Choosing the Right Brand Positioning: Examples of Strategies
What are the most common positioning strategies? What is a Brand Positioning Map and what paths should be taken when it’s time to think about repositioning?
How to create a strong brand positioning? What are the most common positioning strategies? What is a Brand Positioning Map, and what paths should be taken when it’s time to consider repositioning?
This is Business Revealed, and today, I will talk about all of these things.
In "Grammatica della fantasia," writer Gianni Rodari develops the concept of the "fantastic binomial." The idea is to create stories by juxtaposing two randomly chosen words.
The more distant and unrelated the words are, the better the binomial will work, leading to improbable associations and unleashing creativity.
To introduce this new episode of Business Revealed, I was inspired by Rodari’s fantastic binomial. In this case, the two polar opposite words became two products: a pack of dog food and a super glue stick.
The perception of these objects will obviously differ based on where they are found. Dog food will be seen as essential in a pet shop, while glue will be seen as essential in a hardware store or a stationery shop.
But what happens if we switch the scenarios? It’s unlikely someone would need dog food in a hardware store, and no one would think to ask for glue in a pet shop. The customers might even be the same, but their priorities guide their purchase: it’s the context that counts.
For this reason, when talking about positioning, every company should first and foremost be concerned with the priorities of individual customers, whether it’s DIY equipment or dog food. If the products sold do not meet consumers’ priorities, they will simply be ignored.
Positioning Strategies
How can you differentiate your product in the market? How do you work on the perception that a hypothetical customer will have of a brand and its products? And how do you make these products seem more important than others? The answer is simple: develop an effective brand positioning strategy.
In the episode "It’s All about Positining” I explained how to reach an initial positioning hypothesis through my Positioning Framework for B2B SAAS Companies. Starting from scratch is certainly the best way to achieve a tailored result; however, some strategic models have been more successful than others over the years and can be a great starting point for any startup.
The key is always to dig as deep as possible to define the target audience (ICP Ideal Customer Profile/Buyer Personas) and meticulously study their behavior. If the brand is positioned correctly, customers themselves will be attracted to the offer.
Positioning Examples
Customer Service Positioning Strategy
Differentiating your business through customer service is one of the most common positioning strategies. The strongest advantage is being able to justify a high market price, provided, of course, that the promoted service is genuinely as advertised. Failing to deliver on promises in this case would trigger a true boomerang effect with negative reviews, undesirable calls and emails, and not-so-nice comments on social media.
The mistake many brands make is setting expectations too high, promising a service they cannot deliver. This negatively impacts Customer Delight and compromises the entire positioning.
A great example of a company that has made customer service the core of its positioning is Octopus Energy. The British company has fully internalized customer service by creating a team of professionals and experts from the energy sector, capable of offering high-quality service throughout the sales funnel, starting from acquisition.
Convenience-Based Positioning Strategy
In this case, the brand’s positioning leverages the convenience and ease of use of a product or service (ease of use, high availability, assistance available through multiple channels). Choosing this type of positioning attracts customers who are willing to spend more money for greater convenience.
Again, it’s crucial to only make promises you can keep. Particularly, a company choosing this type of positioning must ensure it can meet a high demand for its product/service, both in terms of costs and productivity.
Dollar Shave Club is an excellent example of a company that chose to develop its positioning strategy around convenience. The razor brand allows customers to purchase high-quality products and receive them conveniently at home through a subscription service.
Price-Based Positioning Strategy
Another very common strategy is to present the product on the market based on its sale price. The competition isn’t necessarily about the lowest prices; there are different ways to compete on price.
A company might choose a Premium pricing strategy, selling high-quality products at high prices, as the leading luxury brands do.
For example, Zegna strategically positions itself as a premium luxury brand. The high prices of its products reflect the exclusivity and superior craftsmanship that the brand offers.
In this way, Zegna appeals to affluent buyers seeking status and prestige.
Another option is to use a Penetration pricing strategy. In this case, a company newly entering the market with an innovative product chooses to sell its products/services at low prices to quickly gain many customers, then gradually raise prices later (Netflix, Gillette, Starbucks).
Quality-Based Positioning Strategy
Basing the positioning strategy on product quality has three major advantages: it easily justifies high prices, produces a very high ROI, and generates a large number of satisfied customers (ready to speak highly of the product they used).
The main risk is being bypassed by brands offering the same product/service at lower prices, even if of inferior quality. For this reason, it’s very important to always pay attention to Buyer Personas, trying to understand whom to target the product based on purchasing habits and income.
An example of a brand that has used this type of positioning is Miele, a company known for selling household appliances. Their products combine quality and technological innovation, ensuring durability and high performance even in demanding environments.
Differentiation Positioning Strategy
In this case, the focus is entirely on the product’s uniqueness and its innovative features compared to traditional competitors. This type of strategy allows companies to attract customers who see innovation as a strong value in their lives. It’s impossible not to mention Tesla, which has definitely created a new league by entering the electric car market.
