The consumer market is a highly dynamic space with fierce competition in almost every sector. One may wonder how companies carve out their unique brand position in such a crowded space. What types of brand positioning strategies do they use? What makes their brand positioning statement different from others?
According to Edelman, 81% of consumers will not consider buying from brands unless they trust the company. These staggering statistics underscore the pivotal role of market positioning for influencing consumer behavior. The good and bad news is that effective product positioning strategies bring endless possibilities for brands seeking to stand out and connect with their target audience.
This article explains how to develop strong brand positioning that you can use to build a solid brand presence. You will also learn how to craft a compelling brand positioning statement that drives growth and success. Read on to learn new tactics for brand and product marketing.
Understanding Brand Positioning
Having a well-crafted brand positioning framework is the foundation for all marketing efforts, guiding messaging, product development, and customer interaction. Brand positioning is a strategic process that defines how companies differentiate themselves in the market. It’s about how the target audience perceives a brand.
Establishing solid brand positioning plays a role in how companies build brand equity. This equity translates into increased brand loyalty, higher perceived value, and the ability to command premium pricing for products or services. Positioning is crucial for product marketing as it forms the basis for consumer communication and engagement. It creates a consistent image and fosters trust and credibility.
Types of Brand Positioning
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to positioning in branding. Considering the various brand positioning strategies are essential for brands to develop a unique identity in the market that connects with their target audience from several distinct viewpoints. Each division of the strategy serves a specific purpose and can be tailored to different marketing conditions, consumer needs, and competitive landscapes.
A single previously understood strategy may not be sufficient for every situation, as it may not effectively address a brand’s unique challenges and opportunities. Thus, trying different positioning approaches increases the chances of resonating with the target audience and driving brand awareness by creating a new hybrid market position.
The following are the main types of brand positioning strategies:
Customer Service Positioning
In customer service positioning, the company emphasizes the quality of service as a critical differentiator in the market. By highlighting exceptional customer service, brands can develop a positive brand perception, justify premium pricing, and build brand loyalty.
For example, Apple’s customer service is known for its friendly and quick response, which justifies the premium pricing of its products. Disha’s publication is another example to consider. The brand has positioned itself as a trusted name in the publication world by emphasizing its exceptional customer service through sponsored ads.
Providing reliable customer service is essential for creating a positive customer experience that can help increase brand recall. Delivering on the promise of exceptional customer service is critical because failure to do so can result in negative reviews, customer complaints, and harm to the brand’s reputation.
Convenience-Based Brand Positioning
Convenience and effortless experience are powerful tools for attracting potential customers toward your brand and product. This strategy highlights the ease of use, accessibility, and time-saving benefits of a company’s product or service. Companies can use such methods to attract busy consumers who value efficiency and simplicity in their purchasing decisions.
Companies may offer convenience based on location, ease of use, broad accessibility, multi-platform support, or product design. For instance, the Swiffer WetJet is advertised as a convenient alternative to a traditional mop due to its disposable mopping pads. Consumers can easily clean without the hassle of dealing with dirty mop heads.
Convenience can come at a cost. Companies must ensure they have the resources to deliver on their promise. It must have a strong development team for multi-platform support or automatic refill programs for products that require constant replenishment. When positioning on convenience, a company must more intentionally understand the product journey, looking for friction points prior to first use and as the product is handled over time.
Price-Based Positioning Strategy
Price-based positioning is another powerful strategy that CPG brands can use to position themselves. Companies can use this technique to present their product or service as the best bang for the buck.* As a result, they can attract a large customer base because no one likes to spend more than they have to, especially in the current financial crunch. Offering the best value is an easy way to get more consumers to engage in brand switching.
*This is different than being the “low-cost leader” which brings about more problems than its worth.
This strategy also has its share of risks and drawbacks, giving prospects the impression of lower production quality compared to well-built stand alone solutions. Brands may also encounter economic issues that can hinder their brand positioning over time. For example, Subway’s $5 footlong couldn’t survive inflation.
Quality-Based Positioning Strategy
Quality-based positioning is one of the most straightforward and compelling brand positioning strategies. It’s a strategic move for emerging brands whose product comes at a premium cost. Companies can present the quality of their products through exceptional craftsmanship, small-batch production, high-quality materials, and even sustainable practices that make them more expensive to produce. All of this occurs through effective brand storytelling.
