Understanding Your Brand Positioning: Why It Matters & How To Get It Right

Brand positioning is a crucial element to help you set your business apart from your competitors and also make your brand more memorable. The brands with the strongest brand positioning have become so recognised, that you think of their brand almost immediately.

We’ll dive into how some of the biggest brands in the world have conquered their marketplace through strategic brand positioning and what we can learn from them.

We’ll also take you through some popular strategies that can help you strengthen your brand positioning and differentiate your business.

What Is Brand Positioning?

Brand positioning is understanding and communicating to consumers how your brand is different from your competitors. It’s how you show your target audience how unique your brand is, and use this to carve out your own space within the market.

Your brand positioning impacts how people perceive, remember, and think about your brand. For those with strong brand positioning, they can reach a point where consumers think of a type of product and immediately think of their brand.

For example:

If you are getting a taxi somewhere, you might say you’re ‘Uber-ing’ there. Due to Uber’s strong brand positioning in this space, it’s becoming a household name.

Brands with strong positioning are highly memorable because they have set themselves apart from their competition. You might even notice that it’s not necessarily their product that is unique, but elements beyond their product that make them stand out.

So when you think of the USP’s (unique selling points) of your brand, think beyond the features of your product or service. Although these are important and contribute to your brand, you need to think of how these features benefit the customer and solve their problems.

How Steve Jobs Used Brand Positioning To Launch The Macbook Air

In 2008, Steve Jobs launched the Macbook Air at the Macworld Conference.

One of the major unique features of this laptop was how thin and lightweight it was; an industry-leading innovation. Instead of telling the audience about this incredible new feature, Steve did something completely different. He pulled the Macbook Air out of a manila envelope. That simple act demonstrated how thin and portable the Macbook Air was.

Instantly, business workers who are constantly on the move, train commuters and university students could instantly see how this laptop would benefit them in their every-day life.

Steve could have chosen to stand on the stage and tell everyone how thin and lightweight the Macbook Air is. Instead, he showed consumers how owning this laptop will change their everyday life when they are carrying around laptops. No more bulky, heavyweight cases, or having to leave laptops at home.

All of this was demonstrated in one simple act.

This is just one way that Apple has cemented their brand positioning with industry-leading product features; not by telling us about them, but by showing how these features can benefit us in our everyday life.

Let’s dive into the impact of strong brand positioning, how other brands have done it, and how you can strengthen your own brand positioning.

The Impact Of Strong Brand Positioning

Investing in strengthening your brand positioning can have a wealth of positive impacts including:

Enhanced brand loyalty
Increase in brand awareness
Premium pricing power
Give your brand a competitive advantage

Let’s look at these benefits in a bit more detail.

Enhanced Brand Loyalty

A major benefit to having strong brand positioning is the creation of a loyal customer base.

It’s one thing to acquire customers, but retaining these customers is another challenge.

That’s when you need to look at your brand positioning. Are you clearly communicating your brand’s core values? Does the consumer see how they would benefit from your product? Are you a brand that they can relate to, support and invest in?

When customers are able to invest in your brand, and not just what you’re selling, you create a strong foundation of loyal customers. Having a loyal customer base not only strengthens your brand further, but will keep these customers purchasing from you in the future.

A brand within the beauty and skincare industry that has created a loyal customer base is Dove. Known for their kind-to-skin soap bars and back-to-basics beauty products, Dove wants every customer to feel confident in their own skin. Especially in the beauty industry that is known for helping people “improve their appearance” with their products, Dove flipped their messaging, focusing on confidence first, and looks second.

Through various campaigns and TV adverts, Dove has communicated to consumers that they care about their own customer feeling and looking confident.

The result?

A loyal, and more confident customer base that continue to buy from Dove to feel more confident in their own skin, and not because they need this product to make them look better.

Increased Brand Awareness

When you consistently communicate your brand’s unique position, you can make your brand more memorable and recogniseable.

This means you can become the brand that people think of when they are either thinking or talking about the type of product that you offer. Especially if you are showing consumers how your brand solves a clear problem that your product or service can solve. This is when you not only have to think about your brand messaging, but how you’re going to showcase your brand to your target consumers.

For example:

Uber created a strong brand positioning as being the go-to taxi service wherever you are in the world. Especially, when you have just landed in your new destination and have little-to-no idea how the taxi system works, leading to you standing in queues, and usually paying inflated prices.

