Brand Positioning: A difficult but imperative task for a winning brand strategy

World is a cluttered place. When it comes to business world it is even more cluttered with so many brands talking or trying to talk so many different languages while targeting the same set of consumers. As a Brand owner have you ever thought how confused your consumers are? What make them choose a brand when they go shopping or go choosing a product or services offered by various brands?

For example... Brand “A” sells a food product which is priced at 10 USD and Brand “B” Sells the same product with little less or similar features at 15 USD but Brand “B” sells more than Brand “A” even with higher price.

Here the question arises; why price does not become a decisive factor in a consumer’s buying decision in this case? Answer is; here consumers perceive brand “B” as a brand which takes care of health and hygiene in their products and that becomes a differentiator and gives Brand “B” a competitive advantage over Brand A

How could a brand get important decisive advantage is important for all of us to know?

It is a clear and distinct positioning of Brand “B” which works in their favour. They are making the same product with similar benefits as Brand “A” but they have positioned themselves to be a brand for healthy and hygienic food.

What is Brand Positioning? How does it work?

Positioning is a step of brand creation and brand building process where a unique competitive differentiation about the brand is explored, created and then strongly communicated to build a distinct & meaningful image of the brand in the target consumer’s mind.

Positioning is often confused with Core Business Idea/Value but major difference is Positioning talks about unique benefits associated with the offerings which helps the brand create its identity other than its competition and give its target consumer a reason to buy its product offerings whereas Core business idea is just about the product and services offered by the brand which is relevant to the market. Core business idea can be the same for various companies but Positioning must be unique for all the brand’s to survive in today’s highly competitive market.

A brand should not be trying to be everything to everyone; it may not be exciting to any particular target group of consumers but at the same time it could be very aspiring and relevant to certain target groups. For example, In India, Fastrack markets itself as a brand for wild and reckless youth who does not care a damn about tradition and want to break away from traditional value or mundane things. It loses it sales among 30+ age group people who wants to look decent and does not want to associate with wild things or respects traditions; but it increase its overall market share by getting more young teenagers to buy its accessories products than other brands, since they believe it is unique and made for them.

Need of the hour is to get a correct positioning for your brand which communicates the benefits to a relevant target group and makes itself unique for them.