Brand positioning is the foundation of your brand.
It’s the question we always get asked.. so here’s the answer.
A brand is what your customers perceive about you and how you make them feel. Therefore brand positioning is about developing a unique perception about your brand in the mind of the consumer. In order to discover the ‘opportunity’ we will consider:
1) What your product does well (credibility)
2) How you can be different and unique from the competition (differentiation)
3) Research and analyse consumer trends to understand what your consumer needs (relevance)
During this stage of the project we spend time considering the consumers and exploring trends to create insights and discover consumer needs within your particular field. Using this information we then craft “ownable” and “unique” brand propositions, which build the foundations of the brand – detailing the brand essence, core belief, product truth and tone of voice.
This is an important basis to not only guide the design, but also everything regarding the brand moving forward. Your choice of ‘tone of voice’ during the brand positioning can effect how you write copy on your website, to how you engage with consumers through social media, the choice of products you might look to launch in future, and so on!
Do you need brand positioning?
Brand positioning is not something every brand definitely needs, but we would highly recommend it. Having a unique proposition makes it much easier to sell your product into retailers. It also gives you a great opportunity to clearly differentiate yourself from competitors on shelf. Many of our clients have used the brand positioning we created for them to clearly communicate to retailers exactly why they should stock their product – and essentially got them a foot in the door!
Having a solid brand positioning also makes it easier to expand your range of products. Let’s say you have a food product and your positioning is ‘Surprise your senses’ as your range has quirky flavours. This positioning has scope to allow you to launch new flavours/products under the same brand that would also surprise your senses. This also reaffirms the consumers perception of what your brand stands for (perhaps exploratory, exciting etc…).
What next once you’ve selected your brand positioning?
When you have selected your preferred territory, this will influence the pack design and we begin with the first designing stage. The brand essence, core belief, product truth and tone of voice will play an important part. This is always taken into consideration before any design work begins.
Hopefully now you are a bit clearer on what brand positioning is and why it’s important. Now when someone asks you the dreaded question what does your brand stand for or what makes you different from everyone else, you have an answer!
To find out more about our brand positioning service call 0208 222 6999 and check out some of our brand case studies here
For more information on brand positioning, Marketing week post industry updates here
