Brand positioning feels like the concept out of some sci-fi movie. If youve watched the movie inception, you know how its like planting an idea into your prospects mind.
Its about getting into your customers head but not with electric shocks or hypnosis. By entering their minds withempathy.
Its possible with a conscious effort. Likes of which the marketing world calls Brand Positioning.
More often than not, it becomes the reason why people prefer your brand over your competitors.
Why should you even care about positioning yourbrand?
In simple words, its a game of perception. The way people see you as a brand is much more favorable when it goes in the direction you intended.
Positioning is how you control the narrative. Once you have that, the ball is in yourcourt.
People are going to talk about your brand one way or another. Positioning helps you ensure that theyre talking the way you wanted themto.
Let me make it easier to understand.
There are a bunch of smartphones in 2021 that are priced at a premium. Usually called the flagships.
And still, most people remember Apple as a premium smartphone brand. Do you knowwhy?
Because their positioning is not based on price inflation. It is based on conscious brand positioning with each step of theway.
Their stores,
Their deals & discounts,
Their packaging,
Their messaging,
and a ton of other essentials.
After a while, you cant see. Only feel. Thats what the purpose of brandingis.
Apple is sure that they occupy a little space in your head that says iPhones are premium products.
Pricing is just one way of being called a premium brand. The narrative is second, and thats what positioning helps youget.
The most important to note here is that brand positioning is the only way you survive in a saturated market.
When people say its a high competition market, it means you either innovate to a level never seen before. Or build such a strong cult that innovation doesnt matteranymore.
Think of it this way- If there were no brand positioning, there would only be one brand in every category. Smartphones, laptops, apparel, or even restaurants.
But, is there just one of everything? Absolutely not. Because people want to buy what they relate to. Not a standardized one-size-fits-all brand.
People love to express themselves with products, and your brand becomes the expression.
This might leave you with a question,
Where should I start with my brand positioning strategy?
Dont sweat it. I like to see it as more of an evolutionary process than a revolutionary one. Starting out, you should focus on threethings:
- Core Values & Offer: You must have started your business with some USPs in mind. Its time to let them out in the open and communicate clearly what differentiates you. Based on this communication is how youll find your voice in a millionbrands.
For Eg: Out of a million T-shirt brands in the market, your brand doesnt necessarily need to focus onfashion.
It can touch upon subjects like sustainability, environment friendly, and fair labor practices.
2. Competitor Research: The best way to learn is to observe people whore already doing it. Look at how other brands in your niche are doing their thing. Double down on key strategies, and identify positioning gaps.
For Eg: Lets say yours is a beauty brand and, your competitors nail down their positioning by beingvegan.
You can start a brand with similar products but tie it to a sense of individualism and identity.
3. Market Research: If you believe in the statement customer is king, youre on the right track. Apart from researching your competitors, you need to know what people want. If they are in the market for something specific, figure out how can you fill that specificgap.
For Eg: Starbucks is the worlds most famous coffee brand. But it does not have a subscription service that can deliver new flavors to youmonthly.
A simple survey will help you find out the need in the market, and thats how you identify gaps. (Brands like Sleepy Owl coffee are doing itwell.)
A real-life account of brand positioning I observed:
I started using Slack for a couple ofdays.
Heads up! Ive used discord for quite some time and, I realized that both of them are 90% the same, in terms of cold-hard features.
Both:
Have different channels/servers
Have voice and video capabilities
Have integrations
Have bots for automation
Serve online communities for seamless communication
Whats the difference, then?
Some features are specific to both platforms. But, other than that, the main difference is how it makes youfeel.
The beauty is with brand positioning. Its so strong that gamers dont want to climb the invisible fence to come to Slack. And working professionals dont see discord as a professional communication tool.
The branding mask is so tight that most people dont even realize how Peter Parker is, in fact, Spiderman.
So, Ive realized that Branding is basically everything. Literally.
If you control the narrative, you control the market. And, indeed, the consumers.
Just like humans are made out of a billion atoms, your brand is built on the same conscious efforts. Positioning is like putting the first atom inplace.
Conclusion
Innovation can be creating something from scratch. Or re-creating something from a completely fresh perspective. Were living in the golden age of information, so its obvious that markets are going to be saturated.
Whats not so obvious is how you can take a saturated market and sprinkle brand positioning over it. Thats what businesses need to focus onmore.
If there could be a MIP (most important points) for starting a business today, it should go likethis:
1. Develop anMVP
2. If its truly something new, market ithard.
3. If it isnt, start with an aggressive brand positioning strategyfirst.
4. Everything else
You get the gist, Ihope.
With that, heres a question!
Whats your favorite thing about your favoritebrand?
Let me know in the comments.
Brand Positioning: How To Get Into The Minds of Your Customers? was originally published in Startup Stash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
