In the world of branding, many people talk about positioning. Few understand it.
Brand positioning is a promise and it is foundational. Positioning gives a brand clarity about where it is in relation to other brands (usually their competitors) and helps the brand develop a map towards the type of brand they want
to be.
There are some common mistakes with brand positioning exercise.
Hubris.
Often there is a misunderstanding of who competitors actually are.
End-ism.
Often people come out of a brand positioning process assuming that by defining where a brand is, the process can end. While it’s crucial to be clear on where a brand is starting, brand positioning is only really useful if it develops a framework of meaningful actions a brand can take to move towards a positioning that is more sustainable over time.
1st person.
So often people confuse the power of their positioning work, based on what they themselves have defined. It’s crucial to think (and listen) in 3rd person. A brand is not what it says about itself, but what others say about it.
So the exercises are broken into three phases.
→ Where is the brand today
→ What should the brand be tomorrow
→ How do we get there.
Don’t forget, human beings can not (and will not) use a thesaurus to unpick your brand. Use real language and do real things that people can actually talk about.
Brand positioning is not an end, but setting a destination and then planning the route you’ll use to get there.
