In order for consumers to recognize a brand, it is important to correctly present it to the target audience. This can be achieved through positioning. We will tell you what it consists of.
What is brand positioning
The Importance of Brand Positioning
What are the types of positioning strategies?
Stages of brand positioning
Criteria for successful positioning
Expert advice
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What is brand positioning
Table of Contents
Company positioning is a marketing strategy that aims to distinguish a brand from its competitors and make it memorable for consumers.
We can say that positioning is a figurative shell, a way of transmitting brand ideas using different means. It should be felt at every point of contact between the brand and the consumer: in the name, visual image, advertising campaigns, social networks.
The marketing positioning of a brand or company can change over time as new competitors emerge, the target audience and its needs change. For example, the Domino’s Pizza chain clarified its positioning in the Russian market in 2020. The company added an emotional benefit to the unique selling proposition of pizza delivery in 30 minutes: “There’s something to be surprised about!” Now, in addition to fast delivery, customers can be surprised by new flavors, prices and promotions.
The Importance of Brand Positioning
If a company and its products do not have a clear positioning, the consumer will most likely pass by and choose another product or service with a clear positioning. If a company does not build its positioning consciously, it will develop spontaneously, which means that this process will become uncontrollable. This can lead to a drop in demand or being forced out of the market by competitors. Here are a few more reasons why positioning is important:
● Helps to differentiate from competitors
to declare unique characteristics of the product that no one else has. For example, Bank Tochka positions itself as a “Bank for entrepreneurs and enterprises” and does not work with individuals.
● Highlights the benefits of the product
and draws customers’ attention to the unique characteristics of the product. For example, the Morfeus brand positions itself as “Bedding for those who don’t like to tuck in the blanket” and sells “super-duvet covers.” For example, one of the models unzips along the contour and the blanket is inserted into it, like a pizza box.
● Increases the value of the product for the target audience
helps to solve the problem of a specific group of consumers. For example, the chain of hairdressing salons “Tak i Khodi” is focused on a narrow target audience – people with curly hair.
Understanding how a company positions itself in the market is important not only for business owners or marketers, but also for advertising specialists. In the course “Internet Marketer”, students learn to develop advertising strategies under the guidance of experienced mentors.
What are the types of positioning strategies?
When marketers develop brand positioning, they rely on four main components: points of differentiation from competitors, defining unmet needs of the target audience , identifying market trends and the strengths of the product or service.
● By competitors
Brand marketers analyze the strengths and weaknesses of competitors to emphasize their own unique characteristics and differentiate themselves from other companies. For example, this is what Tele2 did when they changed their corporate style and slogan. Instead of “Honestly cheaper,” the slogan “Other rules” appeared. They focused not on cheapness, but on the preferences of subscribers and introduced a new service on the market: transferring unused minutes and gigabytes to the next period.
● By audience
This strategy is used if the brand or product has a narrow group of consumers. This could be a very expensive product, such as a Dyson hair dryer, or one designed for only one target audience, such as slings for mothers with babies.
● By conditions of use
This strategy is suitable for products that are associated with a certain occasion or event. Positioning by conditions of use is often found in confectionery brands. For example, Snickers is needed “when you’re hungry,” Merci candies are for a gift, and KitKat is needed “when you’re taking a break.”
● By benefit
Based on the benefit that the customer will receive during the process of using the product. The benefit can be rational, for savings or safety. For example, marketers of a company that produces dishwashing detergent emphasize the rational benefit – 2 times more clean dishes.
Emotional benefit emphasizes the feelings that the consumer will experience while using the product. For example, emotional benefit is emphasized in advertising for mayonnaise, which will make holiday dishes tastier, or ice cream, which will “delight the taste buds.”
Positioning by benefit is the simplest strategy option, because any product has benefits. In niches with high competition, benefits quickly lose relevance and are copied by other brands.
Stages of brand positioning
Brand positioning is both a capacious phrase that a company uses in its communications and the process of introducing this phrase into the market. If we talk about positioning as a process, then the order of actions will be as follows:
1. Preparation.
Positioning is developed for both new and existing brands or products.
At the preparation stage, you need to set a goal, for example, to enter the market with a new product, increase sales, attract a new segment of the target audience. The goal helps to evaluate the effectiveness of positioning.
After setting the goal, decide who will work on positioning. You can hire an agency, do everything in-house, or use a hybrid format. For example, the agency takes on only the research part, while the company’s marketers perform data analysis, brand packaging, and positioning implementation.
2. Brand research.
At this stage, marketers and brand managers evaluate the current position of the brand on the market, consumers’ attitudes towards it, competitors’ positions and communications. During the research, they necessarily study their own products, their strengths and weaknesses.
To understand what place a brand occupies in the minds of customers, surveys are conducted. For example, customers can be asked what products or services they like most, what they think about the brand, what emotions the company name evokes. If the outside view differs from how the brand owners see themselves, perhaps it is necessary to reconsider the goals or change the product line.
3. Data analysis, idea generation.
The data obtained during the research is analyzed and key points are highlighted. After that, marketers define positioning strategies, put forward hypotheses for the final formulations, test them and select the best ones.
As a result, a positional statement is formulated, which is built on the formula: “We (the company or product) with such strengths (list) offer (the target audience) to receive such a benefit or solve such a problem, unlike competitors who cannot offer this, in such and such market conditions.”
4. Brand “packaging”.
Once the positioning is formed, the brand platform is created. This includes the mission, values, vision of the company’s future, its character and style.
5. Implementation of positioning.
Once the positioning is developed, the brand must rely on it and broadcast it at every point of contact with the buyer. Usually, 6-12 months are allocated for the implementation stage. During this time, ideas from the positioning become the main advertising messages. Then, when communications with clients are developed, the positioning remains the “highway” along which the movement continues.
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Criteria for successful positioning
To ensure that the positioning is developed correctly, it needs to be checked against several criteria:
● Desired position
This means that the positioning reflects the position the company wants to occupy in the market. If consumers really think about the brand as planned, then the positioning was chosen correctly. For example, in 1979, Sony released portable Walkman players and expected that such a product would be interesting to teenagers. It turned out that this target audience preferred full-fledged tape recorders. Marketers were disappointed, but later it turned out that compact players were in demand among “white collars” because they easily fit in the pocket of a business suit.
● Unambiguity
If a brand communicates the same values in different communication channels and uses the same tone of voice, the consumer will have the correct perception of the company. For example, in the Teremok restaurant chain, it is customary to address customers as “gentlemen and ladies.” The brand uses the same address in social networks.
● Significance for consumers
Positioning should reflect the real benefit that the client will receive if he/she uses the brand’s product. For example, a company positions itself as a manufacturer of tables with the smoothest surface. But for the buyer, this is not a benefit or an advantage, but a criterion that should be the default.
● Competitiveness
The brand and its products should not be a copy of competitors. If the company does not have strong advantages, it will not be possible to build a positioning and gain consumer trust.
● Long-term
Positioning can change over time, but it’s important that it doesn’t happen too often, otherwise consumers will stop distinguishing the brand from its competitors.
