Brand positioning is a process of developing a company for occupying a distinct place in the eyes of the customers compared to the competitors. Brand positioning allows the customers to select your company over the competitors. Many times in the case of B2B the various product features are similar.
If you can position the brand correctly you will gain an upper hand in rivaling the competitors on more fonts than pricing. There is amazing power in achieving good positioning. How can you go about designing the positioning within the market? Here are the steps to developing a memorable and unique brand.
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#1 Talk to the customer
There is a common concern in the case of positioning and that is, is there sufficient business if I niche down? While positioning your company you have to be willing to turn away the wrong customers. You also need to be able to identify the right ones. For removing this concern about wrong positioning you can talk to the customers. This will allow you to find out why they preferred your product rather than that of the competitor. Ask them questions about the business and just listen. Make notes about the feedback and the things you can follow up on.
#2 Validate brand messaging
For doing this you need to look for patterns among the things told by the customers. Are they looking for quicker speed? Did they enjoy the way you delivered the product on time? These answers will give you the starting point you need for brand positioning. The interviews with the customers will allow you to triangulate the data.
Look for confirmation of the deduction you have arrived at and avoid bias during the confirmation. Check out if you can validate or invalidate the findings. The problem with a survey is that you are not sure whether the person you are asking a question may be a future client. Therefore, you need to take what you have learned with a pinch of salt.
#3 Use brand messaging to find out the positioning
Before you can find out about your positioning you need to know about how the competitors have positioned themselves in the marketplace. For gathering this intelligence about competitors you can begin by listing all the customers. Look for the positioning of the competitor and take into account what the customers told you about the competitors.
A simple way of finding out about the competitor's position is by writing down what the competitor has listed in the title tag of their Homepage and what their main header is on the Home page. This will provide you with an idea about the best position for your brand and may also give you some useful ideas regarding content.
#4 Use a clear value proposition for expressing the brand positioning
The value proposition is the value you have promised to provide to the customer. The better the value you can promise to the customers and the clearer the communication with them, more are the more sales you are likely to make. A good value proposition needs to be relevant to the acute pain the customer is suffering from and clear about the value you are offering to them and how it can improve their lives. You should be specific about the benefits you are offering.
You need to tell them that these are the concrete results you will get by purchasing your product. Some people may buy if web development in Las Vegas was their buying priority. Your proposition must be different from what the competitor is offering. There is a problem with this. Your competitors can copy your value proposition. You need to turn your value proposition into a USP (Unique Sales Proposition) to negate this.
#5 Turn the value proposition into a unique sales proposition (USP)
In the final stages of developing a memorable and unique brand, you must turn the value proposition into a USP. If you can make a specific claim for influencing the customers your competitors may steal it. But you will normally find the USP differentiating your company in the minds of the customers.
Promote this USP high, far, and wide. After the creation of USP, you can spread your message by using your go-to-market strategy. You can use avenues such as podcasts, sales KPIs, content marketing strategies, Adwords, etc. for the purpose.