A potential limitation of the differentiation positioning strategy is the lack of a strong reason to believe in this type of product/service in the market. There won’t be usage examples of a similar product, nor will there be a well-defined perception of the benefits these products could bring to the customer. For this reason, those who decide to pursue this positioning strategy must work hard on the technical narrative of the product, illustrating its design, operation, and benefits derived from its uniqueness.
Subcategories of Differentiation Positioning Strategy
The Differentiation Positioning Strategy can be further divided into two main subcategories: Unmet Customer Need and Product Innovation.
Unmet Customer Need
An approach to brand positioning is to identify an unmet need in the market and position your brand as the solution.
When Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in the 1940s, he identified a need for affordable, high-quality furniture. This realization led to the invention of flat-packed furniture and self-assembly in 1953. As a result, IKEA reduced its production, transportation, and assembly costs, positioning itself as an affordable alternative to expensive designer furniture.
Product Innovation
Innovation in product development gives brands another opportunity to occupy a unique market position. By offering fresh solutions to people’s needs, brands can carve out a unique market position and appeal to those seeking innovation.
Although electric vehicles have been around for a while, Tesla has taken them to a new level with self-driving features, touchscreen user interfaces, modern design, and more. Despite the increasing difficulty of maintaining an innovative edge, Tesla has managed to embody innovation and differentiate itself in the market.
Social Media Positioning Strategy
Leveraging social media in the positioning strategy creates an engaging and interactive experience with customers. This approach allows anyone interacting with the brand to become part of its story.
It’s not necessary to be present on all social platforms; the solution is to choose the channels most used by your target audience. A good test to choose the right platform is to ask where the target spends most of their time, where they spend their money, and where they look for information and advice.
There is a chance that these three questions have a common answer, just as it’s possible that there are multiple answers. In the latter case, each message will need to be tailored to the platform where the customers are.
Distribution Channel Positioning
Positioning the brand through a strategy that leverages its distribution channels is another common option to differentiate from the competition. A distribution model that has gained popularity among several brands in recent years is direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales.
By selling products directly to customers and bypassing traditional retail distribution channels, companies can have full control over the entire customer experience, reduce overall costs, offer more competitive prices, and establish a closer relationship with their customers.
An example is Canyon Bike, a well-known brand among bicycle enthusiasts, which allows its customers to buy a bike and receive it at home without having to go through a physical store, doing everything online.
Navigating Towards a Product-Market Fit: The Brand Positioning Map
While working on the positioning strategy, the ideal tool to guide its development is the Brand Positioning Map. The map allows you to visually represent the perception of a brand and its competitors and at the same time identify the market gaps that a company should fill to improve the product.
This is done by examining 2 or more key attributes that guide the customer towards choosing a product or service. The suggestion is to create as many maps as possible with different attributes and compare them with each other. This way, it will be possible to analyze from multiple perspectives the gap between customers’ perception of a brand and the desired positioning.
To choose the right attributes to compare, every company can draw from those values that customers consider most important to them (e.g., convenience, price, quality, innovation, etc.). The perception of the product or service is closely linked to these values, those shared within the target audience. Whoever understands them, wins.
How to Reposition a Brand
The Brand Positioning Map is a tool that helps test the current brand positioning strategy even after its implementation.
This allows you to:
Establish a stronger emotional connection with prospects and customers, helping companies better understand the problems they are trying to solve using their products (their priorities)
Strengthen the brand’s differentiating qualities during the sales process (have prospects understood what makes the brand unique?)
Improve the perception that customers have of the value of the brand’s offer
In some cases, analyzing the Positioning Map can also reveal the first warning signs indicating the need for repositioning. The crisis factors can be different and not always predictable. The first step is definitely to try to identify the causes that led the company to negative performance.
This partly requires a process very close to that carried out during the search for positioning. Market research, customer feedback, competitor analysis, and internal company audits are needed to focus on weaknesses and strengths that could create new problems or opportunities in the future.
After identifying the causes requiring repositioning, every company can choose the strategy that best suits reaching a new product-market fit. Here are some examples of useful activities for research.
Finding a new target market or niche: rethinking, for example, the product’s destination, from a general audience to a specific niche.
Innovating or improving product features and benefits: the launched product may not always have the technical and design qualities in line with the market, making it difficult to highlight distinctive aspects.
Working on the price: if the company is ready to sustain high production rates to meet high demand, a low price remains an excellent element to stand out in the market.
Focusing on product promotion and distribution: some brands manage to differentiate themselves based on very extensive distribution of their products (they are everywhere) and a very strong media presence (they are everywhere).
References:
A Complete Guide to Successful Brand Positioning (hubspot.com)
How can a brand positioning map help your B2B strategy? (equinetmedia.com)
How To Use Perceptual Mapping for Better Marketing - Shopify Canada
Brand Mapping: An Effective and Efficient Tool for Marketers - AMA Boston
SaaS Positioning (market8.net)