The art of brand positioning

I ONCE saw a year’s worth of distinctive brand positioning thrown in the garbage, just to go back to looking exactly similar (or honestly – worse) than competition. More than it hurt, I found it incredibly stupid. The problem was a board unaware of their bias.

In order to build a strong brand, you need to fit into a bucket. Come again? You need to fit into a bucket. Not literally obviously. But in the brain of your buyers.

What are you? Candy, chocolate, fair-trade chocolate, bio-chocolate, desert-chocolate, ice-cream-chocolate, chocolate for everybody or for kids, or for the rich? And if you are in B2B services: you a service platform, a subscription for, let’s say… project management. You’re “easy to use.” right? So is every other project management service. You provide “Better collaboration”? Join the club. “Flexible”? Too vague. So what are you? The tool for devs who hate meetings? Built for hybrid factories? Made for agencies who bill by the hour?

Here’s the thing: buyers need to put you in a box. Not because they’re lazy. Because their brain is. The brain wants to label you. Categorize you. Compare you.

Are you the premium option? The budget one? The niche expert?
If we can’t place you, we don’t remember you.
If we don’t remember you, we don’t buy you.

Positioning isn’t about being everything. It’s about being something – clearly, loudly, and consistently.

BUT. A BIG BUT. It does NOT mean you are the same like everyone else in your category. Quite the opposite. Within your category you stand out. For your own reasons.

And how you stand out, has to be embraced by your audience – so you make sure you hit right in the heart of your audience. Make sure though, to get your potentially biased management and board on board as well.

If your positioning isn’t sharp, no amount of sales calls or Facebook ads will fix the underlying problem.

What stands in the way of thoughtful positioning is ‘having a good product and high word-of-mouth‘. Although word-of-mouth is powerful, it’s also unpredictable. People talk about you when they understand what you stand for. But if your brand is unclear, or you’re just another “good option,” those happy customers won’t remember to advocate when it counts.

And don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can just ramp up your sales team or marketing spend to make up for it. If your positioning isn’t sharp, no amount of sales calls or Facebook ads will fix the underlying problem: buyers still won’t know why they should choose you. And when they’re comparing you to a competitor who has clearer messaging, your great product won’t be enough to tip the scale.

Positioning isn’t just about defining your difference, it’s about making sure the world sees it, and remembers it, long after your happy customers have stopped talking.

Here is a quick checklist to see if you have a strong positioning or if there is some work to do. Be aware of the flaws of your brain: it will trick you into saying ‘yes’ to all the checks. So ignore your lazy brain and activate your thinking brain, and only then, you will be able to do a fair check.

(And no cheating: it’s not about what you say, it’s about what buyers see and feel.)

• Can someone outside your company explain, without using your brand name, what you do in 1 sentence?
• Do your website, sales pitch, product, and tone all breath your brand’s difference, or is it just sitting in a deck somewhere?
• Would a buyer instantly know how you’re different from 3 competitors, based on your homepage or first meeting?
• Can you tell which category you are in? And is it a category your customer already understands, and if not – do you explain it the same way every time, consistently?
• Are you solving one clear pain point, or claiming to solve everything for everyone?
• Could your main claim or payoff be swapped with a competitor’s without anyone noticing?
• Are you making strategic sacrifices: things you don’t do, and proudly so?

Gut check: If your positioning lives only in the “about us” slide, it’s not real.
If it doesn’t affect your product, pricing, content, and sales talk, it’s just wishful thinking.

If you are interested in why bias exists and how it works, here is the link to Wikipedia.