Positioning is the very core of brand strategy. It defines how your brand will fit within the minds of your audience to lead to perception and preference by the nose. This is a simple guide on choosing how best to choose your brand’s positioning while crafting. It zeroes in on three critical steps: selecting a frame of reference, identifying key brand associations, and creating a brand mantra.
1. Choose a Frame of Reference
Identify the target market and competition. By knowing your ideal customer, you know with whom you compete for brands. Knowing your target customers and the brands you compete with, you can put your brand into context. You’ll then be in the proper category for the audience.
2. Points of Parity & Points of Difference
Next, define what must-haves your brand needs to possess to competitively play on points of parity and what is unique about it that no other competitor has points of difference. Where parity points add credence to your brand meeting category expectations, the points of difference present something unique that would make it different from the competition.
3. Crafting a Brand Mantra
Finally, write your brand mantra: just a few words that describe your brand best. It needs to outline what functional and emotional benefits your brand will deliver. The positioning statement will help keep your brand focused and its messages consistent.
This will ensure that, with these three steps, a sharp positioning of the brand is articulated- one that speaks to the audience it wants to appeal to, is distinctive and summarizes what it is.
Positioning isn’t just about being different; it’s basically how one becomes unforgettable in the minds of the right people.