Positioning is the image of the brand, which is aimed at creating or consolidating the competitive position of the brand in the market. The main goal is to stand out from the competition and strengthen your own position.
Table of Contents
What is brand positioning for and what does it allow?
- Form a clear perception of the company or product among the audience;
- Create the necessary associations and triggers. Somewhere deep in the client’s subconscious;
- Communicate with the audience in a language they understand;
- Communicate to your audience the main ideas and values of your product;
- Separate your offer from competitors’ offers.
Let’s take a closer look at the examples of positioning. There are 8 main strategies:
1. Competitive positioning
At the heart of such a positioning strategy is the opposition of the brand to a competitor from whom it is planned to win market share. A brand can be presented as the opposite of competitors or superior in quality.
For example, the famous marketing confrontation between BMW and Audi. When a brand shows its strengths by taking advantage of the weaknesses of a competitor. Or positioning cars as a carriage without horses is one of the clearest historical examples.
Also closely related to this concept is the “unique selling proposition”. The purpose of which is to talk about the benefits and features of your company or product.
2. Positioning by consumer
Creating by consumer is great if the brand’s advertising campaign focuses on a specific target audience, or the product is created for a specific audience. This strategy is also suitable for small companies that produce a product with specific properties. For example, Playboy is a magazine for men.
With this type of positioning, media personalities are often invited, whose image begins to be associated with the product.
3. Positioning by price
Price positioning is not always about the lowest price on the market. It works both ways. Price positioning of the brand as cheap, suitable for companies whose products cannot boast a high degree of consumer involvement and which are chosen rationally (lower left sector in the figure) – these are everyday goods. And if the quality of your product is similar to a competitor, then standing out due to the reduced cost is a good solution.
You are definitely familiar with this type of positioning, because “If you can’t see the difference, why pay more.”
Reverse selling is when consumers realize that quality products cannot be cheap. At the same time, they buy not only the product itself, but also prestige, the opportunity to belong to the category of people “who can afford it.”
4. Positioning application
A product is associated with a specific consumption situation. Thus, the consumer will buy exactly this product in a particular life situation. The more unique the situation, the narrower the market, which allows you to quickly take a leading position. At the same time, it is necessary to constantly monitor the hobbies and behavior of consumers, because their habits can change, and the positioning strategy will quickly become obsolete.
Here is the clearest example for you. What drink is New Year’s Eve not complete without? Those who answered “champagne” – hello to you! But we meant Coca-Cola. This drink, good-natured Santa and branded cars with lights have already literally settled in the subcortex, because we all know that “The holiday is coming to us!” with this drink.
Of course, Coca-Cola is not only a New Year’s drink. But a competent approach of marketers has developed a clear association of consumption of a particular product in a particular situation.
5. Positioning for profit
Profit positioning is a fairly straight forward kind of positioning. Just show how the consumer will benefit by buying your product.
This strategy has low efficiency in highly competitive markets, where the benefits offered quickly lose their relevance. all companies start copying each other.
For example, in fluoride toothpaste, the key positioning characteristic is that your enamel will be protected from decay. It is this benefit that the consumer acquires by purchasing the product. But as we said before, with this approach, competitors too quickly adopt these benefits.
6. Positioning by attribute
The most common approach. It is based on the advantages and distinctive features of the company or product, and not on competitors.
Kinder – “More milk, less cocoa”, “An egg with a toy inside – always gives joy.”
7. Positioning prestige
Prestige positioning is often used by companies operating in the premium segment. In this case, the focus is on the high cost, quality and recognition of the goods. Buying such products, the client wants to stand out, show a high level of his wealth, good taste.
For example, the price of Hermes Birkin bags is by no means justified by the fact that it is more convenient to carry things in it than in another bag. And not even in the quality of the materials used. Buying a bag for a million or more, you show others your status and income.
But this method is not only suitable for status products. Even everyday goods can be positioned according to prestige: groceries, household chemicals, cosmetics, etc.
8. Category positioning
When developing brand positioning in a particular category, the marketing campaign focuses on promoting the brand as a leader in a particular product category. This strategy is especially beneficial when creating a new market. Such positioning will be successful only if the company has:
- an innovative solution for the market;
- the product has unique properties;
- there is a demand for a new approach to solving the problem.
A great example is that Tesla Motors has created a new premium electric vehicle niche with the Model S starting at $75,000. This opened up the electric car market to a large segment.
Positioning Formula
To develop a brand positioning strategy, you will have to answer a number of questions:
1. What is a brand, what are its values, ideas?
2. What associations does the company evoke in the target audience? To do this, it is convenient to use social polls, read reviews.
3. What is the target audience of the company? What do customers want, what goals do they pursue, what values do they have? To do this, it is worth studying the client base of the brand, social surveys will also help.
4. What needs does the brand satisfy?
5. Who are the main competitors of the brand? List of main competitors, differences and advantages of your own company over them. What are the disadvantages and weaknesses of competitors? To clarify this position, you need to study what promotion principles other companies use, what associations they evoke in customers.
Information can be found on the forums and social networks of competitors or use the services of a mystery shopper.
6. What benefit will the brand’s products and services bring to the customer? It is important to highlight the unique qualities of the company’s offer, which the client will not find in competitors.
Only by analyzing all of these components, you can develop an effective positioning. Based on the information received, a suitable strategy is chosen. Sometimes you have to combine several options.