What is needed for successful positioning?
The number of products and brands on the market has exploded in recent years. Today, a clear and well thought-out positioning is crucial if you want to be top-of-mind with your brand and products in the minds of your customers and target groups.
Clear positioning
A normal person is exposed to more than 3000 advertising messages per day. To sort out life, the brain needs structure, we select, choose and reject, we sort and categorize, we compare and pair. Most of the time we do this unconsciously and most of the impressions we encounter are filtered out. To remain in consciousness or to be attracted to consciousness, you need to be top-of-mind. The brain only has room for a number of brands in each category.
Defining your place
Positioning is the process by which a company defines and conquers or defends a particular place for the company/brand/products/services in the minds of its customers. Once a company has chosen its position, all communication needs to contribute to strengthening the chosen position. The fact that positioning is an important ingredient in the company's branding and development work is shown not least by the many efforts to create a uniform definition.
Moving their marketable difference
In the book The Brand as Carrier, Frans Melin talks about that "Positioning aims to bribe a unique position into the consumer's consciousness. Distinctive positioning is generally characterized by having been based on the same core value for a long time". Al Ries and Jack Trout say in Positioning the battle for your mind "To occupy a territory of our own for the brand in the minds of our customers". Someone unknown has said that "Positioning is the art of moving one's marketable difference from the boardroom to the brains of the target audience".
Model for statement
A positioning statement should be written in a format so that it includes an identification of the market, the market needs, the category, the benefits that you can offer as a brand and how you will differentiate yourself from your competitors. A model could be: For (target groups) that (need or opportunity), (our brand) can deliver (key benefits) unlike competing brands. An example that roughly follows the model is Volvo's positioning statement:
"to upper income, other brand switcher car buyers, volvo is a differentiated brand of prestige automobiles that offers the benefit of safety as well as prestige. the communication for volvo should empazise safety and performance and mus mention prestige as an entry ticket to the category and will downplay its previous family-car oirentation in the interest of appealing to a broader range of users"
Long-term, methodical work
At Navigator, we have helped many companies and brands to identify, clarify and strengthen their positioning in the market. We work methodically and involve both the marketing and management teams to ensure that the positioning becomes part of the structure and culture of the company.
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