The third step in developing strong Brand fundamentals is the creation of the Brand’s Positioning statement. In today’s competitive landscape, establishing a differentiated brand identity is crucial. One of the key strategies to achieve this is through effective brand positioning. Brand positioning refers to the strategic process of defining how a brand differentiates itself in the market and occupies a unique, credible, and sustainable place in consumers' minds. The goal of this process is to find a Brand’s Blue Ocean.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, provides a strategic framework for businesses to achieve high growth and profitability by creating new, uncontested market spaces, referred to as "blue oceans." A “blue ocean” denotes untapped market spaces ripe for innovation, where competition is not relevant. Therefore, companies can create demand rather than fighting over it. Conversely, a “red ocean” is where companies compete in an existing market space, leading to cutthroat competition and limited growth.
Brand positioning is not just about standing out in the marketplace but about creating a meaningful connection, guiding strategic decisions, and building a foundation for sustainable growth and success. There are five components of a well-developed Brand Positioning. They are:
Competitive Understanding – appreciation for competitive strengths and weaknesses.
Strategic Consumer Insight –identifies the specific unmet needs or desires.
Brand Purpose – is driven by the value identified by the Brand Purpose.
Differentiation – separates itself from competition through sustainable differentiation.
Creativity – strategically goes beyond the standard industry attributes.
Credibility – it is believable to the target.
Sustainability – can endure the test of time (not trendy).
Creating a strong, well thought through Brand positioning is not simple. However, when the exercise is done after the Strategic Target Insight and Brand Purpose exercises are completed, along with a simple deep dive into competitive positioning, it becomes easier (not easy).
Assessing competitive positioning is important. Finding a Blue Ocean starts with understanding where competition plays. You may be surprised that once the assessment is performed, you will notice that many competitors play in the same space. In every industry, the “first-to-market” competitor establishes the battlefield. The next entrants to the market begin to take a Follower Mentality. The copy the industry leader with the idea of “fishing where the fish are.” They traditionally offer similar features with similar benefits. The try and differentiate based on Branding. They may also begin to implement Penetration Pricing strategies (discounted promotions to steal your customers). The Follower Mentality creates a “Red Ocean.” They claim that their services are “better”, higher quality or efficacy. These are what is called “Superiority Claims.” (I will discuss why I am not a fan of Superiority Claims in another blog.) Everybody claims they are better therefore making such claims commoditizing rather than differentiating. The real battle begins to be based on pricing or discounted promotion. This is the definition of “Red Ocean.” As we all know, reduced pricing or increased discounting removes profit from the category thereby the winner is the Brand with the greatest operational efficiency. Finding a “Blue Ocean” for your brand allows you to focus on the quality benefit your brand provides rather than the price benefit. What if you are the “first-to-market” brand? We can discuss that separately, but it does involve Creative Strategic Innovation.
It is important to note that I do not mention self-assessment. Why? I believe that self-assessment prior to understanding competition, target, and purpose creates biases. We have a tendency of placing a positive halo on current brand processes and executions. Founders are obviously passionate about their creations. Passion is an emotion and emotions are not rational. Emotion clouds judgement. In this case, it creates the positive halo that prevents founders from clearly or critically assessing their brand versus competition. When assessing your own brand, it is a very good idea to bring in an outside consultant who will review your brands without the rose colored glasses every founder wears.
A true, unbiased self-assessment along with the first three steps to developing a brand position, moves the brand team towards finding your “Blue Ocean” through creatively developing credible, sustainable differentiation. (Another blog topic.)
Defining a clear and compelling brand positioning statement is not just about standing out in a “Blue Ocean” but also about creating a meaningful connection with your audience, guiding strategic decisions, and building foundation for sustainable growth through focused innovation.
About GDJBrands
GDJBrands helps visionary founders and business leaders get the most out of their brands by taking a holistic, tailored, ground-up approach to brand-building. Its founder, Gary De Jesus, excels in Brand Development and Marketing, uniquely incorporating principles of Biological and Cognitive Sciences, and Psychology to build strong brands and fulfill founders' visions. His goal is to make dreams come true.