With countless quality products on today's market, all competing for attention, a good idea or even a quality product alone isn't enough to reach the top tier. This article explores the critical importance of proper brand positioning and why it's essential for market success.
Key takeaways👌
Positioning is key – especially for small brands that need to stand out fast
Feelings sell – emotional connection often beats features and specs
Start with research – know your audience, spot the gaps, and fill them smartly
What’s brand positioning?
Brand positioning involves a complex strategy that will help your team (and eventually customers) understand where your brand stands in the market and how it’s actually unique from all the others.
If you’re at the stage where you need a structured, outside view on this strategy, a dedicated branding service can help formalize your positioning, narrative, and visual direction into one coherent system instead of a set of loosely connected ideas.
To put it simply, brand positioning is all about understanding what you can offer to your clients that others can’t – from the actual product to the way potential customers resonate with your brand’s ideas and philosophy.
And this last bit is important. Proper brand positioning can include a lot of things, some of which can be intangible – feelings, memories, associations, anything that makes your audience’s brains nicely tickle.
Positioning is not what you do to a product. It’s what you do to the mind of the prospect.
— Jack Trout, the author of the brand positioning concept
Why is brand positioning important?
Big corporations with steady revenue and a long history of successful projects might get by without proper brand positioning. The lack of one might hurt them in the long run, though, with customers picking something that has some spiritual weight behind it, rather than just good metrics.
For small and beginning businesses, however, brand positioning is absolutely vital. For those, the first impression is everything. And when a certain project has a strong philosophical backbone, the wow effect won’t make anyone wait.
So this is why proper positioning can be vital for your business:
- It highlights you among other competitors. Self-explanatory. Informational overstimulation is a real thing, and brands that invest in their emotional aspect easily stand out among the grayness.
- It builds trust. It’s quite easy to believe something you understand and relate to, especially when making purchases.
- It promotes loyalty. That feeling of being a part of something bigger—a community or a fan base—can make particular customers stick with particular brands for a long, long time.
And think about it this way—if you truly believe in what you’re doing, and if it’s backed up by proper execution, success won’t keep you waiting. Chances are, your audience knows their stuff—this eagerness to deliver a quality and thoughtful product will inevitably be appreciated. Sooner or later.
Every painting is more than just a set of colorful brush strokes. It carries a story that the viewer can feel at first glance. Positioning is the process of creating that painting, where each stroke is chosen with heart and meaning, forming a unique piece that tells your story and stays in memory for a long time
Positioning your brand correctly
Well, that sounds like a lot of hard work, doesn’t it? Start with what you already know – your customers and rivals – and go step by step from there:
- Check in with your audience. This one’s the most important and arguably the most difficult step – understanding your audience. What does it want? What music does it listen to? What movies does it prefer to watch in the evening, together with its loved ones? What keeps it up at night?
Do some surveys, hire professional marketologists – or even better, just ask them – but find out the answers to these questions.
- Check in with your competitors. It’s not even about learning from others or reinventing the bicycle – it’s about finding out what you can do that your competitors haven’t already figured out. We don’t mean completely reinventing your product – no, it could very well stay the same. But what feeling haven’t your competitors managed to convey? What ideas? What memories? Find these out and think of how these blanks could be filled by your product.
- Find your purpose. Or Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – whatever term works for you. Now, take all the info from the first step and all the info from the second step and smash them together – observe the result. Is it something like a warm and cozy atmosphere of your brand, or maybe the way you approach certain services, more carefully and vigilantly than others? Or maybe it’s a certain element of visual presentation – it can be anything, as long as your audience needs it and can’t get it from your competitors.
That “visual core” is often expressed through a distinctive logo and identity system — if you’re still at the stage of shaping that visual anchor, a custom logo design service can translate your positioning into a clear, recognizable mark. - Start implementing. Now to technicalities – start implementing whatever you’ve found out after step 3. If it’s some unique feature that your app has, it should be in the boldest font on the first page of your App Store page. Think of how you’ll convey this “uniqueness” of yours to your audience, and start working. Is it some intricate marketing campaign? Cold calls? Up to you – just make sure that your brand is heard and seen by everyone who might need it.
Want to learn more about developing your brand? Check out the article What is a brandbook and why does your business need one?
And when you’re ready to turn that theory into practice, a structured brandbook service can capture your positioning, voice, and visuals in one document that’s easy for teams and contractors to follow.
Interesting fact 👀
In the 1980s, Coca-Cola shifted its brand positioning, focusing not on the taste but on the emotions its drink evokes. As a result, Coca-Cola’s advertising campaigns became symbols of celebration and joy, which boosted their sales worldwide.
Conclusion
Positioning is a crucial element that defines how your brand is perceived by the audience. It helps you stand out from competitors, build loyalty and trust with customers, and establish long-term relationships with them. Don’t underestimate its power — it can become your key tool on the path to success.
Recommended reading 🤓
“Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind”, Al Ries
A guide to creating a unique brand image that stands out from competitors and increases market share.
On Amazon
“Building A StoryBrand”, Donald Miller
A storytelling approach to making your brand's message clear and attractive to your audience.
On Amazon
“Start with Why”, Simon Sinek
A book about discovering the true reasons behind your brand’s existence.
On Amazon
Artyom Dovgopol
Brand positioning is the art of communicating with your customer on a deeper level — when your words, colors, and even scents speak the same language as they do😉