There are many different brand positioning models in the world of marketing. In the early days of my old agency Added Value, we created a tool called the ‘Bullseye’. I also remember developing a tool with Unilever that became the famous ‘Brand Key’.
Every brand owner and agency has their own version, which they claim to be unique or proprietary. Of course, it isn’t. In marketing, nothing is. The shape of the boxes might change as do the names, but essentially, it’s the same kind of thing. A positioning model.
Whatever model you use, its purpose is to provide strategic direction for the brand. Consumers should never see it. It should never go beyond the walls of the brand owner or the communication agencies.
So how do you know if you’ve got an exceptional one? The secret is to stitch the elements together carefully. So you can’t see the joins. So it feels like a unique beautifully designed garment, rather than a patchwork quilt.
This is how the pieces of a positioning model stitch together.
I’ll start with Values.
1 Brand Values Connect to brand Behaviours
These two elements often get confused. To clarify:
Values are what you believe in. What you stand for.
Behaviours are how you act. It’s how your values come to life.
For example, if one of your values is ‘Justice’. Your behaviour could be ‘helping the dispossessed’.
One leads to the other.
Aim to have no more than 3 Values. Make them distinctive, so you come across as principled and interesting. Make sure they’re not contradictory.
2 Your Brand Values Should Define Your Brand Purpose
Purpose is the reason you exist. It’s the ‘why’. Made fashionable by the charisma of Simon Sinek and beloved brands such as Patagonia and Toms, it’s a common element of many brand positionings. Purpose has an army of detractors as well as fans, but let’s not go there.
Draw your Purpose from your Values. For example, Patagonia states that
“Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.”
This purpose draws upon its 4 Values:
Build the best product
Cause no unnecessary harm
Use business to protect nature
Not bound by convention
Contrary to what I said previously, brands that are proud of their purpose or values, often publicise them. Usually on their website, or else on their office walls.
3 Your Target Consumer Should Share Your brand Values
When you define your target audience, again, go back to their values. Rather than get hung up on demographics, look at the values the brand shares with its consumers. These are enduring. By identifying shared values, your bond will get stronger. People buy from brands that share their values. By all means, explore other dimensions of your target consumer, but start with the values.
4 Address Your Consumer Insight Through the Benefits You Offer
Every brand positioning needs to be based on a powerful consumer insight. Get clear on the key needs or desires of your target audience. Then articulate it with precision as a key insight.
When defining the key brand benefits, link them back directly to the key consumer insight. If you can’t do this, your brand will not have a role to play in their life.
5 The Emotional Benefit Should Derive From the Functional Benefit
The emotional benefit is how the brand makes you feel. The functional benefit is what the brand does for you in a practical/physical sense. Usually, a brand positioning contains both. Again make sure they’re connected. One ladders up or down to the other.
6 Your Reasons to Believe Support Your Brand Benefit
The reasons to believe are the evidence that makes the benefits credible. There are many different types. They could be based on your manufacturing processes, your service, your ingredients. You may have 3rd party endorsements. There may be other forms of social proof such as recommendations or Net Promoter Score.
For every piece of evidence you provide, ensure that:
a) it’s relevant to your consumer.
b) it links back to your brand benefit.
Summary
Whenever you critique or develop a brand positioning stitch it together with care. Look at it both close up and then wide-angle.
Close up
Make sure that the pieces connect. That it stitches together beautifully. That it feels handmade.
Use language that’s sharp and evocative. Avoid bland words such as confidence, quality, or convenience. The words that could fit into any brand positioning. Choose words you believe in.
Wide Angle
Step back and look at your brand in a broader market context. Is it relevant to the needs of your target audience? Is it distinctive vs the competition?
Once your positioning is complete, you can move on to the next stage. Executing it.