Positioning is a key driver of a brand’s success. Clear brand positioning in the market creates preferences among customers and permanently differentiates the brand from the competition. This is the basis for profitable growth with the brand.
Brand positioning gets to the heart of your brand identity and your brand values. It focuses on what your brand does particularly well, what sets it apart from the competition, and what is relevant to your customers. Brand positioning is the art of focusing on the essentials. This is the basis for successful implementation and a clear brand image as a growth driver.
The motto is: less is more! You should be able to name the positioning of your brand in one word or in a short sentence.
Especially because markets, technologies, customer and competitive behavior are constantly changing, brand positioning must be regularly put to the test and adjusted if necessary.
Avoiding the pitfalls of developing an effective brand positioning requires a great deal of experience and a systematic process. We are happy to support you with our expertise and the experience gained from countless successfully implemented positioning projects. As pioneers for the success of your brand, we will help you to set a clear focus. Rely on our know-how from 30 years of research and practice with more than 700 national and international projects. With authentic brand positioning, we establish a unique and relevant place in the minds of your customers. This way, we pave the way for a clear and preference-defining brand image in the minds of your target groups. This is the best possible foundation for a successful implementation in the company and with your customers.
To properly position brands in the marketplace, it is important to have an understanding of brand positioning. Successfully establishing a brand in the marketplace requires a toolbox of brand identity, brand values and a positioning set.
Brand positioning is part of brand management and the core of brand strategy. Brand positioning serves to conquer a unique and relevant place in the minds of customers, which differentiates one’s own brand from competitor brands. The aim is to be so attractive as a brand from the customer’s point of view that it is preferred over competitors.
The basis for developing brand positioning is formed by the brand identity and the essential brand values derived from it, which shape the DNA of the brand.
Positioning means focusing, i.e. concentrating on a few relevant characteristics where the brand should be perceived better than the competitors. Many companies find it difficult to focus. In a B2B study conducted by ESCH. The Brand Consultants, responsible managers named an average of more than ten positioning attributes for their brand, including generalities such as quality, service and reliability.
In the simplest case, positioning can be expressed in one word. A positioning statement should not be long and sprawling. It should be short and crisp. Miller’s motto applies: 7+/-2. This means that the positioning statement should comprise a maximum of seven plus or minus two words. Brevity and conciseness are the soul of wit. Frosch stands for sustainability and well-being, Hilti for performance and durability, Victoria Secret for seduction: a word that should guide. A word that should differentiate. A word with relevance for the target groups. A word that resonates with the target group and a word that is consistently implemented in everything the brand does: from the store, to the products, their packaging, the communication and even the shopping bag, which is designed in the colors of seduction. Google also has a clear positioning: it is “simple search”.
Positioning therefore also means dropping dead weight. Points of Parity” and “Points of Difference” must be defined, specifically: Where do we want to be better than the competition and how can we achieve this (= Points of Difference) and where do we not want to be significantly worse or equally good as the competition (= Points of Parity). Certainly, a Mercedes-Benz drives as fast as a BMW, but the points of difference for Mercedes-Benz are prestige and safety rather than speed. Granted, BMW is also safe, but the points of difference with Mercedes-Benz are rather sportiness, dynamics and joy.
Of course, focusing is always associated with the risk of positioning oneself too tightly or too cramped. There is also often the question of whether a rational or an emotional focus, or a mixture of the two, is the best way to go. Therefore, a sound process for deriving the positioning is necessary. Without focus, you leave it up to the customer to decide what your brand stands for. At worst, no clear image of the brand emerges at all.
This often finds expression in communicative uniformity within an industry. But then it becomes difficult for customers to form preferences for a brand. Therefore, the following applies: The focus arises from the strength of the brand and with a view to customer relevance.
We go through a consistent analysis process with you and clarify the following questions in order to derive a clear brand positioning:
Many relevant positions in the market are already occupied. The second or third in the same position will have a hard time developing their own profile. In that case, independent implementation will determine success. If, on the other hand, a brand is clearly positioned, managers are well advised to start from there and continue to build and expand it, rather than making risky changes of direction. Many iconic brands such as Porsche, Louis Vuitton, Rolex or Lego have never abandoned their position, but have worked on it in line with the spirit of the times.
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