination thereof) that excites and motivates you most about being involved with this particular industry or sector:

Your brand positioning strategy is the foundation on which everything else will be built.

Your brand positioning strategy is the foundation on which everything else will be built. It's a strategic plan that defines your brand in the minds of your audience and differentiates it from competitors. It's also how you communicate that differentiation to them, through all of your marketing efforts--from ads and websites to packaging design and social media posts.

The most effective way to build a strong brand is by creating something people love: a product or service they find so valuable that they want more of it (and tell their friends). Once you've created this product or service, then comes the hard part: getting people who don't know about it yet into contact with it so they can discover how great it is!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, a strong brand positioning strategy is what can help you stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. It’s also what will make your customers feel like they belong to a group that shares their values and beliefs—and that they can trust you with their money.