Traditionally, brand positioning is defined as how customers perceive your brand or product in relation to similar products offered by your competitors in your market. Marketers usually try to create brand position through advertising and promotions in an attempt to influence customers’ perceptions of their brands. However, in today’s world of busy schedules and nonstop messages, companies need to find different ways to position their brand. By listening to your customers and making changes internally, you can build your brand position organically.
Organic brand positioning is a reactive strategy because it requires you to listen to your customers, but it’s also an effective strategy. To position your brand, you need to look at everything that affects your brand image and therefore, your customers’ perception of your brand. From customer service to pricing and advertising, every part of your organization has some effect on your customers’ overall perception of your brand, and that leads us to the 3 steps to organic brand position listed below:
- Understand your customers’ current perception of your brand position.
- Determine what you want your customers’ perception of your brand to be.
- Define and execute the changes within your organization that will meet your customers’ needs and ultimately, create the desired perception of your brand among your customers.
For example, if your customers perceive your brand as representing poor customer service, make the necessary internal changes to ensure your customers will get best-in-class customer service going forward, and make sure your customers hear about those changes. In other words, make the necessary internal changes to meet your customers’ needs, which will in turn lead to the brand experience and perception you want your brand to convey.
The steps listed above seem simple and obvious, but far too many companies forget the basics when it comes to brand positioning — listening to consumers and meeting their needs. Instead, they get wrapped up in “making the numbers” in the short term, and forget the simple nuts and bolts of what makes a brand great — the brand experience and consumers’ perceptions of that experience and the brand image, promise and expectations that go along with it. That’s where organic brand positioning comes in handy — as a “back to the basics” reminder of why a brand was born in the first place.
What do you think about organic brand positioning? What other creative ways can companies use to develop their brand position?
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
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