Take a Position
But not just any position. If you want your branding efforts to be successful, you need to develop a strong Positioning Statement.
Use these guidelines —
- It’s what you’re the best at — what do you do better than anyone else in the market?
- It’s important — you have to be best at what really matters to your customers.
- It’s believable — there must be a plausible reason for you to claim you’re the best.
- It’s measurable — be specific and back up your claims.
- It’s own-able — the claim can’t already be taken by someone else.
Now let’s go beyond positioning. Let’s talk about creating a memorable TAG LINE from your positioning.
Just to be clear, here are some examples from international brands that I am sure you know:
Just fill in the blanks…
- What happens in Vegas_________.
- Pork! It’s the other_________
- Wheaties! It’s the breakfast of _____________.
- NIKE Just_______________
- M+M’s The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not _____________.
Now fill in the name of your company…
XYZ company and your tag line_____________
Yep, that’s what usually happens. But don’t be discouraged — you can develop a tag line once you’re aware of what you have to offer.
Now may be the time to RETHINK, REVAMP AND RENEW your brand, your positioning and your messages.
Take a look at:
- Where you are now
- Where you want to go
and
- WHO you want to reach
- WHAT you want them to know
- WHAT you want them to do.
BEFORE YOU PUT ALL THE CANDY ON THE BED and look at it…consider these common mistakes. In fact, there are seven that stand out.
7 Mistakes in Branding, Positioning and Messaging
- Spraying…saying nothing by saying everything.
- Creating a better mousetrap…and thinking you’ve created desire.
- Knowing all the answers…but never testing
- Forgetting that no one cares how great you are…they care how great you’ll make them.
- Being “creative” instead of effective.
- Changing your message too often.
- Failing to simplify…being hard to understand, difficult to buy
You can’t go wrong following these guidelines.
But this is JUST A START. Branding and Positioning is important work. When you take a position — it needs to be the right one.
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