Brand Positioning Matters If You’d Like to Be Competitive

Brand positioning is similar to a first date. When you meet someone you want to know better, you put on your best behavior and try to impress them. At least, that’s the goal. You aim to convey who you are, and what you are interested in. If you are genuinely focused on identifying whether or not you are the right fit for one another, you will be true to your character, your interests, and your values.  The same is true of your brand.

You cannot be all things to all people, although at times, it does sound appealing. The purpose of positioning your brand is to go a step beyond telling the world about the products or services you offer. Your goal is to create an emotional connection with the customers you want to attract.

In an article in Entrepreneur by Jim Joseph, the president of a New York-based communications agency, Jim discusses the importance of identifying what your customer is looking for, beyond what they need from your product or service.

Think about the following notable brands’ taglines:

• Lifetime Fitness: “I can do it all in my lifetime.”
• Hallmark: “When you care enough to send the very best.”
• Porsche: “There is no substitute.”

Each of these taglines not only reflects the product or service the company offers, but more importantly, it evokes a strong emotional connection with their customer. Below are the feelings customers might experience based on the given taglines.

• Lifetime Fitness: Makes you feel powerful and capable.
• Hallmark: Makes you feel like you’ve gone above and beyond.
• Porsche: Makes you feel like you have the very best.

Or, another example is a business in Wabash, Indiana called Thriftalicious, one of six businesses Deluxe worked with as part of the Small Business Revolution – Main Street makeover online series. Thriftalicous is a resale shop that specializes in retro goods like vintage video games and mid-century modern furniture. They captured the dual tagline/brand positioning statement “Old School Cool” to clearly define the style of goods they buy and sell.

Not every company uses their brand positioning as a tagline. Rather, you can establish a brand position, and have it live as the internal mantra that drives everything your company accomplishes.

In most scenarios, there are thousands of other companies doing what you do, which is why it’s critical to differentiate your company from the competition. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.

For most small businesses, establishing your brand positioning is something you can do on your own or with some help from friends and family.

Some questions you can ask yourself:

• What do you think differentiates you from the competition in your industry?
• What do you want to be known for?
• Who are the types of customers you want to work with?
• What do those customers want?
• What kind of work do you want to be able to do?

As part of this process, you should survey competitors’ brands, as well as brands of other companies within similar industries. You could also send out survey to current customers to take anonymously to learn what they think of various aspects of your business.

Through this process you’ll firmly establish your “due north” – the guiding light that will keep you oriented long-term.

This article was initially published on Deluxe.com – here