5 brand positioning strategies to help set your business apart
7 MINUTE READ
May 18, 2021
By Jewelle Saunders
There are definite benefits to focusing on your branding efforts for your business or organization. According to HubSpot, “Successful branding yields benefits such as increased customer loyalty, an improved image, and a relatable identity.” Brand positioning is the process of putting your brand in the mind of your customers and organization supporters. Strong brand positioning shows what differentiates your business or organization from your competitors in a meaningful way.
Here are five common bases for brand positioning strategies to help control how the market sees your business and help set your business up for success.
Convenience
A convenience-based positioning strategy is one that communicates you can help to make the customers’ lives easier. Whether it be location, ease of access, or general usability, convenience is a key factor that sets certain brands apart. For example, customers may be more inclined to buy your product if they know your business’s return policy is easy and flexible or that you offer free shipping or convenient local delivery.
Conveying that you make the experience simple and as easy as possible can get the attention of many new customers. This may require gathering feedback from your customers and having more flexibility and adaptability to accommodate their common issues and ease-of-use problems, but your problem-solving skills could really set you apart from competitors.
Competition
According to Business 2 Community, “Competitor-based positioning focuses on using the competition as a reference point for differentiation. Brands highlight a key difference their product/service offers in their marketing to make it seem favorable and unique compared to other options in the marketplace. The product or services become unique.” Comparing your brand directly to a competitor involves highlighting your key features and unique qualities in conjunction with theirs.
The biggest drawback to this strategy is that if you are open to partnerships with local competitors, this may hinder this potential relationship. However, setting your business against a well-known competitor with your own strong customer service or unique features can set your business forward in their mind as a quality product or service to invest in instead.
Price
Positioning your services and your products by price means that you are associating your brand with whatever competitive prices exist in the market or placing it where you might find a gap in the market at a certain price point. Typically, brands will see this gap and offer the most affordable price.
This strategy has benefits, as it could generate a large customer base of individuals who do not want to spend a lot of money and it could entice individuals to change from the businesses to which they are already loyal to consider your services as a more affordable option. This has potential drawbacks because lower pricing at times conveys lower quality. However, as long as you strategize more effectively than your competitors and match your products and services with quality production, positioning based on price could be a successful approach.
Quality
Quality-based brand positioning aligns your brand with high-quality products or services. While price may be a large factor in production, your higher price considerations do not always have to be advertised and marketed directly. “Often these brands do not communicate their price point, but instead high quality or prestige is the focal point of communication, to create a desire so customers want the product regardless of the price,” says Business 2 Community. For example, customers may be attracted to aspects of your product or service that reflect materials unique to your country or region, organic ingredients, or international awards.
Brand reputation and loyalty play a key role in sustained belief in high quality, so this does take time to cultivate, but it will result in further customer loyalty and overall interest.
Differentiation
While most brand positioning strategies are to convey and communicate what differentiates your product or service from your competition, a differentiation brand positioning strategy is especially reliant on conveying your unique qualities. Individuals who admire innovation or have been waiting for this particular innovation to be addressed or for the product to be produced in a new, convenient way will be excited to see a brand conveying their needs and wants.
Drawbacks of positioning this way could include hesitation from potential customers to buy or utilize a service they do not know enough about or for which they have not seen a demonstrated history of use. However, once you communicate and provide examples of the high-quality product or service and innovation and how you are different from competitors, you could grow a strong and loyal customer base and generate interest in a new and exciting way.
Positioning your brand is a helpful exercise to better develop a clear vision for your business and to maximize relevance for your position in the market against your competitors. You worked hard to get your business where it is, and showing what differentiates your business from others will set you apart and set you up for sustained growth and success.
Visit YLAI Brand Better for more resources on brand development and digital marketing strategies.
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