In the US, there were roughly 500 SaaS businesses in 2007. When we fast-forward to 2023, there are 17,000 presently. Between 2005 and 2023, the number of small enterprises increased from 25.8 million to 33.2 million. With these gains, competition is increasing. Additionally, you need to have excellent branding and solid brand positioning in order to compete favorably.

This post will explain brand positioning, its significance, how to draft a strong brand positioning statement and provide instances of successful brand positioning in businesses.

What Is Brand Positioning? 

Establishing a certain position or perception within an industry and creating and expressing a brand’s distinctive value proposition in comparison to competitors are referred to as brand positioning.

Its primary goals are to set a brand apart from competitors, demonstrate its relevance and legitimacy in the marketplace, and shape consumer preferences and perceptions.

Brand positioning and value proposition are two marketing concepts that work closely together to shape a brand’s identity and competitive advantage. 

While brand positioning is about creating a distinct position in the market, the value proposition is about communicating the specific value and benefits that your brand offers to customers.  

Simply put, brand positioning should lay the foundation for your brand’s identity, while the value proposition articulates the unique value and reasons for customers to choose your brand over your competitors. 

To eliminate any confusion, let’s see what these concepts would look like in a fictional example. Let’s say we have a company that manufactures and sells smartphones with the brand name – “Xerio”. 

• Brand Positioning  

Xerio is a premium brand that positions itself as a pioneer in technology solutions in the smartphone market. Its brand positioning focuses on being the brand of choice for tech-savvy consumers who value high-tech innovations, slick style, and superior user experience.  

Xerio differentiates itself from competitors by emphasizing its commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology and delivering high-quality products to its customers. 

• Value Proposition   

The Xerio value proposition highlights its distinctive smartphone features, such as: 

• Advanced camera systems  
• Photonic crystal displays 
• Nanotech batteries 
• Liquid buttons 

Xerio’s value proposition aims to provide not only functional benefits but also emotional ones, such as the pride of owning a premium device and being at the forefront of technological breakthroughs. To sum things up, the brand positioning of Xerio establishes it as a leader in the smartphone market in tech innovation and design.  

Meanwhile, their value proposition aligns with their positioning by putting the focus on delivering a superior user experience through advanced features and intuitive functionality.  

If your company doesn’t have a distinct brand identity, it could become commoditized. What was the outcome? Your profit margins deteriorate as a result of having to compete on pricing.

On the other hand, a strong brand position encourages client loyalty. It encourages buyers to purchase your goods even if they are more expensive than those of competitors. However, how precisely does brand positioning foster client loyalty? Here’s how to do it:

You can target and serve a certain target population with your marketing efforts if you have a clearly defined brand position. What was the result? This audience and you develop a close relationship, and they grow to love your brand.

How To Create A Brand Positioning Statement For Your Business 

Your USP and the sector you intend to launch your company will have a significant impact on your brand positioning statement. To portray your company in the best possible light and demonstrate to your audience what you “bring to the table,” you can, nevertheless, create a brand positioning statement by adhering to these six broad guidelines.

• 1. Set Your Vision 

Your brand vision serves as a guiding principle, aligning your brand’s strategies and actions while motivating and inspiring both internal and external stakeholders. 

Here is what to do when you are in the process of establishing the vision for your brand: 

• Summarize what you want to achieve and the impact you want to make in the market 
• Consider the long-term goals and aspirations of your brand 
• Ensure that your vision speaks to the needs and desires of your target audience 

• 2. Keep It Simple 

Keeping your brand positioning statement simple is crucial for clarity, memorability and effective communication. 

Here’s how to ensure you create a straightforward brand positioning statement: 

• Focus on the core message: Identify the key message or value proposition you want to present to your audience and condense this message to its core components.  
• Use plain language: Choose simple, straightforward language. Try to avoid technical terms, industry jargon or complex vocabulary that may confuse or alienate your audience. Use words and phrases that resonate with your audience and clearly convey the intended meaning. 
• Test for understanding: Share your brand positioning statement with your target audience and ask for feedback. If they report difficulty in grasping the key message or find the statement confusing, finetune it for clarity and simplicity. 
• Align your statement internally: Ensure that your entire team, from employees to stakeholders, understands and embraces your brand positioning statement.  

• 3. Make Your Statement Unique & Memorable 

A unique and memorable brand positioning statement sets your brand apart from competitors and leaves a lasting impression on your target audience. It also enhances brand recall, encourages word-of-mouth marketing and provides great storytelling potential. 

Read Also: 40 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

Here is how to make a one-of-a-kind brand positioning statement: 

• Identify the distinctive qualities, benefits or experiences that make your brand special. 
• Use language and messaging that evokes emotions and connects with consumers on a deeper level. 
• Ensure that your brand positioning is consistently communicated across all touchpoints, including your website, marketing materials, social media channels and more. 
• Conduct thorough market research to understand your competitors’ positioning and to ensure your brand stands out and offers a distinct value proposition.  

• 4. Remain True To Your Business’ Core Values 

Remaining true to your business’s core values helps you build your authenticity and integrity and installs trust in your audience. 

It is important to create a brand positioning statement that shows you “practice what you preach” and align it with your company’s fundamental principles and ethics. 

• 5. Include What Your Brand Delivers To Consumers 

You should aim to include what your brand delivers to consumers in your positioning statement and also communicate the value and benefits your audience can expect from choosing your brand.  

