Brand Discovery & Positioning
What product or service are you selling? In what is known as a S.W.O.T. review, we probe and consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your company and offerings, as well as your competition. Ask yourself, "How does a brand define itself in the marketplace? Why does a brand matter? What product or service are they selling? Who could it matter to? When might the customer need it?"
Simply stated, brand positioning takes a product, service, company, or person, defines its key benefits and what makes it unique, considers who would care to have it, and presents it in the most impactful and meaningful way to its target in order to gain their favor. These benefits and unique qualities are gathered in one place: the Positioning Statement.
Learning these things through observation, brand discovery, and/or market research can help you strategize a marketing approach that highlights your strengths, giving you your best chance for success. This is your best position to compete to win — the hearts, minds, wallets, and loyalty of customers. You can practice your skills with focus and determination. You can have a breakthrough product. You can even offer an innovative service. But what will truly elevate you and distinguish you from your competition is knowing the strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies—yours and your competitors'. Learning these things—through observation and/or market research—can help you strategize a marketing approach that highlights your strengths—giving you your best chance for success.
Strategy: the who, what, when, where, and why.
Without those, it's next to impossible to market anything with real effectiveness. Think of light bulbs. What makes one better than another? How much brightness will it give off? How long will it last? Is it more economical? Or a new phone. How is it better than everything out there now? What's the cost? Why should I switch from an established brand to this one? Coke or Pepsi? Apple or Microsoft? Advil or Motrin?
Strategy is the thing that differentiates a brand from its competition. Strategy defines the brand. It places a product or service in a unique position in the marketplace. It's from that position—and through it—that the product finds its market…and, with any luck, vice versa.
Download Tom McManimon's book The Position Player.
