Branding is one of the most critical elements of building a company, as it gives your company a unique personality and establishes a differentiated position in the market that attracts the right customers.
Brand Positioning is where you want to be in your target audience’s mind. Brand Positioning is all about establishing and refining your distinctiveness via a brand positioning strategy.
Your brand’s strength is directly connected to the effort put in, and one of the most critical and foundational components of a broader brand-building process is Brand Positioning.
Even the smallest companies need to spend time considering how they would like to be perceived by their target audience. The first step, of course, is determining which markets to serve, who is already serving those markets and how these competitors may differ. Then organizations or brands need to consider how they wish to be perceived by certain market segments, understand how they are currently perceived and take steps to close any gaps.
Here are seven distinct (and overlapping) reasons why Brand Positioning is so critical to the success of your business:
With plenty of brands selling similar products and fighting out for a place in the market, finding your own particular place in an ocean of sexy startups and heavyweight corporations is no easy task. Brand Positioning helps you clearly identify and explain the differences in your products or services. If your company, products, or services provide a unique proposition, deliver a desired experience, resolve an unmet need, or at least handles things more smoothly and more efficiently, then Brand Positioning will help you stand out from the crowd and shine over the competition by articulating how you are different in a unique way.
When executed well, brand positioning enables you to efficiently and effectively communicate and reach your target audience. Every day, the audience are bombarded with marketing and sales messages at every corner. Everyone is vying for their time and attention. Your Brand Positioning breaks through the internet noise by speaking directly to the people you intend to attract. Rather than shouting to an empty room or to a crowd that doesn't care about you, your brand is seen and heard clearly. Brand Positioning breaks through the internet noise by speaking directly to the people you intend to attract. Rather than shouting to an empty room or to a crowd that doesn't care about you, your brand is seen and heard clearly.
Consumers want to make quick decisions without having to hunt through multiple options. Consciously and subconsciously, Brand Positioning initiates an emotional response from your target customer helping you earn trust. If you are able to trigger the right responses quicker and clearly explain what you have for them to buy, you increase the opportunities for people to say “Yes, I’m buying this one!”.
Your value is what you offer customers. Value includes the aspects of your company or product that best satisfy customer needs. As well as the superior offerings to your competition. Whether your brand is consumed by the mass market or is a limited luxury item, Brand Positioning allows you to cut through the vagueness and talk specifics. Without Brand Positioning, you have nothing to offer but ambiguity. No one values (or buys) ambiguity. By proving that you offer real, tangible value to your audience, your chances of having them buy from you will increase dramatically.
Sometimes, even the most valuable products and services occasionally require price justification. Brand Positioning helps you identify your price point in comparison to your competition, which informs whether your price point is strategic and justified. Are you higher? Lower? Is it clear why? Will consumers respond favorably? Brand Positioning gives you an idea as to whether consumers will see your justifications positively.
Messaging is an essential part of all marketing. Without having a clear idea about your Brand Positioning and where your brand sits on the spectrum, you won’t be able to tell the right stories, nor will you be able to communicate to an audience. Brand Positioning helps you accurately understand your brand’s uniqueness (or individual value) and that of your competition.
Every color choice matters and is weighed for visual design. But to build off a clear story, those choices must go further. You wouldn’t pick red or black without knowing what color your competition uses, would you? And the same goes for copywriting. Imagery plays a vital role in people’s communications and perceptions, and Brand Positioning helps you identify the foundational story from which to begin and also helps you best communicate with your target audience with colors they are drawn toward. All in all, Brand Positioning is the singular most important part of building a brand by enabling you to identify where you fit in the ocean of competition.
VOILA can surely help you out! We have over 20 years of experience delivering expert brand positioning services for both local and international businesses around the world. Don't hesitate to contact us!