How to find the brand positioning in digital marketing

Brand positioning is the foundation of all digital marketing. No matter how the times change or how the marketing methods change, what brand marketing will always convey is the value and philosophy of the brand.

Without brand value and philosophy, any marketing data is meaningless. Only by doing a good job in brand positioning, can we find the value and concept of the brand, and then better spread the brand.

With accurate brand positioning, coupled with accurate consumer user portraits obtained through big data analysis, user conversion and fission can be performed more accurately, so that the brand can generate real traffic value.

Brand positioning is so important, so the main factors affecting this work are the following six points:

(1) Target groups

Making a choice is the first step. There is a consensus that must be reached: no brand can do everything for everyone, no brand can successfully provide satisfactory services to everyone. Because only your characteristics are distinctive enough, the more you can be selected. Know who is the group you want to follow and who is not. 

In the process of positioning the target group, the indicators that are often considered are:

Demographic characteristics

Psychological characteristics

Motivation and attitude

Current usage

Behavior

Demand

(2) Customer request

Define what the requirements are from three aspects:

An unsolved problem

A problem that has not yet been fully resolved in the market

A new problem that even your customers don’t know about

When looking for positioning from the beginning, it should be considered from both functional and emotional needs.

(3) Competition framework

In the process of creating a brand, you must have a deep understanding of who your competitors are and what kind of cognition they can give customers. In essence, who you see as a competitor has established a boundary for your brand positioning.

For example, if Dyson's products are only competing with similar competing products, then only the performance advantages of the products need to be considered as their brand positioning. But if it is placed in the entire home appliance market for competition, more factors affecting brand positioning need to be considered, including price, after-sales service and so on.

(4) Benefit

The core here is to solve the problem that the target group cares most about your brand: what can I get from it? This is the question that companies need to answer, that is, what is the most valuable brand promise that a brand can give.

For example, Volvo is equivalent to safety, and Snickers solves the hunger in certain scenarios. When making promises, both emotional and rational appeals must be taken into consideration, and at the same time, whether the company's resources can be realized

(5) Reason

The next question is how to convince consumers? In China, many brands used to invest heavily on CCTV. In that era, CCTV’s audience was the most widely radiated. It was only one of the reasons. More new brands or unknown brands smashed CCTV. What is important is that CCTV existed in the minds of customers at that stage. Credibility, so that the brand will gain a sense of trust as soon as it appears. (tips: China Central Television (CCTV) is the national television station of the People’s Republic of China).

(6) Brand personality

In the tide of product homogeneity, distinctive brand personality is the most effective way to differentiate positioning. At the same time when the definition of brand identity is not limited to existing features, but you want to have the characteristics of your brand.

References:

Angus Dawson, Martin Hirt, and Jay Scanlan. “The economic essentials of digital strategy.” The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1, 2016.

Hugo Sarrazin and Paul Willmott. “Adapting your board to the digital age.” The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1, 2016.

Oskar Lingqvist, Candace Lun Plotkin, and Jennifer Stanley. “Do you really understand how your business customers buy?” The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1, 2015.

Jonathan Gordon and Jesko Perrey. “The dawn of marketing’s new golden age” The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1, 2015.