Create a Brand Position Statement


Like a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis (covered in our previous blog post, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis), positioning statements are vital for businesses to craft a strategic marketing plan. They determine competitive advantage and find ways to support and enhance the business' Value Proposition with consumers.

How Brand Positioning Statements are Used

A Brand Positioning Statement is a strategic analysis that details the value of your organization’s brand and what it will bring to the marketplace.

The importance of brand positioning impacts all companies, no matter the size of an organization. A local flower shop, a regional grocery store chain, or an international product manufacturer can all benefit from proper brand positioning. 

• It is at the heart of a strategic marketing plan that provides guidance for forming your organization's overall strategy:
  • Establish your brand’s reputation with consumers
  • Differentiate your product or service from competitors
  • Determine how consumers view your company and the ability of its products or services to suit and meet their needs.
• When it comes down to dollars and sense, the Brand Positioning Statement can determine how much consumers will be willing to pay for your products or services — if it is crafted correctly.

Get it Right
Don’t get lost in the "wonder, beauty, and magnificence” of your Brand Positioning Statement. Though it may look and sound fantastic, without a reality check to support its claims, the Brand Positioning Statement may express a false sense of worth. If that is the case, the statement will lose credibility.

The Brand Positioning Statement should always follow other key aspects outlined by your Strategic Marketing Plan — the brand strategy, market segmentation, and consumer targeting. When adhering to these factors, an organization can seek to position its brand most effectively and support the claims made in the statement.

Align Your Brand Position Compass
There is prep work that you need to complete before you’re able to craft your Brand Positioning Statement. The tasks are outlined in three easy-to-follow steps:

1. Considering the Three Cs of Marketing
This step generally defines your audience, competitors, and your company’s brand, putting them into three buckets. 

• Consumers: The prospects and clients you have chosen to serve.
• Competitors: Knowing the competition will help you identify the differentiators that you can use to support specific claims that are believable to consumers and clients.
• Company: This is about ensuring that the Brand Positioning Statement is realistic and can be delivered reliably to customers.
   

2. Identify the Who, What, and Why
This step provides an opportunity to refine the focus on the target audience, the need driving them to want to purchase your offer, and the value your product or service provides.

• Who is the audience that you are targeting? This is the segment of the population you will be marketing to and can most benefit from the product or service you are offering. The “What’s in it for me” factor will include features and attributes that will set what you offer apart. These features will resonate in their minds when they think of your brand. 
• What is the need you are serving? What problem is your product or service solving for the consumer?    
• Why should your audience believe you? This question is the differentiator that sets your product or service from competitors. This question is a vital component for crafting a successful Brand Positioning Statement. A properly crafted “why” is all about strategy, not tactics. If this becomes more about the tactics, then neglecting why your audience will believe you can overshadow meeting your audience’s needs.
   

3. Identify the statement’s goals as viewed by your consumers.
This last step requires you to focus on defining the goals your brand will provide to consumers and can include value proposition identifiers:

• Good value
• A market leader
• A challenger to the marketplace, you can use tags like “different” or “newer.”
   

Additional Food for Thought About Brand Position Compass Alignment
Depending on your business and the scope of your market, this analysis stage can be straightforward or somewhat complex.

The more insights you can bring to the table when addressing these questions regarding market research and consumer experiences — the more refined and impactful your Brand Positioning Statement will be.

Five Brand Factors to Craft a Brand Positioning Statement
After you complete the three alignment steps, you will use those results to craft the Five Brand Factors of your Statement:

1. Your Brand.
   What is the name of the product or service? 
2. Unique Product or Service Category.
   How does your brand fit into the marketplace?
3. Target Audience.
   Who are the consumers that will benefit most from your product or service?
4. Primary Benefit of Your Brand’s Offering.
   What is the offering that differentiates your product or service from competitors? How does that resonate in consumers’ minds? More importantly, what does it provide to fulfil their needs?
5. Credibility Statement.
   Your brand’s credibility statement conveys the experience your product or service will bring to the marketplace. It inspires an anticipated feeling of success the consumer will expect if they use or buy it.

The "Fill-in-the-Blank" Brand Positioning Statement
Once you complete the Five Factors, it's just a matter of filling in the blanks in the Brand Positioning Statement template below.
  
{Insert target audience} trust {insert your brand} as the {insert unique product or service category} that {insert primary benefit} because {insert your brand} is the best way to {insert credibility statement}.

Examples of Other Businesses Brand Positioning Statement
Below are examples of Brand Positioning Statements that you can use for reference.

Service: Hair Salon

1. Your Brand: Style Now, A Full-service Hair Salon
2. Unique Product or Service: One-stop-shop for all hair and beauty needs
3. Target Audience: Women and men, ages 2 to 70, living within a 10-mile radius of our shop
4. Primary Benefit: Custom styling services
5. Credibility Statement: We offer hair stylings to enhance our client’s appearance and beauty — to instil more confidence in themselves and their appearance.

Brand Positioning Statement:
Women, men and kids of all ages in the Anytown area can count on Style Now to be their one-stop shop for all their hair and beauty needs. We offer custom styling services to enhance our client’s appearance and beauty to instil more confidence in themselves.

Products and Services: Financial Services

1. Your Brand: Really-Great Financial Advisors
2. Unique Product or Service: Retirement Planning, Trusts, and Estate Planning
3. Target Audience: Individuals nearing retirement
4. Primary Benefit: Dedicated Financial Advisors and Specialized Financial Plans

5. Credibility Statement: We ensure that our clients will meet and exceed all of their financial goals

Brand Positioning Statement:
Clients nearing retirement can trust Really-Great Financial Advisors to help them confidently navigate major financial goals like Retirement, Trusts, and Estate planning. Really- Great Financial Advisors offers dedicated financial advisors and specialized financial plans to ensure you meet and exceed all your financial goals.

More than a Mission Statement, Brand Positioning is a statement about your Mission.
Using this template should make crafting your brand identity straightforward. Keep in mind the following points when preparing your statement: 

• The most effective Brand Identity Statements are brief and to the point. 
  Follow the KISS Method, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
• Try to make it memorable but remain true to your company’s core values.
  Remember, don’t get lost in the "wonder, beauty, and magnificence" of the statement.
• A team think-tank can generate clarity and strategy.
  Using a whiteboard and consulting with colleagues about crafting this statement is okay.
• Nothing is set in stone.
  You can complete Your Brand Positioning Statement by filling in the blanks in the template above. However, this sample is only meant to be provided as a guide. If this template doesn’t feel right for your business, feel free to alter the positioning and wording of the template and the Five Factors to suit your organization’s needs. 
   

Wrapping up this Post
Like the SWOT Analysis, don’t let the Brand Positioning Statement’s simplicity fool you . . . it’s an effective tool that provides ways to identify areas of opportunity and growth for your business. 

How often your organization should develop a Brand Positioning Statement depends on your business. It would be best to draft a Brand Positioning Statement at least once a year when you revisit crafting your Strategic Operations and Marketing plan or when a new product or service launch occurs.

If you have any comments or would like to respond to this post, please feel free to do so. I would love to receive your thoughts and feedback.