Let's face it: making your brand stand out in today’s competitive market IS a daunting task. But if you're seen and remembered by the people who need what you have to offer, you've made it. This is what Brand Positioning is about. By clearly defining who you are, what you stand for, and how you solve your audience’s problems, you make your brand impossible to ignore.
This blog post by Road9 Media, a leading branding agency in Egypt, combines best practices in branding and digital marketing to give you a step-by-step that your business can follow to position your brand to reach the right audience.
What Is Brand Positioning?
Brand positioning is the process of establishing a distinct place for your brand in the market and in your customers' minds. It's how you differentiate your brand from competitors and how you want your target audience to perceive your business.
At its core, brand positioning answers three critical questions:
1-Who is your target audience?
2-What category do you serve?
3-What unique benefit do you deliver?
Sometimes, businesses need a fresh perspective - learn more about when and why businesses may need rebranding.
Why Is Brand Positioning Important?
Differentiation
A clear brand position highlights what sets your business apart, attracting the right audience and creating lasting impressions.
As branding experts in Egypt, we've helped numerous businesses achieve this recognition. Check out some of our successful branding work.
Pricing Justification
Your pricing strategy becomes more effective when supported by strong positioning. Whether emphasizing premium quality for higher prices or affordability for lower ones, the narrative strengthens consumer trust.
Driving Innovation
Since brand positioning is about uniqueness, it encourages innovation and inspires creative approaches to branding, product development, and services, helping your business stay ahead in the market.
Whether it’s exploring new digital marketing strategies or refining your brand’s messaging, a digital marketing agency in Egypt can assist in leveraging your brand's uniqueness.
Emotional Connection
Strong brand positioning taps into emotional messaging to build meaningful relationships with customers. This approach transforms one-time buyers into long-term advocates.
Types of Brand Positioning Strategies
When it comes to positioning your brand in the market, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. The key is understanding the various strategies available and choosing one—or a combination—that aligns with your brand's strengths and resonates with your target audience.
Quality-based Positioning Strategy
High-end brands position themselves through top-notch quality and craftsmanship. By focusing on premium materials, attention to detail, and outstanding performance, these brands can justify their premium pricing. Examples: Rolex watches and Bugatti cars.
Innovation Positioning Strategy
Positioning that’s based on a unique quality or innovative ability. These businesses position themselves as industry leaders, appealing to customers who are most interested in technology. Examples: Tesla, SpaceX.
Price-Based Positioning Strategy
This strategy presents a brand as the most affordable option on the market. Successful price-based positioning requires showing customers they're making a smart choice, not just a cheap one. Examples: Walmart, Xiaomi.
Competitor-Based Positioning Strategy
Highlight your brand’s advantages over certain competitors while keeping it professional. The goal is to show superiority without comparing aggressively. Examples: Pepsi VS Coca-Cola, Apple VS Samsung.
Other Positioning Strategies
Heritage positioning: Long-standing brands can use their heritage and tradition to gain trust and credibility with customers. Levi’s denim and Heinz’s food company, for example.
Customer service positioning: Some brands manage to differentiate themselves by simply providing exceptional customer service that is superior to their competitors. Zappos and The Ritz-Carlton follow this formula.
Geographic positioning: Capitalize on your brand’s regional expertise or cultural origins and turn it into a compelling market advantage. Italian fashion, Japanese technology, French cuisine, etc.
Lifestyle-based positioning: Associate your brand with a particular lifestyle or set of values that resonate with your target audience. Red Bull and Monster Energy drinks appeal to the energetic and adventurous lifestyle.
As you refine your brand positioning, collaborating with an experienced branding agency in Egypt can provide guidance on which strategies are most effective for your market and industry.
How to Build Your Positioning Strategy
Drawing from our 16 years of experience in digital marketing and branding, we've refined our approach to positioning. Our digital agency in Egypt has developed this comprehensive strategy to help you speak your target audience's language:
Step 1: Start with a self-audit
If your brand is already in the market, it holds a position—even if it’s not clearly or intentionally defined. Before you can position your brand, you need to have a clear understanding of your market. Conduct thorough market research to identify the gaps, opportunities, and potential threats in your industry. Analyze customer perceptions of your brand through surveys, feedback, and market research. This step will give you the foundation you need to build the right positioning strategy for you.
