What is positioning?
How to get your brand top-of-mind with customers
Positioning is about creating a unique identity for your product, company or brand so that it stands out from the competition and becomes the preferred choice of your target audience. In short, positioning is about placing your brand clearly in the market in a way that meets your customers' needs and wants. If your brand doesn't stand out, customers have no particular reason to choose you over the competition.
The purpose of positioning is to achieve a top-of-mind-positioning in customers' minds. If your positioning is successful, your brand becomes the first thing people think of when choosing a product in your category. For example, a brand can position itself as Best in quality, Cheapest on the market or perhaps the most climate-friendly choice.
Why is positioning important?
We are exposed to countless messages and advertisements every day - on social media, on the radio, on the street, on TV and everywhere else. Your competitors are constantly vying for consumers' attention. That's why it's crucial that your product or brand occupies a clear and dominant place in the minds of your target audience.
Several studies show that consumers typically only remember between 3 and 7 brands within a product category. If your brand is among the top of that memory, you have achieved a top-of-mind position - and that's worth its weight in gold. Top-of-mind-brands are often chosen over others and enjoy greater loyalty. Think of sports equipment, for example: Which sports brand first pops into your mind? For many, it will be NIKEwhich has a strong position in the market. The same goes for soft drinks: most people will say they like Coca-ColaEven if blind tests don't always show the same - a testament to the power of brand positioning and customer habits.
How to position your brand
Effective positioning requires insight and strategic work. Here are some steps you can follow to develop a clear positioning strategy for your business:
Understand your target audience: Start by analyzing your target audience in depth. What factors do your customers value most when choosing a product like yours? What are their needs, wants and challenges? The better you know your target audience, the better you can position yourself. (Tip: If necessary, segment the market into smaller parts via segmentation to target your efforts more precisely).
Analyze the competition: Research and map how your closest competitors are positioned. What values and benefits do they emphasize and how do customers perceive them? By knowing your competitors' positioning, you can identify where there might be a gap in the market that your brand can fill.
Find your unique angle: With knowledge of both customers and competitors, you can now define your own unique position. Consider what unique advantages or values your product/brand has that your competitors do not offer to the same extent. This could be anything from particularly high quality, exceptional customer service, innovative technology or something else entirely. For example, the electric car manufacturer has Tesla positioned themselves as an innovative and environmentally friendly premium alternative in the automotive industry, clearly differentiating them from traditional car manufacturers. Your positioning must differentiate you clearlywhile matching what your customers are looking for.
Communicate and implement the position: Once you've settled on a position, it needs to be communicated consistently through all your channels. Your marketing materials, website, social media, ads, product design, pricing strategy and customer service should all support your chosen position. For example, if you want to position yourself on high quality, everything from materials to messaging should signal quality. Be patient - it takes time to build a strong position in the market.
Tip: Use a positioning map. A positioning map is a useful tool for visualize the market. Here you plot different brands (including your own) on two axes with relevant parameters - often e.g. "taken" (low vs. high) on one axis and "Quality." (low vs. high) on the other. Then you can see how competitors are positioned and where there are gaps in the market. Choose the parameters that matter most to your target audience to make the positioning map as accurate as possible.
Get ahead with your positioning
A sharp positioning strategy makes it easier to break through the crowd and win the hearts of customers. Do you need professional sparring or help to make your brand even stronger? You are always welcome to Contact us for a no-obligation chat about how we can strengthen your company's position in the market.
The positioning process
In order to position your company, you first need to analyze which factors your target audience values most, know their buying behaviorand their needs and wants must be identified. These vary depending on whether you are dealing with B2B or B2C customers. These are the factors customers consider when choosing a company or product. In addition, you need to assess whether your business can meet these factors.
Next, analyze how your competitors are performing in the market. An overview should be made of the competitors' position in relation to the needs and requirements of the target audience and your company's own position.
Based on the above analysis of customer needs and competitor positions, find the key advantages of your company's own product or brand.
You can now create a positioning map that visualizes your position in relation to your competitors. A positioning map is a coordinate system where the x and y axes change depending on which factors your target audience has defined as most important.
Many different positioning charts can be created, but most often a price-quality chart is created. The most difficult part of constructing a positioning map is selecting which factors to use. It is crucial that they are factors that the target group has defined as the most important and relevant for the perception of the choice between products and brands. The aim is to choose factors that your company can differentiate itself on.
Next, the positioning platform must be determined. For this, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- What can your business do that your competitors can't?
- What can your business do better than the competition?
Your company positioning platform is the foundation of your company's marketing efforts towards your target audience.
USP
Unique Selling Proposition is an indication of whether you have an area where your company's product is unique and alone. Perhaps your company or product has one or more characteristics that none of your competitors have. A USP is what the target audience perceives and extracts from the product. An example of a USP can be a slogan in advertising.
ESP
Your business can similarly position itself on something emotional about your company or its product. This is referred to as Emotional Selling Proposition (ESP). An ESP is something subjective, a kind of taste quality that distinguishes your product from the competition - for example, images and sounds in advertising.
ISP
If your company markets its product or message with irony or sarcasm, it's called Ironic Selling Proposition. For example, the use of humor in advertising.
If your business can't differentiate itself on these parameters, what your business can do better than the competition should be the starting point. For example, your company may have a product at the best price or offer the best service.
The essence of positioning is how your company can and will market its product as being different from the competition.
FAQ about positioning
What does positioning mean in marketing?
Positioning in marketing means positioning your brand in a unique way in customers' minds. It's about finding a place in the market where your product is perceived differently and more attractive than the competition, based on the things customers value most (such as price, quality, values, etc.).
How do you create a positioning strategy?
You create a positioning strategy by first analyzing your target audience and their needs, then looking at your competitors' positioning and then defining your own unique position in the market. This involves finding your strengths or distinctive features and making sure they match what customers are looking for. Finally, implementing the position through consistent branding and marketing so that customers notice it.
What is a positioning map?
A positioning map is a diagram that helps you visualize how different brands are positioned in relation to each other on certain parameters (for example, price and quality). By placing your brand and competitors on the map, you can more easily identify market niches or areas where there is room to stand out.
What is the difference between branding and positioning?
Branding and positioning are closely related, but not the same thing. Branding covers the entire process of building a brand - everything from the name, visual identity and tone of voice to the emotions and values you want associated with the brand. Positioning is, on the other hand, specifically focused on how your brand positions itself against competitors in the minds of customers. You could say that positioning is a subset of branding that is about finding and owning a unique place in the market. Read more about branding to get the full picture.
