What is Global brand positioning and why is it important?
Clarke Ricks School of Business,
Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
May 7, 2022
What is Global brand positioning and why is it important?
What is brand positioning?
Brand positioning refers to the unique value that a brand presents to its customer. It is
a marketing strategy brands create to establish their brand identity while conveying their value
proposition, which is the reason why a customer would prefer their brand over others.
Additionally, brand positioning is used when a company wants to position themselves in a
certain way to their audiences in order for customers to create associations between the brand
and its value proposition.
What is a brand positioning statement?
A brand positioning statement is an internal positioning summary that companies use to
articulate and promote the value their brand brings to a target market and their customers. It is
used as a way to articulate a brand’s value proposition in a succinct way. Typically, brand
positioning statements are part of a brand’s larger marketing strategy - and these statements
should be a balance of both aspiration and reality.
When creating a brand positioning statement, it is important to consider the following:
Who is the target market or customer?
What is your product or service category?
What is the greatest benefit and impact of your product or service?
What is the proof of that benefit and impact?
By answering these questions within a brand positioning statement, companies are
distributing a clear value proposition that sets them apart from competitors, but more
importantly provides their brand’s value to customers.
Why is brand positioning important?
Brand positioning is important for a company to have a clear way to share the value their
brand brings to customers. This happens both internally through a brand positioning statement
and externally through various marketing strategies to which a brand positioning statement
ladders up. Brands should address who their customer is and their value proposition within
their brand positioning statement to maintain relevancy while being realistic.
How do you create a brand positioning strategy?
There are various ways through which companies can create and scale out a brand
positioning strategy, depending on the size, mission, and segment of the brand.
1. Understand how your brand is currently positioning itself.
2. Determine your unique value proposition.
3. Identify your competitors and their positioning.
4. Create your positioning statement.
5. Evaluate and test whether your positioning works.
6. Reinforce your brand’s differentiating qualities.
The above steps are intended to help brands dive deep into what differentiates their brand
while illustrating the unique value customers will gain from the brand’s product or service. By
focusing on what brands can offer to their target market, they can create an impactful brand
positioning strategy that resonates with customers.
With well-informed and digitally savvy consumers, the need to differentiate oneself has
become increasingly important for any brand in a competitive market. Businesses constantly
strive to refine their offerings and upgrade their processes including payments, customer
service and so on.
It is also necessary to let the consumers know what truly sets the brand apart. A well-
defined brand positioning can effectively help achieve that. Most successful businesses in
addition to their great products also master the art of brand positioning.
Here’s a look at the importance and advantages of brand positioning and how it can help
your brand reach its target audience.
American marketing author and consultant, Philip Kotler has defined brand positioning as
“the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind
of the target market.”
Brand positioning is about establishing a standing for your product that positively impacts
the customer and their perception of the brand.
While carving out an image and positioning most businesses stop at differentiating
themselves from their competitors. But brand positioning entails going above and beyond to
create a unique identity for your product/offering.
Why is brand positioning important?
Brand positioning is important because it is a foundation on which several decisions
pertaining to the brand are based. A strong positioning helps create a personality and character
of the brand within a vast market. It is easier for the business to communicate with its audience
when the brand positioning is well-defined.
Even within the organisation, it helps gain clarity on how a particular product is to be
viewed and portrayed. Without a credible identity businesses often put out a confused image of
themselves and fail to reach their potential audience.
What are the different brand positioning approaches?
Businesses opt for various approaches based on their products and offerings. Here are
some of the commonly adopted ones.
Customer service: As important as it might seem, seamless customer service is hard to
find. And hence for any brand positioning itself through flawless customer service is a brilliant
strategy because most customers are highly sensitive to the response and communication they
receive while dealing with a service or product.
You must have also observed how brands that are known for impeccable response and
support usually belong to a premium category or vice versa. It indirectly helps the brand justify
its value and cost in the market.
Customer service is a great enabler but it takes a considerable time and effort to build one.
Nevertheless, it is also an equally great tool to get your customers to organically promote your
brand through word of mouth.
Cost: Companies turn to a cost or price-based brand positioning when they are confident
of offering a product that beats their competition on the pricing front. This strategy works well
when your audience base is large enough for you to retain an appealing price point without loss
in revenue.
Several brands especially in the retail space including food and fashion have risen to
popularity because of their lowest pricing offers. It is also a tricky positioning because
sustaining competitive prices for a longer period can incur losses after a point and also motivate
others to lower their prices leading to a stiff competition.
Quality: It goes without saying that any brand cannot really aspire to succeed without
giving sufficient importance to the quality of its product. However, using quality as a brand
positioning involves a particular focus on the standard of products being offered.
Businesses that position their brand based on quality are usually the niche ones with
exceptionally premium products. They usually target a smaller section of the audience that is
capable of investing in the product and do not mind the high costs.
Unique offering: A business whose brand positioning relies on a unique offering is usually
focused on continuous innovation of its product. It comes up with exclusive solutions that the
competition is unlikely to offer and makes them the core of its brand positioning.
A unique offering need not be about the entire product or service but a small aspect of it
that can potentially prove to be the biggest differentiator.
How can you create a strong brand positioning?
Here are a few steps and questions to ask when arriving at an effective positioning for your
business.
Evaluate your brand image: The first task is to be aware of how your brand is currently
positioned and perceived. You will need to evaluate your buyers and their persona, your brand
placement in the market, price comparison and so on. This will allow you to reach a specific
goal that you would want to focus on while creating a brand positioning.
Understand your competition: Competitor analysis can be a detailed process and help you
understand what they are doing right or wrong. It also clarifies your position within the market
through a thorough assessment and helps build on your strengths.
Some of the common ways of analysing are to conduct in-depth research of their
processes, interact with their products and analyse their marketing-sales strategies.
Create a value proposition: Having followed the above two steps, you will be able to get
closer to the qualities that resonate most with your brand and add value to it. You should now
zero in on a specific identity that can help you arrive at the appropriate value proposition for
your product.
A value proposition justifies the product for your consumer and motivates them to buy it.
Eventually, brand positioning is an extension of the value proposition.
Positioning statement: It is finally time to collate all the qualitative data to filter and
extract the gist that will define your brand. Having assessed your value proposition, target
audience, brand image, and competition in detail, you shall be able to arrive at the final
positioning communication for your product.
A brand positioning statement outlines what you do, how you intend to do it and the
difference you aspire to make, in very few words. It is the crux of all your research put together
that eventually decodes your identity for your target audience.
Conclusion
Crafting a compelling brand positioning is a long yet rewarding process for any business. Its
step by step approach to arrive at the final strategy also helps the business evaluate and
understand the market and competition better. Brand positioning is a journey that every
business must embark on for a long-lasting relationship with its audience.