Uber saw this consistent chaos tourists endured when leaving airports, and started marketing their app at the Arrivals section of airports. Because Uber has become a hugely recognisable brand that consumers might have even used back home, they can quickly jump on the app and book an Uber, something that they know how to work.

By being a familiar brand that people are likely to remember, they are becoming the first option that people reach for, even when they’re on holiday!

Premium Pricing Power

Next time you’re doing your weekly grocery shop, think of all the different brands of the same product you see on the shelf.

Even though all of these brands are selling the same product, you’ll notice how widely different their pricing is. Although this might come down to various costs that they have incurred along the way to get this product on the shelf, it also comes down to their brand positioning.

A well-positioned brand has the power to offer premium pricing, as customers are willing to pay more for a brand that they see offers them something of value. Remember that your brand is what your customers interact with as much as the product that you’re selling.

Think of household brand Heinz.

Their tomato ketchup sauce has become a staple condiment in households across the country and dominated the supermarket shelves. Now I want you to think of the other tomato ketchup brands that surround Heinz on the shelf. They might have the same (or very similar) ingredients to the Heinz ketchup and also a lower price point. Yet, customers are more likely to pick up the Heinz bottle.

Why?

For some it might be that they’re choosing it for the taste. But for a lot of people, they’ve chosen the brand, even if they don’t realise it. Heinz continuously invests in their brand positioning, clearly communicating how they put quality at the heart of their products and reinforcing that they’re the staple for every kitchen table. Think of their infamous slogan “It has to be Heinz.”

Giving Your Brand A Competitive Advantage

When you build your brand positioning, you’re able to carve out your own unique space in the market that makes it harder for competitors in the same space as you to dominate.

Think of the brands that we have already mentioned: Dove, Uber and Heinz. Their unique brand positioning and clear messaging has made it very difficult for other brands to challenge them.

Can you think of another brand like Dove that makes people feel that confident?Can you think of another online taxi service that you can use almost anywhere in the world? Can you think of another tomato ketchup brand that you see on most kitchen tables?

Although these brands will have major competitors, they have kept their unique offering at the core of their brand positioning.

Rather than expanding their brand offering to wide, they have made a niche, and are very clear on what their niches are. Through this they can take advantage of a loyal customer base, increased brand awareness and premium pricing to solidify their marketspace, all through how they have positioned their brand.

This means when someone is buying a bar of soap, they reach for Dove.

When people are booking a taxi, they book an Uber.

When people are buying ketchup, they reach for Heinz.

Even if you personally might not reach for them or use them, you think of them, you know the brand and understand them. That’s the power of brand positioning.

Let’s explore other brands that have dominated their market space by investing in their brand positioning.

Strong Brand Positioning Examples

There are many ways that you can strengthen your brand positioning, and it all starts with your core brand values.

Here we’ll go through some brands that have crafted strong positions for their brand and how they did it.

Nike

International premium sporting goods business Nike is a brand that can be discussed in many different ways when it comes to their brand positioning.

From their instantly recognisable swooping logo, to their impactful billboard campaigns featuring some of the most iconic people in sport, they are a masterclass in how to create a strong brand position.

So how did Nike do it? They empowered their consumers.

Instead of pushing their target customer to purchase their sports apparel, Nike showed their customers why they need their clothes, and that starts by getting up and moving. If they can motivate the consumer to get active, go to the gym or participate in a sport, then they’ll need Nike clothes to do that.

Their memorable slogan “Just Do It” has become a core message for the brand, motivating their consumers but also building their confidence to invest in themselves and their health. The more consumers invest in their fitness, the higher customer retention Nike experiences, as they return to purchase more fitness apparel.

Also, through athletic endorsements and bold billboard campaigns, Nike position themselves as a brand that supports the best athletes in the world, and also the everyday consumer who wants to feel empowered by their own fitness journey.

Nike also prices their products at a premium point that is still accessible to many consumers, reflecting the quality they’re known for without being defined as a “luxury” fitness brand.

Starbucks

Forged in the cobble streets of Seattle in 1971, Starbucks has evolved from a single coffee shop, to a global beverage giant.

Cities in America soon had on-going jokes about “having a Starbucks on every corner” as it became the go-to place to hangout with friends, to study and take advantage of their free wi-fi; or to simply enjoy a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

That’s because Starbucks have focused on the experience of their coffee shops and not just the coffee itself. Inspired by Italian coffeehouses, Starbucks saw a unique offering of creating a warm, friendly and welcoming environment where people want to spend their time.