Companies offering services can leverage evidence of exceptional results, high ROI, and glowing customer testimonials. The only issue with this strategy is that budget-conscious shoppers may bypass your brand for cheaper alternatives. So, looking at your buyer personas, target customers’ income, and shopping habits is highly recommended. This will determine whether emphasizing quality with premium pricing is the right approach for your brand.
OXO, Earth Breeze, and Moleskin are excellent examples of brands using quality-based positioning.
Competitive Positioning
In the case of competitor positioning, companies rely on their product’s uniqueness or innovative qualities compared to the traditional competition. It must introduce outclass and distinguishable attributes that make the product one of its kind. For instance, Iwon Organics has positioned itself to offer a better-for-you protein rich product, differentiating itself from competitors that offer more traditional snack products.
Another perfect example is Crest, which has positioned itself as a brand offering superior oral health benefits, distinguishing itself from competitors offering less effective oral health solutions. Similarly, before Tesla, there weren’t any attractive electric vehicles. Tesla introduced reliable electric cars and became well-known for autonomous driving.
Adopting a competitive positioning strategy will attract consumers who appreciate innovation. But there is one limitation to consider. If the product is entirely new, sharing the research and testing that went into its creation is recommended. Innovation-driving consumers are highly interested in understanding how new tech works.
Functional Positioning
Functional brand positioning is a branding and marketing strategy that highlights a product’s specific benefits and features that meet the consumer’s needs and desires. This approach emphasizes the functional aspects of a product, such as its performance, reliability, and practicality, to create a distinct and competitive position in the market. Its impact can be significant, as it allows brands to appeal to consumers seeking specific attributes in a product.
Some examples of brands currently leveraging functional positioning include:
- Oatly: known for its plant-based milk products promoting health and sustainability
- RXBAR: Emphasizes simple and natural ingredients in its protein bars
- HelloFresh: Focuses on convenience and time-saving meal solutions
- Halo Top: Low-calorie, high-protein ice cream
These brands effectively showcase the impact of functional positioning in the CPG industry by catering to consumers’ specific needs and preferences while gaining a competitive edge over aging products through brand distinction.
Symbolic Positioning
Symbolic positioning creates an emotional bond between consumers and the brand using symbols, values, or lifestyles. It goes beyond the product’s functional benefits and aims to establish a strong brand identity and personality that resonate with the target audience.
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream uses symbolic positioning by highlighting values of social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and community involvement. Their flavors and packaging reflect social issues and causes, appealing to ethically conscious consumers.
Lush, a cosmetic brand, has positioned itself symbolically by promoting natural ingredients, cruelty-free products, and environmental sustainability. Their brand messaging focuses on self-care, individuality, and ethical beauty practices, resonating with consumers who prioritize conscious consumption and personal well-being.
Companies might encounter difficulties in effectively conveying the desired symbolic meanings to consumers. One way to overcome these challenges is to use a brand positioning map to visualize positioning relative to competitors and identify potential areas for differentiation in the symbolic space.
Experiential Positioning
Experiential positioning is a strategy focusing on unique and memorable interactions between customers and the brand. By providing exceptional experiences at every touchpoint, companies can develop lasting relationships.
Effective brand positioning involves aligning the brand’s values, messaging, and offerings with the needs and preferences of the target audience. Understanding the connection between customer experience, brand positioning, and engagement in marketing management creates an impactful brand strategy.
There is no restriction as to what types of products can engage in experiential positioning. Whether it’s water or consumer electronics, making it a part of your ethos creates stand out against brands who are not considering this strategy.
Picking the Right Brand Positioning Strategy
Selecting the correct type of strategy can be challenging sometimes. So many factors are involved, which can make the process a bit cumbersome. Here are the necessary steps that can make the process easy for you:
Understand Your Target Customer
Use research insights to understand what your target customer wants. Is it innovation, uniqueness, or ease of use? Consider your brand personality and the nature of your products, too. Innovation doesn’t mean introducing a futuristic product all the time. Sometimes, there can be innovation in the packaging design. For instance, the Box wine was an innovative solution that allowed easy pouring.
Analyze the Market and Competitors
You must understand the market from various angles to better position your brand. Carefully analyze the competitive landscape and see what your competitors are offering. Learn their strengths and weaknesses. It identifies the white spaces and opportunities that your brand can leverage. For instance, if there is a lack of organic and gluten-free snack options, you can position your brand as a provider of these snacks.