You’ve already put in the majority of the effort necessary to draft your positioning statement by doing your 3Cs research and selecting your positioning strategy. To direct your investigation and transform your results into a powerful branding statement, use this 8-step method.

1. Define your target audience: Resist the urge to focus on a broad market segment. “Focus on the smallest possible cohesive subset of your market… with users that desperately need what you’re doing,” Sam Altman recommends.
2. Identify your audience’s primary concern: Rank prospects’ problems in order of importance and focus on solving their most pressing problem.
3. Find and analyze your dominant competitors: Ask your prospects how they currently solve their problems. You might find that your real competitors differ from those you had in mind.
4. Determine your primary benefit: Ensure this benefit addresses prospects’ primary concern. This lets you craft messaging that cuts through the noise.
5. Know your key differentiator: Brainstorm how to differentiate your brand from competitors. Successful positioning requires you to make a unique claim.
6. Have a credibility statement: What will you tell prospects to convince them you’ll deliver on the promised benefit?
7. Draft your positioning statement: Brainstorm your unique positioning statement using this template as a guide: {Insert target audience} trust {insert your brand} as the {insert unique product or service category} that {insert primary benefit} because {insert your brand} is the best way to {insert credibility statement}.
8. Test your positioning statement: Confirm your positioning statement resonates with the target audience. You can achieve this by soliciting feedback from colleagues, prospects, and customers.

Brand Positioning Preparation

Gaining a knowledge of the foundations is necessary before developing your brand positioning plan. The three C’s of brand positions and popular brand positioning techniques are covered in the following sections.

Brand Positioning Strategies

Below are six positioning strategies that brands use.

• Price-Based Positioning

Here, you position your product as the most affordable option. The challenge with this strategy is that it makes you vulnerable to price wars. Differentiating based on price could also be a race to the bottom because your profit margins may reduce, and this can make your business unsustainable.

• Quality-Based Positioning

This strategy involves emphasizing your product as higher quality. Anyone can claim to have a higher quality product, so your products must blow competitors out of the water to succeed.

• Purpose-Driven Positioning

Many companies have a mission statement, but fewer infuse it into their marketing communications. That’s a mistake because “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it,” as Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, points out. Fulfilling your brand’s purpose helps you connect with customers emotionally, inspiring their loyalty.

• Competition-Based Positioning

Here, you single out some competitors and explicitly state why you’re better than them. This is daring, but when executed correctly, it lets you leverage your competitor’s brand awareness to grow yours.

• Features-Based Positioning

In this strategy, you highlight your strengths. This can include features or product characteristics that competitors don’t provide. The messaging here is typically subtle and non-confrontational.

• Customer-Service Positioning

According to Khoros, 83% of customers say they are loyal to brands that provide excellent customer service. Despite the desire for exceptional experiences, excellent customer service is rare in many verticals. A dedicated customer service team is a compelling differentiator for companies in such industries.

The 3 C’s Of Brand Positions

Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese strategy expert, developed the 3C model. This framework highlights what to consider for creating a competitive brand positioning statement.

• Customer

Effective positioning requires understanding your target audience’s most pressing problem. So ask yourself: “Who do you hope to serve, and what problems do they have?”

• Competitors

To differentiate yourself from competitors, you must first know their strategies. So study your competitors — their products, messaging, and positioning. Heed this 40-year-old advice that some marketers and founders continue to neglect:

“Many companies embark on marketing and advertising as if the competitor’s position did not exist. They advertise their products in a vacuum and are disappointed when their messages fail to get through.”

Al Ries and Jack Trout, authors of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.

• Company

This is where the rubber hits the road. It involves defining your strengths and challenging yourself to find ways to better serve your customers compared to the competitors.

Types Of Brand Positioning Strategy  

We can typically differentiate between the following three brand position strategies: 

• 1. Comparative 

The comparative brand positioning strategy focuses on the competitive edge of your product by juxtaposing its features alongside other competing brands. This strategy aims to showcase the superiority or advantage of your brand over its competitors. 

For instance, our fictional brand Xerio’s comparative strategy would highlight the superior features of their smartphones, such as advanced camera systems, photonic crystal displays, nanotech batteries and liquid buttons as key differentiators.  

In a nutshell, a comparative positioning strategy emphasizes the unique value proposition of your brand compared to its competitors, whether it’s through pricing, quality, features or rewards programs. 

• 2. Differentiation  

A differentiation strategy is a marketing approach that focuses on creating a unique and distinct identity for your brand or business in order to stand out in the market. This strategy focuses on offering something that your competitors do not or cannot offer to give your customers a compelling reason to choose your particular product.  

Our Xerio brand would differentiate itself in the smartphone market through proprietary technology and attaining exclusive partnerships. It would emphasize its commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology and delivering high-quality products.

• 3. Segmentation 

The segmentation brand positioning strategy divides the market into different groups based on their characteristics or needs. It then customizes marketing efforts to effectively target and engage each segment.  

This approach helps you acknowledge that diverse consumer groups may have specific preferences, behaviors or requirements, even for the same product or brand. 

For example, Xerio’s segmentation strategy could target heavy social media users by promoting features that enhance social media experiences, or business professionals by highlighting productivity tools and seamless connectivity options.