Step 2: Define your ideal customer
Successful targeting requires identifying exactly who you want to reach so that you can tailor your messaging and offerings to their needs and desires. Create detailed buyer personas that go beyond the basics like age and occupation; dig deep into your audience’s mindset, challenges, and aspirations. Most importantly, identify their pain points – the specific problems your product or service solves.
Collaborating with a branding agency in Egypt can help you define your ideal customer through more effective segmentation and targeted messaging.
Step 3: Analyze your competitors
Competitors can serve as blueprints or cautionary tales. Competitor analysis will show you gaps in the market and opportunities to differentiate. Research their market positioning, messaging, and customer engagement through market research, customer feedback, social media monitoring, and industry reports. Using tools like digital marketing analytics can enhance your research process.
An experienced branding agency in Egypt can conduct in-depth research and help you develop a strategy that capitalizes on your competitors' weaknesses while showcasing your strengths.
Step 4: Craft a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Your value proposition is the core message that summarizes what your brand offers, how it benefits your customers, and why it is distinct from your competitors. It is the basis of your brand positioning and marketing communication.
To craft a convincing value proposition, ask yourself:
What problem does your brand solve for customers?
How does it solve it better than anyone else?
What unique features or benefits does it provide? And
What emotional or rational benefits do customers get from using it?
Answering these questions will help you create a compelling value proposition. This step can be enhanced further with the help of branding experts in Egypt, like Road9 Media, who specialize in aligning your message with market needs.
Step 5: Choose a positioning strategy
Now that you’ve determined your unique qualities and assessed your place in the market and who you want to target, you should choose which type of positioning strategy —or combination of strategies— your business will undergo. Take into consideration your brand's strengths, market opportunities, and target audience preferences. Successful brands evolve their positioning over time while maintaining their core identity.
Step 6: Align your brand message
The next step is to craft messaging that consistently communicates your UVP and positioning in the market. Your brand message should reflect your mission, values, and personality across every touchpoint. Determine the tone of voice that captures your brand’s personality—whether it’s professional, friendly, or bold. Use storytelling to make your brand relatable. Share your origin story, milestones, and customer success stories.
Step 7: Optimize your visual identity
In branding, visual identity says everything about who you are. Your logo, colors, typography, and imagery should work together to create a cohesive, recognizable presence.
How to do it:
-Design a professional logo that embodies your brand’s essence.
-Select a color palette that reflects the emotions you want your brand to inspire (e.g., trust, excitement, joy).
-Maintain consistency by using the same visuals across all channels, from your website to packaging.
Working with branding experts in Egypt can elevate your brand's visual identity, creating a cohesive presence that stands out in the marketplace.
Step 8: Choose the right marketing channels
Effective branding goes hand-in-hand with digital marketing, but not every marketing channel will align equally with your positioning strategy. Focus on platforms where your ideal customers are most active and receptive. A digital marketing agency in Egypt can provide valuable insights into which platforms will deliver the best results for your specific brand positioning strategy.
Understanding how to use different content types on social media ensures your message resonates on each platform. Performance marketing can drive immediate results, while B2B relationships often flourish on LinkedIn. Don't forget to implement SEO best practices to help ensure your brand remains visible to those actively searching for your business.
Step 9: Educate your team
A strong brand position is only impactful if implemented consistently. Your team needs to understand and believe in your brand positioning to communicate it. Run workshops and training sessions to get everyone from product development to sales on board with their role in bringing the brand to life.
Step 10: Monitor and test
Brand positioning isn’t a one-off project – it’s an ongoing process that needs to be constantly monitored and measured. Track metrics like lead quality, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, brand sentiment, market share, and customer lifetime value. Use both quantitative data and qualitative feedback to refine over time.
Need expert guidance in positioning your brand? Contact us to learn how we can help elevate your brand!