Develop a Positioning Statement
An effective positioning statement can be a great way to communicate your brand’s mission, vision, and goals. It must include the target customer, the category in which you compete, the unique benefit you offer, and the reason to believe. For example, your positioning statement could be: “We offer organic and gluten-free snacks that are healthy, convenient, and delicious because we believe that everyone deserves to enjoy healthy snacks without compromising on taste or convenience.”
Test and refine your positioning
After developing the positioning statement, test it with your target customers to ensure it resonates with them. Use surveys, focus groups, or online testing tools to gather feedback from the target customers. Based on the input, refine your positioning statement to communicate your brand’s unique value proposition.
After testing and finishing the statement, you must communicate it consistently across all touchpoints. These include websites, social media handles, packaging, and advertising. Consistent communication will build a solid and recognizable brand identity.
Implementing Effective Brand Positioning
While picking the right market positioning strategy is necessary, implementing it the right way is even more essential. Here are the steps to develop and implement a compelling brand positioning strategy to bring maximum results.
The Role of Market Research
Start with thorough market research. Learning your brand personality, target audience, interests, and consumer perceptions is essential. Use social media, focus groups, interviews, and polls to gather valuable insights from the market. Next, comprehensively analyze the brand’s current positioning and how consumers perceive it.
Once these insights are gathered, develop a clear and compelling positioning statement, brand promise, and overall brand management approach to create a strong brand positioning strategy. Aligning these elements results in clear communication of the unique value proposition. After that, companies can establish a distinct place in the market, ultimately leading to greater brand recognition and customer loyalty.
The Need For a Brand Positioning Framework
Implementing a brand positioning strategy can be risky if not done effectively. It may confuse the target audience or fail to differentiate from competing brands. Therefore, creating a well-planned and well-executed brand positioning framework is crucial.
The framework should include identifying the brand’s unique value proposition and analyzing its competition. A successful brand positioning framework can lead to increased customer loyalty, a competitive advantage in the market, and higher sales conversion rates.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Brand Positioning
- Mismatched Identity Across Channels: Having inconsistent branding across different platforms can confuse your audience and dilute brand recognition.
- Ignoring Competitors: Failing to adapt to changing market conditions and underestimating competitors can lead to losing your competitive edge.
- Relying on Intuition: Depending solely on intuition without testing and measuring the effectiveness of your strategy can waste resources on ineffective tactics.
- Assuming Customer Preferences: Knowing what your customers want without researching can result in a generic message that fails to connect with your audience.
- Lack of Insight in Brand Positioning: Weak positioning statements that lack unique insights or ideas can lead to generic and unappealing brand positioning.
- Failing to Differentiate Properly: Expecting differentiation to occur without actively creating a unique brand positioning can result in a generic platform.
- Ignoring Alignment Within the Organization: Brand positioning statements are ineffective if not embraced by the entire organization, leading to failed implementation.
- Focusing on Category Consumers Instead of Real People: Understanding the real-life circumstances, self-image, and context in which people use your brand is crucial for effective brand positioning.
Famous Brand Positioning Failures
Brand positioning isn’t an easy task. It requires a meticulous approach with effective strategy building, implementation, and testing. Failing to build and implement the strategy can steer the results in different directions. There are hundreds of brand positioning failures to learn from. Some of these are discussed below:
- Frito-Lay is a chips brand that decided to launch its Cheetos-flavored lip balm. The newly launched product was entirely out of line with its brand positioning, resulting in a complete failure.
- Burger King’s “Satisfries,” a product with 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories, failed to resonate with customers and deviated from the brand’s identity.
- Colgate, a famous toothpaste brand, tried to launch frozen dinners. The concept didn’t align with its brand image of providing fresh breath and clean teeth; you can guess the results.
- Cosmopolitan discovered that its target audience, young professional women, consumed a lot of yogurt. As a result, the magazine launched its yogurt brand. However, the brand disappeared in 18 months due to a misalignment of its identity and perception.
Data-Driven Brand Positioning Framework
Are you struggling to position your brand in a competitive landscape? SmashBrand can help. The company utilizes a data-driven approach to develop a practical brand positioning framework that brings results. As your brand positioning agency, our package design testing process will make a strong brand image and a brand positioning framework you can use across your entire product line. Book a time to discuss your project with our team.
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