Recently we had the pleasure of joining a long standing client (that works within the golf industry) for their AGM at the wonderful St Andrews. They wanted some help to identify their position and uniqueness. The location was somewhat lost on my lack of golf playing time (I’m more likely to be seen at the seaside crazy golf) but the challenge is common amongst many businesses.

Let’s start by looking at how two of the leading brand giants overcome this and stimulate some debate…

Perhaps you have also been thinking about some of the following questions:

• How can you get more customers to buy from you rather than your competition?
• What exactly is it that makes you different?
• What is your ‘Position’ in a very busy market place?

Put simply a position can help buyers to differentiate, particularly useful in a crowded market. Having a tangible and meaningful difference is vital if you want to stand out from the mass of Me 2 products and become a brand of choice.

Consider the changes made over the decades at ‘New Generation’ Pepsi vs. “Original” Coca Cola. Both launched over a century ago and essentially offer the same product give or take a taste bud or two!

However Coke has positioned its self as a ‘Heritage’ brand with the iconic Father Christmas adverts (you can almost hear that “Holidays a coming” theme tune). Whilst Pepsi has adopted more of a ‘New Generation’ position, aligning themselves to music (Concerts, Festivals, and Michael Jackson etc). Both are positive yet very different.

So what can we learn about ‘Position’ from this?

Positioning is all in the mind of the audience. What your audience thinks of you is your position. Their perception is their reality. For example we think Apple are “Insanely creative” so that’s their position…from our perspective.

What is your Position?

You might think it’s unusual for a biz development agency to be talking about brand? But if you don’t know what your position is (and are not clearly marketing it) what chance does any sales person have of convincing your prospects?

Do you know what your clients really think of the service they receive?

Remember in a fiercely competitive world we have to make the buyers purchasing and decision making process as simply as possible.

Why not share what you think of your favourite brand?

We would love to hear your thoughts on the importance of brand positioning and look forward to helping you identify your uniqueness in our next blog.