How do your ideal customers see you? Why should they choose you over others?
If you can’t easily answer these questions, chances are you have an unclear brand position. Without a clear position, you can’t build a memorable brand.
What is Brand Positioning?
Why Should You Care About Positioning?
How to Position Your Brand
Before you can position your brand effectively, you need to get clear on four key areas:
Ideal Customers
These are the customers you want to work with. To stay top of mind, you need to really understand who they are.Go beyond just demographics and values. Dive into their pain points, what drives them to find a solution like yours, and what they expect after they experience your brand. You can get to know your customers by conducting interviews and surveys, digging into research databases, and social listening. The goal is to understand why they’ll choose you above others.
Competitors
You can’t stand out if you don’t know who you’re up against. Every brand has competitors, whether they offer the same solution or something similar. Identify at least three competitors in your category. Research their message, value proposition, strengths, weaknesses, pricing, benefits, customer journey, and how they’re disrupting the industry.Solution
Connect your customers’ problems to your solution. This keeps you at the forefront of their minds.
Dig into all the pain points your solution addresses, what success looks like for your customers, and your unique value—which we’ll talk about next.Unique Value
Your unique value is not your service or product. It’s not the immersive tour packages, secret grandma’s recipes, or wellness retreats you design. These are only tools to help you provide that value.What’s your unique value then? It’s your answer to a specific problem or need your guests have. It focuses on how you improve their lives in a way others can’t or won’t do. It is the strategy that drives every branding decision, from your products, operations, message, marketing, partnerships, etc.
Craft Your Positioning Statement
Now that you have all the pieces, it’s time to create your brand positioning statement. A brand positioning statement is a simple way to sum up the value you bring to your ideal customers.
At Cultured Creative, we use this framework:
To [ideal customer], who [problem they face], we are [your category] that provides [your solution]. Unlike [competitor and what they do ineffectively], we offer [your unique value].
Here’s our positioning statement:
To responsible tourism businesses that struggle to stand out, we are the holistic branding studio that helps you attract mindful guests by clarifying your unique value, brand message, and design. Unlike typical agencies focused mainly on visuals, we guide you to communicate your responsible practices, foster local partnerships, and achieve sustainable growth.
Who Your Positioning Statement Is For
You might be tempted to plaster your positioning statement on your website or social media. But hold on!
A positioning statement is more of an internal guide that helps shape your brand messaging and processes. Use it as your North Star when communicating with your customers.
A Word of Caution
Brand positioning is not about making big promises. It’s about making promises you can keep. If you can’t deliver on what you say, you’ll lose trust fast—and that’s the quickest way to ruin your brand’s reputation. Feeling overwhelmed trying to nail your positioning? Our brand strategy services can help you.
by
Sarah O. Vidal
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