You might notice I haven’t really mentioned their product yet, their coffee. That’s because they sell the experience of a Starbucks and not just the drinks they make.

This gives Starbucks their unique brand positioning of being known as a place where you can get great coffee and a welcoming experience. Their mission statement on their website “We like to say that we are not in the coffee business serving people, but in the people business serving coffee” also shows how they invest in the full customer experience. This means they don’t stop caring about their customer once they hand their customer their drink, another crucial element of their brand positioning.

The result? Starbucks becomes the go-to coffee house across the world.

Tiffany’s Jewellery

An icon in the luxury jewellery market, Tiffany’s has become synonymous with key milestones in one’s life.

But not just because of their stunning range of diamond jewellery, but also the packaging the jewellery comes in. If you think of jewellery packaging and their colours, you might picture a black velvet box, or a deep red colour.

So, Tiffany’s used their packaging as a main unique position for their brand. When someone is handed a jewellery box, they not only want the recipient to gasp at the jewellery, but also the knowledge that they own jewellery from Tiffany’s.

The brand created a unique experience with their customers by crafting quality packaging in a distinctive ‘Tiffany Blue’ colour. The packaging has become a status symbol even without the jewellery that it’s carrying.

In the 2007 rom-com Bride Wars, Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway’s characters find a ‘blue box’ hidden in the wardrobe of Kate’s apartment. Even though we don’t see the ring, they knew immediately that Kate’s character is going to be proposed to, because of the Tiffany box.

Tiffany’s have created a unique brand positioning by looking beyond the jewellery they sell and looking at every element of the customer journey. This has cemented them as a status symbol for high end jewellery and the most desirable place to shop for an engagement ring.

Levi’s Jeans

A brand doesn’t need to create lots of unique products, or dive into lots of different markets to create a strong brand identity. In fact, the strongest brands that have carved a robust space in their markets have found a niche and built upon it, rather than away from it.

A brilliant example of this is American denim brand, Levi’s Jeans. If Beyoncé has named one of her songs after you, then you know you’re an iconic brand.

So how have Levi’s maintained a strong brand identity in the highly saturated fashion industry? It’s simple, they stick to what they know, and that’s denim jeans.

In a world of fast fashion, huge department stores and online fashion retailers offering millions of different clothing styles, Levi’s have crafted a niche where they focus on good-quality, long-lasting and well-fitting denim jeans. They also targeted a specific pain point in the customer journey and offered a unique solution – in-between sizing and many different fits.

So, Levi’s offer a huge range of different sizes, styles and fits, along with a helpful in-store experience so that customers can find the right pair of jeans for them. Not only does this appeal to consumers who are looking for quality staple pieces that are quality-made, but they can also find a pair that fit them perfectly.

By focusing on specific products, Levi’s are able to push their brand positioning as quality-made denim jeans, and also offer a premium price, which customers are willing to pay for a well-fitting pair of jeans.

Even though you can shop at many other stores for a pair of jeans, Levi’s has become the household name for denim and built a loyal customer base due to how it’s positioned its branding and core values.

Yorkshire Tea

Although we have talked about a lot of brands that look beyond the product that they’re selling for their unique brand positioning, Yorkshire Tea is a prime example of how you can build your whole brand positioning around your product and stand out from the competition.

Black tea brand Yorkshire Tea have created a cult following when it comes to both their tea and their brand. Within the highly saturated tea market and shoppers habitually buying the same brand of tea each time, it wasn’t easy for Yorkshire Tea to forge their own path in this competitive market. However, Yorkshire Tea saw a gap for straight-talking, no-fuss tea that tastes nice and doesn’t have a high price point.

Their slogan “Where everything’s done proper” spoken in a thick Yorkshire accent echoes to their core brand values of bringing consumers quality tea, nothing more, nothing less. They even created a special tea blend for people who live in hard water areas, a clear pain point that they identified and integrated into their product offering.

Through highly engaging adverts featuring olympians, iconic bands and famous actors, they raised their brand awareness whilst keeping their brand values of good-tasting tea at the centre of every campaign. This has led to tea drinkers switching to their brand when they next shop for tea, and also non-tea drinkers trying their tea for the first time.

Sometimes, you can go back to basics and “just to do it proper.”

Now, let’s look at how you can strengthen your own brand positioning.

