Craft an Effective Brand Positioning Statement to Checkmate Competitors

A clearly articulated brand positioning statement is one of the most important foundational pieces of your brand identity and go-to-market strategy.

Think about your brand as a professional chess player in a high-stakes game. When every move you make can get it closer to winning, you want to be strategic about how you position your pieces.

It's not that different in a business context. Your brand positioning statement is the basis of your competitive advantage in the branding game. And it’s important to understand because this vital piece of your brand identity. Once you know where you stand in the marketplace, you can effectively begin to exploit this advantage and win over customers.

Photo: Austin Distel

Does Your Brand Have a Strong Positioning Strategy?

In brand-speak, positioning isn't any different than what it means in plain English — placing something in a certain way for a particular reason. Except in this case, it’s not physical placement. It’s conceptual, psychological and strategic. And it’s what determines where your brand stands in your target customer’s market perception.

So, does your brand currently have a strong positioning? That depends on your answers to these 4 questions:

1. When people think of the product or services you provide, does your brand immediately come to mind?
2. Is it memorable for the right reasons — positive ones?
3. Are you considered better than your competitors?
4. Are your offerings relevant and beneficial to your customers’ lives? Necessary, even?

If you answered yes to most of the questions, you’re probably in good shape. If not, you at least have an idea of what to aim for. And that’s precisely what effective positioning is all about.

A well-written positioning statement makes it easy for you to share the value of your brand to your customers — eventually earning their trust and maintaining their brand loyalty.

3 Parts of an Effective Brand Positioning Statement

So, what does a brand positioning statement actually look like? It’s different for every brand, and every branding agency will have their own take on exact composition. But essentially, it’s always a brief articulation with several important components that will clearly express your brand’s:

1. A defined target audience — who you exist for
2. A unique value proposition — what your brand offers
3. Distinctiveness and superiority — why they should choose you and how you kick your competition’s butt

Whatever your goal is, when it comes to the perception of your brand in the marketplace, an experienced verbal brand strategist can help you craft an impressively effective positioning statement – one that will resonate with your organization, maximize customer love, and extend the lifespan of your brand—and its wild success—for many years to come.

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