The Global Brand Positioning Process
Clarke Ricks School of Business,
Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
October 2, 2022
The Global Brand Positioning Process
Ready to develop a brand positioning strategy for your own firm? The steps below will give
you a solid roadmap to get there. I have also included links to other resources that will help fill
in some of the details. Let’s get started!
Step 1. Start with your overall business imperatives. What are you trying to accomplish as
a firm? Your positioning is a fundamental pillar of business strategy, and it affects how you drive
growth and attract the talent you need to sustain your expansion. If you do not have your
business goals written down already, sit down with your management team and make sure
everyone has a clear set of priorities. That way, when you begin formulating your positioning
statement you will a clear destination in mind.
Step 2. Research your target clients and competitors. According to a study of professional
services marketing, firms that have a strong understanding of their audiences and competition
are more than twice as likely to be high-growth businesses (those that grow at least 20% year
over year). This type of investigation is often called brand research, and it is typically conducted
by an independent entity to ensure its confidentiality and encourage more honest feedback
from participants. It usually involves interviews with current clients, prospects, and referral
sources. It also includes an analysis of your competitors — what they are saying about
themselves and how your audience perceives them.
Brand research can also identify strengths and weaknesses you weren’t able to see before.
In addition, you’ll learn what factors potential clients value most during the selection process.
And brand research is critical to the success of the next step.
Step 3. Identify your differentiators. This is where your business goals and brand research
turn into marketing gold. Drawing on the insights of your team, external perceptions of your
firm and a new understanding of your competitors’ positioning, you will pick out characteristics
that both set you apart from your competition and are valuable to prospective clients at the
time they select a firm.
Strong differentiators must also meet three other criteria: they must be 1) true, 2) provable
and 3) relevant to your target audience. If a differentiator isn’t true, clients will often sense it
and approach your firm with skepticism. That’s why you should be able to support each
differentiator with evidence. Often you will uncover proof in your brand research (for example,
a finding that “9 out 10 clients refer us to others” is a nice statistic to reinforce a variety of
differentiators).
Some differentiators may be characteristics that you discover in your research (“clients find
us to be highly flexible”), while others may be a specialization that you have already cultivated
(“we provide network security services exclusively to accounting firms”). If you find your
existing differentiators lacking, you may decide to pursue a new area of focus or concentrate on
a particular area of strength. While this approach will be aspirational at first, it can work so long
as you truly commit your firm to it and can prove you are doing it going forward. If you are
struggling to think of possible differentiators, consult this list of 21 professional service
differentiators for ideas. Or, take a look at this list of the 12 worst differentiators for
professional services firms to make sure your existing differentiators aren’t included.
Step 4. Craft your brand positioning statement. Now it’s time to translate your
differentiators into a story that clearly communicates your competitive advantage. A
positioning statement distills your key buying propositions into a short paragraph. It’s an
internal document — because it is compact it’s not intended to be used verbatim on your
website or in your marketing materials. Instead, think of it as a source you can return to again
and again when you need the inspiration to describe your firm or persuade people to buy from
you.
A brand positioning statement can take two different forms: a crafted paragraph or a
prompted statement. Developing a crafted paragraph takes more skill and time, but some firms
find that it translates more easily into marketing messages. A prompted statement is quicker
and simpler to assemble — your team fills in the blanks with the appropriate information.
Here’s an example of a positioning statement in paragraph form:
Newco is the nation’s leading IT consultancy that specializes in law firms and legal
departments. Our team of attorneys, engineers, CIOs, executive directors, and project managers
is uniquely positioned to make your practice more productive and profitable. We’re familiar with
the hundreds of software applications used by the legal community, and we’ve developed a
suite of tools that makes migrating and configuring systems faster and more efficient. We also
have a reputation for doing a job once and doing it right — that’s why 4 out of 5 clients put us
on a long-term contract. When you need the best legal IT advice and support, Newco is the easy
choice.
