How to Position your Brand for Success

I will be sharing some practical tips that have worked for me and some of the brands I have been privileged to manage. Whether you’re a business owner or not, you need to be able to position yourself/brand for success.

According to Mark Twain, he said there’s no such thing as a new idea. It is highly impossible, nothing is new under the sun, but it’s not about the popularity, it’s about doing it in a different way.

The first question you need to ask yourself is what makes your brand unique?

The most terrible thing a person can do is to lose his/her identity while trying to copy someone else.

It’s good to have a mentor but it is better to be the number one of yourself than to be the number. Without understanding your purpose then you have no direction.

Coca-Cola knew its purpose that was why when it sold 25 bottles in its first year of business, they didn’t pack up. Now, Coca-Cola is reached for by millions around the world daily as a household drink with a unique taste.

After finding your purpose or solving the WHY puzzle. Then:

Evaluate Where Your Business Is Now. Consider where your business is in its life cycle. If yours is a start-up company, take a look at how it looks to the general public and to your existing customers.

Plan Where You Want to Position Your Business to Grow. Once you have a clear picture of where your business is positioned, you can consider where you think it should be going. There’s a good chance it’s right on track for where you want it.

If you’re operating and managing with a good business plan in place, odds are it’s close to your goals. There’s something you do better than someone else, that where to start. Find out that thing. I didn’t know mine until six years ago, all I wanted to do was to make money.

The goal to position your brand for success is to create a unique impression in the customer’s mind so that the customer associates something specific and desirable with your brand that is distinct from the rest of the marketplace.

This involves diving deep into the details of your brand and discovering what you do better than anyone else.

It’s not easy to start a business, I remember failing in my first ever business, I almost ran mad. Now a few questions you need to ask yourself:

Can people understand what you do or sell without giving you a call, can people go on the shelves and pick your product without calling a sales representative?
Can people go on your profile and understand who you are? Without having to call you?
You have to craft a good positioning statement too.

I love this statement from Amazon.

“Amazon.com is a retail bookseller that provides instant access to over 1.1 million books. that is a beautiful and concise statement.”

Mercedes-Benz: Engineered like no other car in the world

BMW: The ultimate driving machine

Success is largely a matter of holding on after others have let go!

Some questions you need to consider while creating activities for your brand.

Does it differentiate your brand?
Does it match customer perceptions of your brand?
Does it enable growth?
Does it identify your brand’s unique value to your customers?
Does it produce a clear picture in your mind that’s different from your competitors?
Is it focused on your core customers?
Is it memorable and motivating?
Is it consistent in all areas of your business?
Is it easy to understand?
Is it positioned for long-term success?
Is your brand promise believable and credible?
Will it help you make more effective marketing and branding decisions?

I am going to give you 6 simple but effective strategies that you can use to position your brand for success. More than a tagline or a fancy logo, brand positioning is the strategy used to set your business apart from the rest.

Step 1: Determine your current brand positioning

Are you currently marketing your product or service as just another item on the market, or are you marketing it as something distinctive? Identify your mission, values, and what makes you different from the rest of the market.

Step 2: Determine your competition

After analyzing yourself, it’s important to analyze your competition. Why? You’ll need to see who you’re up against to conduct competitor research. You can use social media, ask your customers for feedback, or conduct market research.

Step 3: Conduct competitor research

Once you’ve determined who your competitors are, it’s time to conduct in-depth competitor research. You’ll need to analyze how your competition is positioning their brand in order to compete.

At its simplest, your research should include:

What products or services your competitors offer?
What their strengths and weaknesses are?
What marketing strategies they’re using successfully?
What their position is in the current market?

Step 4: Identify what makes your brand unique

Building a unique brand is all about identifying what makes you different and what works best for your business. As you compare your product or service to theirs, you might find one of their weaknesses is your strength.

Step 5: Create your positioning statement

A positioning statement is a one- or two-sentence declaration that communicates your brand’s unique value to your customers in relation to your main competitors.

Here are a few questions to answer before creating your positioning statement:

Who is your target customer?

What’s your product or service category?

What’s the greatest benefit of your product or service?

Building up strength from other’s weakness

Step 6: Get a Business Plan

A solid business plan is the backbone of successful businesses. It holds every other thing in place ensuring smooth, coordinated operations and growth for your small business. You can begin your Digital Marketing journey with a good business website and a well-articulated Social Media strategy.

Abiodun Anani is a Professional Marketing Strategist with over nine (9) years of cross-cultural experience in Marketing, Branding and Events, with outstanding achievements in delivering innovative solutions, and facilitating efficiency.

Session moderated by:

Olowoyo Oluwatomisin
Principal, City Scope Africa Academy.