Ever since people started pushing their products to the market, branding became an incredible part of entrepreneurship. Whether they were aware of it or not, marketers always tried to find a way to set themselves apart from the competition and manage the way how their customers perceive them. Brand positioning, or in other words, the process of finding the proper audience to which the products and services will be most successfully marketed, was always an important part of this process.
Naturally, as our society grew and the technologies we use to interact with each other changed, branding and brand positioning evolved to suit the new circumstances. Let’s take a look at five crucial hints that will help you understand how brand positioning works in 2019.
Crowd culture gives birth to niche markets
Ever since our society experienced the rise of mass media, the communication between marketers and consumers was mostly one-way. The marketing messages that were used for brand positioning were presented to a large population. These days, in the age of social media, distinct groups of consumers that were previously marginalized and geographically isolated are in a position to interact with others and build virtual communities.
This drastically changes how the brand positioning works since new sub-markets which can be easily tapped-into are emerging with each passing day. This gives SMBs a much stronger fighting chance since they are no longer competing in vast, unified arenas.
The approach to branding becomes more holistic
The other side of this easy-access-to-media coin comes in the form of saturation. Everyone is capable of marketing anywhere. That is why the process of branding and positioning needs to be much more carefully crafted. Namely, if they aspire to be competitive, the products need to be crafted with branding in mind. That includes even things like design, name, and logo.
Once they are devised this way, they are already fit for marketing to different marketing niches. This development also brought the change in the ranks of branding companies that now need to deliver holistic packages instead of simple marketing campaigns. If you want a clear example, you can check this brand agency from Melbourne out to see the all-encompassing list of services they provide.
Content marketing as a powerful medium for brand positioning
In this day and age, brands are no longer perceived as the companies that provide their consumers with products and services, but more as research platforms where products are just a part of the overall offer. For instance, according to recent research by MarketingCharts, as much as 75% of B2B buyers want branded content that helps them research business ideas.
Here lies the true power of branded content. By carefully designing the topics that will be covered by published content, businesses can easily reach out to different customer groups and establish themselves as authorities in particular niches.
Reframing is a viable strategy
Once they are choosing the positioning strategy, brands usually choose two-predominant routes – going head-to-head with their direct competitors, or avoiding the fight and either focusing on sub-markets or building new markets from scratch.
However, reframing the market, which means exploring new possibilities of existing markets with new features or fresh takes on the already existing ideas, has proved to be increasingly viable in the previous years. To put it simply, the landscape of niche markets can only grow so far, so taking into account the product’s long-term development and exploring new solutions for existing problem creates a more stable and sustainable economy.
The importance of being unique
People find it much easier relating to other people that faceless corporations. That is why discovering your business’s unique personality and using it as a tool for brand positioning should be one of your absolute priorities, especially in its initial stages.
Even when that’s not the case, analyzing the current position of a brand in the market can help them determine where they currently stand in the market and use the knowledge to influence the customer opinion to their benefit.
Some of the questions you need to ask to properly identify your brand’s personality are:
- What is your intended target audience?
- What makes you different from the competition?
- Does your brand have a unique voice?
- What is your brand’s persona?
- What is your brand’s mission?
- Do you have key value propositions?
We hope these few insights will help you reach a better understanding of how brand positioning works in this streamlined day and age and possibly inspire you to devise a strong strategy to carve out your piece of the market. All of your marketing efforts will be much more effective if you know what are the doors you need to knock on.
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