Brand positioning is defined as the conceptual place that you want to own in your target customer’s mind; the benefits you want them to think about when they think of your brand and how they talk about you with other people. In order to have an effective brand positioning strategy you need to maximise customer relevancy and competitive distinctiveness. You need to apply the same research criteria by analysing your competition in much the same way as you would analyse your own business model, utilising any forms of visual communications open or available to you. However, in order to position your brand so it becomes an intangible or emotive product or service, you first need to understand your UVP or unique value proposition.
This is a clear statement that describes the benefits of your offer, how you solve your customer’s needs and what distinguishes you from the competition. It is notably different from your USP or unique selling proposition, which is a marketing strategy to make unique propositions to customers that will convince them to switch brands or stay with your one. From a visual communications perspective you need to ascertain how consistent your brand collateral is by analysing elements like; language, colour, your style of imagery and how you use typography. These then need to align with your vision, mission and value statements to create a UVP that enables you to differentiate yourself from the competition.
When you think about it, a product generally sits at the tangible or rational side of the illustration (above), whereas a service sits on the opposite side. However, if you take a product like Apple, they have cleverly positioned themselves on the intangible and emotional side of the illustration even though they produce a product. The tangible or ‘assets approach’ will always be subject to price in order to gain market space, where the emotional or Apple approach gets you to buy into their tagline of Think Differently and price becomes irrelevant. Therefore, having a clear mission, vision, purpose and values that drive the business, makes your service or product the right solution provider to your customers challenge or problem.