How To Strengthen Your Brand Positioning

Even though your business might not be an international giant like some of the brands we’ve talked about, there are lots of valuable insights that you can take inspiration from to put into your own brand positioning strategy.

Although these businesses might be doing it on a bigger scale, at the core of their brand positioning, there are clear elements that you can implement, or think about, when you’re looking at your own brand positioning.

Brand Positioning Is An Ongoing Process

Brand positioning isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. In fact, most of the global brands that we talked about will be continuously investing, analysing and crafting new strategies to ensure their brand positioning remains strong.

As the market evolves, then so does your brand positioning.

Whether it’s new competitors entering the market, customer needs changing or external factors impacting the industry, there are many elements that can impact your brand positioning.

However, making it something that you do on a regular and continual basis will ensure that you keep your finger on the pulse and be able to adapt your brand positioning if you need to.

Your Brand Positioning Is More Than Just Marketing

Although marketing campaigns are a crucial part of how you communicate your brand positioning to your consumers, brand positioning has to start before you even get to your campaigns. If we look back at our brand positioning examples, you’ll see how these brands took the time to think of every element of their customer including:

The customer journey
The customer experience
How customers interact with them both before and after they’ve made a purchase
What problems are they solving with their product or service?
Have they clearly identified their niche?

From these, they have crafted their core brand values and forged their space in the market for their brand positioning.

For Starbucks, they thought of the customer’s experience in their coffeehouses, not just the coffee they’re drinking.

For Nike, they thought about how their customers are feeling before they even enter the shop.

For Tiffany, they thought about the jewellery packaging, not just the diamonds that are inside.

So, before you sketch out a storyboard, think about your brand values and how you want to communicate these to your ideal customer.

Remember, it’s about how your brand benefits the customer and not why they need to buy your product. Read that again.

Brand Positioning Strategies

Now that we’ve seen how some of the biggest brands have strengthened their position, we’ll look at how we can use some of their strategies to build your brand.

Your Unique Value Proposition

This might be the most important pillar of your brand positioning – what makes your brand unique?

This doesn’t always have to be the product that you sell.

In our brand positioning examples, none of the brands sold products that you can’t find anywhere else. However, they all had unique value propositions integrated into their brand positioning that led to them being strong forces in their markets.

So when you’re thinking of your unique value proposition, think beyond your product (although unique product features are important) such as:

What problems are you solving that other brands aren’t?
What pain points are you addressing that other brands aren’t (or are not doing well)?
Are you interacting with your customers in unique ways?
Are you offering a unique experience?
What keeps customers coming back to purchase from you?

Connecting With Customer Emotions and Aspirations

Emotional connection is powerful.

When it comes to brand positioning, creating emotional connections between you and your customers can forge a strong and loyal customer base. If you can make your customers ‘feel’ something when they are interacting with your business, this can be the difference between a customer purchasing you once, or creating a life-long customer.

Think of Nike empowering their customers to “Just Do It” or Dove helping women to break down beauty expectations on social media. Although they aren’t directly selling their product, they are forging real, emotional connections between them and their consumer.

If a brand makes you feel good, then of course you’re going to return to it!

Creating A Strong Brand Experience

As well as forging powerful connections with your consumers, you can also look at the full customer experience when building your brand positioning.

Creating a unique experience can have a long-lasting impression on your target customer.

For this, look beyond your product or service and follow the customer from when they first interact with your business, to after they make their purchase. Are there any opportunities to offer a unique experience that can set you apart from the competition?

Starbucks saw that there was a gap for coffeehouses offering comfortable, warm and friendly spaces for people to hangout, study, or relax with their coffee.

For this, they have thought of the customer as soon as they walk through their doors, too long after they have the drink in their hand. If a customer has a positive, unique experience with your brand, they’re more likely to choose your business again above other competitors.

Aligning With A Specific Target Audience

Think of your ideal customer and what they are like in their everyday life.

Ask yourself:

What are their pain points?

What are their needs?

What do they prioritise in life?

Even if they’re not specific to your business, are there ways that you can integrate some of them into your brand positioning to create something unique?

Identifying a niche can be a powerful way of standing out amongst your competition.

If we go back to Levi’s, they saw their target customer was struggling to find a quality-made, well-fitting pair of jeans that can be a staple in their wardrobe for years to come.

They don’t need to compete against fast-fashion giants or luxury fashion houses. Instead, they are focused on their core customer and building their brand positioning around them.