As a marketer, you’ve probably heard of the term branding. But what does that mean, and why is it so important for businesses to thrive? Let’s take an example of drinks, people, when asking for a cold drink, usually call it Coca Cola as a generic term. This is how brand positioning impacts your audience.
You could have the best product in the world and still can’t figure out how to familiarize it with your target audience. If this is the case, let’s dive deeper into the article to learn more about BP.
What is meant by ‘brand positioning’?
The process of determining and conveying your brand with a unique selling voice is brand positioning. The unique selling point (USP) of your product, which explains how it diversifies from the competitor’s good is the definition of BP. It is a fundamental marketing strategy in which an organization represents its unique value to its consumers.
To maintain and control the reputation of your business and the image of your brand, planning your positioning becomes vital. This differentiation creates brand awareness among the public, communicates value, and justifies the price of your product. These approaches are directly associated with consumer loyalty, brand equity, and willingness to buy the product.
The best example I can give here of brand positioning is ‘Apple’. Despite selling their products at exorbitant prices, people are more than willing to buy them. Features, products, operating systems and services make them unique, but without BP’s strategies, how could they even make people believe in their brand? If you’re thinking about how you can create such an effective campaign right now, keep reading!
How to Effectively Position Your Brand?
Regardless of the size and segment of your business, a few steps below are the foundation of your branding process.
- Find out your current position.
- Map out the functions and features of your product.
- Analyze your competitors and their positions.
- Make a plan of your BP frame.
- Create a unique statement for your brand positioning.
- Evaluate your implementations.
While some things to keep in mind when making a BP strategy are
- Don’t forget to maintain an emotional connection with your prospects and your consumers.
- Do extensive market research.
- Emphasize the unique qualities of the product during the sales process.
Building a BP strategy involves digging into the details of the product or service and discovering the features that make your brand different from others.
What are the different types of brand positioning?
The section gives 5 main types of brand positioning through which you can individualize your business.
- Cost-Based Positioning: This technique is used to provide similar products to your competitors but at a lower price. This method can often be called ‘cheap branding’; however, the use of technology and an office-free approach can help save money.
- Niche Service Specialization: Refine a specific service in the industry. For example, Tik Tok is the only social media platform that specializes in Tik Tok.
- Industry Specialization – Similar to niche, you could position yourself as the #1 accounting firm for digital nomads, for example.
- Role-Centered Specialization: Services that are specialized in a particular role are Role-Centered Specialization. For example, providing HR departments or CEOs with management-related assistance, etc.
- Quality of Service Positioning – To explain this, we will take an example of this SEO agency reaching out to its target audience by pinpointing their pain through social proof and case studies. They gain people’s trust by showing them their past success records and 500+ star-studded reviews, etc.
Characteristics of a good brand positioning strategy
In this section, we will discuss the characteristics that are reflected in a brand when its BP strategy is effective.
- Categorize: It is important to decide the marketing category and subcategory for your brand. A good analyst knows that market categories are not the same for all brands and understands that this is the fine line between success and failure.
- Target Audience – Knowing your target audience and their requirements and preferences sets you apart from the crowd. For example, if you are a company that sells sports shoes, your target consumer will be from the category of athletes, runners, trekkers, etc.
- Unique Selling Proposition – A savvy marketer knows the USP of their brand and uses it effectively to advertise the product or service. It can be anything from service benefits to new features, etc.
- Differentiation: Diversifying your merchandise based on price, quality, experience, color, design, or any other character is vital. Understanding the aspects that make your product different from other businesses in the same niche will make your company grow.
- Identity – Your brand identity is the first thing your target audience will see or read. It can be your product logo, brand name, slogan, etc. What you offer your customer should reflect your brand identity, which means that the design or tagline should be related to your services and not mislead people.
You can read and discuss these characteristics to see if your company adheres to these elements for a good BP process.
Conclusion
In this oversaturated market, being a brand that competes to stand out from the crowd is the hardest. No matter the size of your business, having a smart branding approach is another key to success.
Although following a few principles like understanding your long-term goals, thoroughly researching the market and audience, identifying your uniqueness, and implementing your strengths to supercharge your business will help you prosper.
Categories: Technology
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
