Brand position or brand positioning is a very important and key concept and we can boldly say that if you are interested in brand and branding issues , whether product brand or personal brand, you are obliged to understand the concept of brand position well and with all your heart to Be committed to it.
Defining brand positioning is apparently very simple. As they usually say that your brand should have a special, unique and valuable position in the mind of the audience or customer. But if you want to put this simple definition into practice, you will realize that implementing this simple principle in practice is not so easy.
In the following, we briefly review the three main elements of brand positioning, which can be used both for product brand development and personal brand development. It is enough to put the word “person” instead of the word “product” and use the word “contact” instead of “customer”.
History of brand positioning
In order to explain the concept of brand positioning to you more clearly, I will start the discussion with a few questions:
- We know that the highest peak in the world is Everest. But do you know the second highest peak?
- We know who was the first person to conquer Everest; But do you know the second person?
- We know who was the first person to go to the North Pole; But do you remember the name of the second person?
With these questions, we come to the conclusion that the distance between being the first and being the second is more than what it seems at first glance.
In each category, brands are placed on the rungs of a ladder in the mind of the audience.
In the ladder of carbonated drinks, Coca-Cola has taken the highest step and Pepsi is on the second step. In the ladder of fast food brands, McDonald’s is on the top and Burger King is on the second step. In the ladder of online digital stores in Iran, Digikala stands on the highest step, but do we know which company is on the second step?
Branding means establishing your position on the highest step of the ladder. But we know that this is not always possible. The highest steps are not easy to conquer. But the solution is to build another ladder if we cannot stand on the highest step of the ladder.
For example, consider Seven Up’s branding efforts. Seven-Up is placed on a ladder, the first rung of which is owned by Coca-Cola and the second rung by Pepsi. Seven-Up definitely cannot conquer the first or even the second place. So he has to build his own ladder.
The brand launches the Uncola campaign, saying that not all drinks are meant to be cola. In the ladder of non-cola carbonated drinks, we are the first rung.
Note that part of positioning is to tell your audience and customers who you are not and which ladder you are not on. Because if you cannot make this issue clear to them, the audience may consider you on a ladder that is not favorable to you.
So if you are not on the first rung of the ladder in the customer’s mind, change or narrow your target group. If you can’t, define your category and line of activity in another way. Maybe you can offer a different benefit to your audience.
In the following, we will examine the 3 influential elements in brand positioning.
1- Selecting the target group
Positioning for the brand means finding a special place for ourselves in the customer’s mind. So that the customer can distinguish between us and other brands and consider us different from them.
But before trying to locate and establish a position, we must answer an important question, and that is which customer?
We all have heard this point and know that no product can satisfy all customer groups and the one who tries to satisfy everyone will end up satisfying no one. So the starting point of defining the brand position is who are we going to satisfy? In whose minds and hearts are we going to open our place?
Because a brand is not going to target everyone and win everyone’s heart. The brand selects its target group and focuses only on that group.
For example, you can define your audience based on demographic factors such as age group, gender, income level, education level, etc. or psychology such as values, personality traits, motivations, interests, etc.
It is important that, based on the study or analysis, you believe that the group or segment you are considering has similar needs and preferences.
Of course, the fact that a brand defines its audience does not mean that others will not come to it. But it is important that the brand owner focuses all his resources and power on his target group and wherever he is forced to make a choice, he considers the preferences, interests and satisfaction of his target group.
Limiting the audience
The narrower you define the scope of your audience and customers, the more similar their needs and concerns will be, and the easier it will be for you to satisfy them.
But on the other hand, the economic value of your brand will decrease; Because after all, the brand must be able to generate financial benefits.
On the other hand, with the expansion of the range of audiences and customers, it will be more difficult to satisfy all of them. The weaker you perform in providing audience and customer satisfaction, the value of your brand will decrease.
So you have to find a middle ground. A segment or piece of the market that is neither too small nor too big.
2- Determining category and category
Suppose you are a clothing manufacturer and you want to develop your brand.
A key question is, which brands is your brand supposed to be close to in the customer’s mind? The dream state is to say that my brand is completely unique and no other brand is like me.
But we know that in practice, this does not happen and usually brands are divided into several categories. Even if you are a Benz brand, in the end, in the mind of the audience, you will be next to brands like BMW, and even if you are a Ferrari, they will compare you to Lamborghini.
Therefore, instead of claiming that no one is like me, it is more logical to think about which brands you want or can be in the audience’s mind. After accepting this fact, you can think about the question, how can I differentiate myself from my similar brands?
Of course, the definition of the category also leads to the question of what brands my brand is not in the same group with and should not be placed in the same class with them?
Use charts
If the number of brands in your market is large, it is better to go for graphing.
Choose two important factors in your industry and display them on two axes. Then draw your name and all competing brands on the chart.
By drawing such diagrams, you will better understand where you are and who you are next to and who you are far from.
3- Creating the interests of the target group
After you have defined your audience and on the other hand, determined your task with the categories available in the market, the third question that you must answer is what benefit and what value does this brand create for its target group. ?
Obviously, the more distinctive you can be here, the more powerful you will be. In other words, here you should try to create as much as possible an advantage that will create distance between you and others who fall into your category.
In defining the benefit, you should pay attention to two points:
- Be honest with yourself.
- Accept that the benefit is not necessarily of function and efficiency.
For example, a trainer may conclude for his brand that the benefit of his brand for the audience is entertainment. If he denies this fact and says that my benefit is to increase the knowledge and expand the audience’s insight, he will face a serious challenge in branding.
Regarding the fact that the benefit is not necessarily of function and efficiency, we can mention expensive brands of mobile phones or watches that are not useful for the audience, making phone calls or showing the time; Rather, it is the display and induction of prestige.
Points of commonality and points of differentiation (POP/POD)
Some brands are in your neighborhood in the mind of the customer. Therefore, there are usually elements and qualities and characteristics in your brand that it shares with them.
These commonalities are called Points of Parity or POP .Knowing these common points is very important. Because if you don’t follow them, you will fall behind your peers.
But paying attention to POPs is not enough. You should also find differentiating points so that you can say that you have a better place than your competitors in the competition ladder. These distinct points are called Points of Difference or POD .
For example, suppose your brand is adjacent to brands X and Y. It means that the price and quality are almost the same. So the price and quality is POP. But now you have to find other components in which you stand out. As if you want to distance yourself from your neighbors with POD.
For example, for a clothing brand, environmental friendliness may become a POD if it does not affect price and quality.
Or for a home appliance brand, after-sales service may become a POD point.
The final answer in the mind of the customer
Don’t forget that as the brand owner, you first say and write your wishes, expectations and wishes in response to these questions. But in the end, the real answer to these questions will be given by your customer and audience.
So if you’re at the beginning of your branding journey, you’ll probably set some default answers to these questions yourself. But if you have a brand that is established in the market, it is more logical to go to the customers and ask them to tell you the answers to these questions.
Because the brand is what is formed in the customer’s mind and not the words you say and the claims you make.
This is what the market giants do. For example , Apple initially considered the Apple Watch in the Fashion category and suggested the same in the advertisements .
But after one year, when he examined the perception of customers and audiences, he changed both the target market and the product category and introduced his smart watches as a tool to maintain health and fitness.
In the end, I would be happy if you remember a specific brand, target group, category, or benefit, if you share it with us.
