Brand Positioning strategies

According to The Branding Journal, effective brand positioning can be described

as the extent to which a brand is perceived as favorable, different, and credible in
consumers’ minds.

Years ago, a soda company decided to do something different with its taste and
position itself as unique. Now, Coca-Cola is reached for by millions around the
world daily as a household staple — and it's positioned in our minds as the gold
standard of soda.

Here are some positioning strategies sales reps can use to stand out from the
competition.

 Establish an emotional connection with prospects and customers —

Connecting with your prospects on a human level before going in for the hard sell
builds trust, and helps your prospect have a more positive experience with your
company’s brand. For example, at the beginning of the sales process, you should
take ample time to learn about your prospects and what problem they are looking
to solve by using your product.
 Reinforce your brand’s differentiating qualities — With a strong brand
position, the differentiating properties of your company’s offering should be easy
to understand and refer to. Make sure your prospects understand what makes your
brand unique throughout the sales process.
 Create value — As a sales rep, your main goal should be to help your
prospect solve a problem or overcome a challenge they are experiencing. Ideally,
your company’s offering is part of the solution. Throughout the sales process, you
should always be looking to problem solve on behalf of your prospect.
 Embody your company’s brand — When working in a customer-facing
role, you are your company’s most valuable ambassador. As you work with
prospects, ensure they receive an experience that embodies the core values of your
company and aligns with the company’s brand. For example, if your company
takes a light, fun approach to branding, you should incorporate this language into
your sales conversations. Having an overly serious or stiff tone would not be
authentic to your company’s brand.
6 Steps to Create Your Own Brand Positioning Strategy
 Creating your own brand positioning strategy involves diving deep into the details
of your brand and discovering what you do better than anyone else. These six steps
help you create a brand positioning strategy that’s unique to your business.

Step 1: Determine your current brand positioning

Are you currently marketing your product or service as just another item on the
market, or are you marketing it as something distinctive? Your current brand
positioning gives you important insight into where to go next. You’ll need to
understand your current position to further analyze your competition.

Start by considering your target customer and defining who they are. Next, identify
your mission, values, and what makes you different from the rest of the market.
Finally, take stock of your value proposition and your current brand persona and
brand voice.

Matylda Chmielewska at LiveChat Partner Program advises, "We all like

connecting with brands that sound and feel authentic to us. Instead of building a
complex lingo that no one will be able to understand, just talk human. Start with
researching who your (ideal and existing) audience is, and use their language."
Step 2: Determine your competition

After analyzing yourself, it’s important to analyze your competition by performing

competitor analysis. Why? You’ll need to see who you’re up against to conduct
competitor research. That research will help you decide what you can do better in
your strategy to gain an edge.

There are different methods for determining your competition, including:

 Conducting market research: Ask your sales team what competitors come
up during the sales process, or do a quick search using a market keyword and see
which companies are listed.
 Use customer feedback: Ask your customers which businesses or products
they were considering before choosing yours.
 Use social media: Quora offers a platform where consumers can ask
questions about products and services. Search these forums to discover competitors
in your niche.
Step 3: Conduct competitor research
 Once you’ve determined who your competitors are, it’s time to conduct in-depth
competitor research. You’ll need to analyze how your competition is positioning
their brand in order to compete. At its simplest, your research should include:

 What products or services your competitors offer

 What their strengths and weaknesses are

 What marketing strategies they're using successfully

 What their position is in the current market

Step 4: Identify what makes your brand unique

Building a unique brand is all about identifying what makes you different and what
works best for your business. Chmielewska suggests, "Start by defining what
‘effective’ really means for your brand -- and then build its image based on that."

Chances are, after you conduct competitor research, you’ll begin to see patterns.
You’ll start to see some businesses that have the same strengths and weaknesses.
As you compare your product or service to theirs, you might find one of their
weaknesses is your strength.

This is what makes your brand unique; and it's the perfect starting point for
positioning your brand in the market. Take note of your unique offerings as you
compare, and dive deep to identify what you do better than anyone else.

Step 5: Create your positioning statement

It’s time to take what you’ve learned and create a brand positioning statement.
According to The Cult Branding Company, “A positioning statement is a one- or
two-sentence declaration that communicates your brand’s unique value to your
customers in relation to your main competitors.”

There are four questions to answer before creating your positioning statement:

 Who is your target customer?

 What’s your product or service category?

 What’s the greatest benefit of your product or service?

 What’s the proof of that benefit?

From there, you can craft a simple but compelling positioning statement. For
example, take a look at Amazon’s positioning statement: “Our vision is to be the
earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to
find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

Amazon’s target customer -- although incredibly broad -- is anyone. They sell a

wide range of products for everyone, which is also their greatest benefit. And the
proof? It’s all online.

Step 6: Does your positioning statement work?

Taking the time to position your brand to appeal to a certain customer is just the
beginning. Once your positioning statement is created, it’s time to test, experiment,
and gather feedback from your customers on whether or not your positioning
achieves its goal.

As Ryan Robinson of Close.io says, “Investing the time and effort into

positioning your brand to appeal toward a specific vertical, type of consumer, or
demographic is only a small part of the battle. It's crucial to test, experiment, and
actively gather (real) feedback from your target customers on whether or not your
positioning is actually having its desired effect. We've doubled down on our
positioning by consistently asking for (and listening to) feedback from new
customers when they join, and it's clear that both our content and its delivery style
remain a key asset for our brand."
Brand Positioning Map: The Power of Perception
If you want to see how your brand compares to others in consumers' perceptions, a
brand positioning map can help. According to the American Marketing Association
(AMA), “Perceptual brand mapping is the visual plotting of specific brands
against axes, where each axis represents an attribute that is known to drive brand
selection.”
 Image source: American Marketing Association

A brand positioning map consists of attributes that are important to your target
audience. To do mapping right, it’s best to have multiple versions of the map based
on different sets of attributes. By placing your brand and your competitors on your
map, you’ll see who’s more competitive in a certain area over the rest.

The attributes used in the map come directly from the values your customers hold
dear. The perception of your product or service is linked directly to those values.
Brands focusing on shared values win, in the end.

As Harvard Business Review states, “Build brand loyalty on shared values with

your consumers. It is not the number of interactions a buyer has with your brand,
but the quality and relatability of the interaction.”