Marketing is a mind game. What you perceive is what you believe. In the endeavour to create and build perceptions many brands have become iconic while others have completely vanished from the scene.

That is why it is extremely tricky to play with a customer’s mind and win his trust. This process is called as positioning your brand in the mind of the consumers. Positioning is all about creating a niche for your product or service using various marketing strategies that involve right pricing, advertising, packaging etc.

What are the objectives of brand positioning?

It is important to have a clear purpose behind brand positioning efforts. Some of these can be:

1. Win trust
2. Build positive perceptions
3. Differentiate your brand from others
4. Increase sales
5. Create brand equity
6. Build brand awareness

The objectives of your effort will be defined by the stage of growth your company is in. It makes sense to define your brand positioning early on in the business. A strong brand positioning will definitely help you in achieving long-term success.

Tips for successful brand positioning

Creating a strong brand positioning goes beyond just having a catchy tag line for your company or creating a wonderful logo. While these are also important for creating a brand identity, but positioning requires more efforts and time.

Some of the ways to achieve successful brand positioning are:

• Know your target audience: Understand the demographics, behaviour and attitude of your customers very well. If you understand their mindset, it will be easier to speak in a language they understand. This will help you while drafting your positioning statement.
• Do competitor research: See how your competitors are positioning their brands. Study the communication process. Try to see the loopholes. Avoid those mistakes while positioning your brand. You can learn a lot from their mistakes and the thrill of beating your competitors at the positioning game is unmatched.
• Develop a value-based positioning idea: A good advertisement can only sell your product once. You really need a very good product or service to survive in the market. If you are confident of your product, then tell the customer all its benefits at regular intervals through multiple communication channels. They should be convinced that there is immense value in spending to purchase your product or service.
• Craft a smart brand positioning statement: Once you are done with all the research about the products, consumers and competitors it is time to hit the market with your brand positioning statement. Your brand positioning statement should include elements that differentiate you from others, have a brand promise and identifies your unique value proposition.

These tips are just the starting point. We suggest you look at brand positioning of some successful companies like Apple, Nike, Amazon, Coca Cola etc. As you can see, a strong brand positioning statement is the gateway to creating successful brands that are etched in the minds of the consumers forever.