Do you want to guarantee the success of your company? Then a strong positioning strategy is essential. It helps you develop a unique identity and distinguish your products from those of your competitors. But what exactly is positioning and how do you set up a strategy for this?
What is positioning?
What is positioning? Positioning is how an organization places itself in the market to appeal to their specific target group and thus take their own place. Positioning influences how your customers perceive your organization and partly determines their preference for your brand, product or service compared to your competitors.
What is the importance of positioning for your organization?
Effective positioning offers your organization certain advantages:
- Differentiation
Positioning helps you distinguish yourself from other companies. You emphasize the unique features that distinguish your organization from other organizations and thus help you form your own identity. - Target group orientation
Strong positioning helps you focus on the specific target group you want to reach. This means you can plan more targeted marketing to reach the right users or customers. - Value creation
Through positioning you can make your product or service more attractive than that of the competition. This allows you to charge a higher price, because customers' willingness to pay depends heavily on the rating of the product or service. - Loyalty
A strong positioning that clearly distinguishes your product or service from similar products ensures that customers feel a stronger bond with your organization or product. That means you're also more likely to have these customers keep coming back and recommending your product to other users.
What is brand equity?
Brand value, also known as brand equity, represents the financial and non-financial benefits that a brand generates for a company. Brand value is measured on the basis of various factors, such as brand awareness, reputation, customer loyalty and perception of quality.
A strong brand often has a higher brand value because it is able to build more trust with customers. As a result, it often performs better than competitors. Because customers are more likely to buy products or services from a well-known and trusted brand. This leads to higher profitability and market share for the company.
The essential components of a positioning strategy
To set up a good strategy, there are a number of things that you must address in any case:
- Market segmentation
After you have identified the target groups you want to reach, segment the market based on several things. Consider demographic data, behavior, needs and wishes of users or customers. - Competitive analysis
It is important to know what the positioning of your competition is, so that you can position yours slightly differently. - Unique selling point (USP)
By carefully finding out which features are unique to your organization compared to the competition, you can sell it better. - Brand identity
Know what identity you want to radiate and convey it to the consumer via multiple methods. - Communication strategy
Make sure the channels you use match your positioning. One target group is better reached through a local newspaper, while the other target group may be more active on social media.
We will discuss these points in more detail in the step-by-step plan.
Set up a positioning strategy step by step
Step 1: Understand your target group
When setting up a positioning strategy, it is important to first conduct market research. This includes collecting data such as demographic information, purchasing behavior, interests and opinions. But you can also investigate other relevant information such as lifestyle, political preferences and media behavior.
In business-to-business, it is also useful to determine which assets your ideal target group has. For example, what size or company size it is, whether there is capital funding, the presence of certain job titles in the organization, etc.
You can use different methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups and analyzing market data. This information provides insight into what your target group finds important, what problems they want to solve and what values they are looking for in a product or service.
By delving into the customer journey, the so-called customer journey of your target group, you will also discover in which areas you can add more value. To keep the relationship warm and to be present at every step of the journey. This also allows you to influence the brand value.
Step 2: Understand your competition
Who is your biggest competition and do you understand them? Look at the strengths and weaknesses of your main competitors and analyze their positioning and marketing strategies. Who your competition is and what they do in the market influences what you need to do for your positioning.
The most important thing is to understand how you can distinguish yourself and offer your target group unique added value.
To properly plot your own positioning in the arena in which you operate, you can create a positioning matrix. You place purchasing aspects such as price or quality on the axes. Here you place your competitors and your own organization and you can better see where there is still room in the market. Also read: Positioning matrix
Step 3: Determine your USPs
Based on the market research and competitor analysis, you can determine your unique selling points (USPs). These are the specific advantages that distinguish your organization from your competition and that meet the wishes of your target group.
Examples of a USP are: superior quality, innovative features, excellent customer service, environmental friendliness or unique pricing. Your USP should be relevant and credible, but most importantly it should set you apart from your competition.
Step 4: Determine your desired brand identity and positioning
Based on your USPs you can define the desired brand identity and positioning. This includes determining the personality, values, key messages and desired associations with which you want to communicate as an organization.
It's about creating an emotional connection with your target group and ensuring that your brand is consistent in all communications to your target group.
Elements that you can include in your brand identity are:
- The history of the organization: which markers and milestones have been important for the organization?
- Focus: what is important for the organization? What are the key points around which everything revolves?
- Competences: what is the organization good at? Or what is the organization better at than competitors?
- What is the vision and mission from the organization? About the industry, the future and the role of the organization in it?
- What is the culture from the organization? What are the manners like? What is important?
The values of the organization: what is important, what do we stand for, what are the common denominators?
Step 5: Develop a communications strategy
Developing an effective communication strategy is essential to successfully convey your positioning to your target group. Determine the best communication channels to reach your target group. This includes (a mix of) social media, advertisements, public relations, content marketing and events.
Develop messages that reinforce your positioning and ensure that you are consistent in your identity throughout. Consider the different stages of the customer journey with all steps from the first contact to the purchase decision. And tailor your communications based on the needs of your target group at every part of that journey.
Step 6: Implement your positioning strategy
The final step is actually implementing your strategy. Make sure you are consistent in all your communications, both online and offline. Consider your website, social media, advertising materials and customer service. But also the packaging and all other points of contact with the consumer.
Train your employees to understand and convey your positioning in their interactions with customers. Accept feedback from your target group and adjust your positioning where necessary to better meet their needs. Any positioning strategy needs regular evaluation to adapt to a changing market environment.
Also read: What is the MDC model? and The Knoster model and Positioning matrix
Need help with positioning issues?
Determining good positioning does not happen overnight and can be a challenging task. Do you need help putting these tips into practice? Then take Contact contact us, we are happy to help you!