What is a brand strategy and how do you create one?

What do successful companies like Google, Salesforce, and Uber have in common? 

Well, other than huge revenues, their brands have become generic terms for their entire industry. Think about it, how many times have you told someone to "Google it"? Or that you're just going to "Uber home"?

Every business – including yours – should aim for that level of brand awareness. Not only will this help carve out a share of your market, but also increase customer loyalty and boost your public image.

But to build the next household name, you need to understand your brand and where it fits into your customers’ lives. Your brand has to rise above the noise of your competitors. It has to be relevant, memorable, and clear.

You need to know:

·        What makes your business unique?

·        How you solve your customers’ problems better than anyone else?

·        Why you deserve your customers’ loyalty and recommendations?

How you position your brand is often the difference between success and failure. Your startup has a short time to make an impression, so you better make sure it’s a good one!

How to make customers love you: A brand strategy in 6 steps

To develop a brand positioning strategy, you need to understand your business, your competitors, and your customers. You need to know what you do better than the rest, and how you can use that to build deep and long-lasting relationships with your customers.

Step 1: Know your brand

Start by answering these questions:

·        What’s your unique selling point (USP)?

·        How are you different from your competitors (if at all)?

·        Who is your target customer?

·        What makes your business culture unique?

·        How do you improve customers’ lives?

Your answers to these questions will help you assess what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. 

Also, consider your brand’s "personality". Are you confusing or boring customers with complicated lingo or are you speaking to them like a human being? People respond better to brands that sound like real people, not salespeople.

It helps to think of your brand as a real person. Are they wordy and awkward or natural and engaging? Be honest. Establishing the identity and personality of your brand will determine whether it’s the right fit for your target customer.

Step 2: Know your competitors

Find out who your competitors are. All of them, not just the big ones. There will always be startups making moves that could threaten your business in the future.

There are several ways to do this:

·        Search keywords specific to your niche and see who ranks for them. 

·        Ask your sales team who they’re competing with for customer dollars. 

·        Ask your existing customers for feedback. For example, conducting a survey that asks them to name your alternatives or other businesses they’ve considered in the past.

·        Check social media platforms like Quora. Your competitors will often answer questions on Quora to raise awareness of their brand or generate business.

Step 3: Understand your competitors

To increase market share, you need a plan, and that plan depends on what your competitors doing. An in-depth analysis of your competition will reveal what they're doing right (and whether it would work for you too) and what they're doing wrong (so you can take advantage of their mistakes).

Here’s what you should know:

·        What products and services do they provide?

·        How do their products or services compare to yours?

·        Their strengths and weaknesses?

·        Marketing strategies and results?

·        Their market position (in relation to you)?

Step 4: Understand what makes you different

Your customers encounter thousands of brands every day. What can you do to make yours stand out? How can you persuade them you do it (whatever “it” might be) better than anyone else?

One way is to use all that competitor research you just did. Search the data for your relative strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, look for flaws in your competitors that are strengths for you. Once you’ve done that, you’ve identified what makes you unique. You now know what to focus on when positioning your own brand. Build your image around those strengths, stress how they make your offerings unique, and really emphasize those strengths in your marketing campaigns.

Step 5: Write your positioning statement

Once you’ve gathered all the information in the previous steps, it’s time to write your brand positioning statement. This is a message of no more than two sentences that communicates what's unique about your brand, and what value you provide that your competitors don't.

Here are some tips for writing a well-crafted positioning statement:

·        Write for your target customer only.

·        Define your product and service.

·        Describe your best and most unique benefits.

·        Prove you can achieve the results you claim.

If you’ve followed the previous steps, writing your positioning statement should be easy. You have all the information to hand. 

Step 6: Review your positioning statement

Once you’ve written your positioning statement, it’s time to test it. Gather feedback from focus groups within your target niche, for example, and ask your customers and employees what they think about it.

If your positioning statement isn’t working, change it. Re-evaluate your past conclusions, do more research, and try different things. Even if it is working, keep an eye on performance. Market conditions change and you need to stay ahead of the shifting landscape to avoid being left behind.

Brand Position Mapping

One of the best ways to measure the power of your brand is with something called a brand positioning map. Generally, a brand positioning map describes the factors your target customer considers when making buying decisions, and how you measure up to each one.

By maintaining a separate map for each attribute, you can easily see who in your market is most competitive in each area. Look for the qualities most relevant to your customers, and by focusing on those values, you’ll connect more often with your customers and have better relationships with them than your competitors.

Conclusion

Making your brand stand out is hard. You’re competing for your customers’ attention along with countless other businesses. But if you plan well, and position your brand in the right way, you won’t just rise above the noise made by your competitors, you’ll cancel it out completely. And that means more customers, loyal customers, and an even greater market share.