Stay Relevant, Stand Out: Ten Brand Positioning Principles That Matter.

In a world of shifting consumer needs, blurred categories, and copycat competitors, brand relevance is never a given. It must be earned—and constantly sharpened.

That’s why I’ve written this post

It’s a practical guide to help brands refocus, refine, and reignite their edge in a crowded market.

You’ll learn how to:

• Make choices about who you serve and what you stand for

• Unearth motivating insights that truly change behaviour

• Reframe your competitive set, from your consumer’s point of view

• Build emotional distinctiveness that’s hard to copy

• Stay consistent and agile with the right brand guardrails

And more.

This post will help you stress test your strategy and sharpen what matters—before the market moves on without you.

My Ten Principles for a Sharper Brand Positioning Strategy

1. Make a choice. Who do you target? What do you stand for? If you don’t stand for something, you’ll end up standing for nothing and appealing to no one.

2. Don't be a self-centered brand. Solve people’s problems. Focus on solving your consumers’ needs and problems with your brand solutions.

3. Interrogate the Why. Unearth what will change behaviour. You’ll have to dig deep to find your consumer’s latent motivations and tensions that, when addressed, will change their behaviour in a way that grows your brand.

4. See your competitors through your consumers' eyes.  Those who solve the same needs and problems for them and therefore sit in the same consideration set. 

5. Differentiate through feeling, not just function. Functional benefits are easily copied. Build stronger brands by leveraging motivating human truths, distinctive assets and personality. 

6. Don’t forget the category mandatories. In the pursuit of differentiation, don't forget the points of parity you must tick to be considered in the first place. There is no point in being different if you miss the fundamental table stakes.

7. Be credible. Say it. Prove it. Deliver it. Ensure that what you ‘say’ you can do is backed up with proof points that ‘show’ you can do it.

8. Consistency earns trust. Guardrails enable agility. Build brand guardrails across all Ps to ensure consistency over time, while facilitating fast and informed decision-making in an unpredictable world.

9. If they engage the customer, they shape the brand. It's every function’s role to deliver the brand strategy, not just marketing.  Take them on the journey so they understand what you are trying to achieve.

10. Complacency kills. Sharpen, don’t saw. Sharpen your strategy regularly to remain relevant as the world changes rapidly. Find the golden thread and seek to move things forward rather than completely moving them on.

 How many of these principles is your brand meeting?

 

#1: Make a choice.  Who do you target? What do you stand for?

If you don’t stand for something, you end up standing for nothing and appealing to no one. 

You have two critical choices to make when you are positioning your brand:

1. Who are you going to target?  The segment needs to be large enough to achieve your commercial goals, but it also needs to be sharp enough that they share a common need or occasion that your brand can solve. 

2. What do you stand for? How will you solve your target consumer’s needs or occasion?  You need to gain a deep understanding of this consumer segment so you can target them with razor-sharp precision, delivering consistent and clear solutions and messaging.

#2: Don't be a self-centered brand. Solve people’s problems

Focus on solving your consumers’ needs and problems with your brand solutions.

Consumers have problems.

Brands exist to solve them.

That’s the fundamental equation at the heart of brand relevance and preference.

Your target consumers will have a range of motivations and tensions they are looking to solve through the purchase and consumption of products and services.

It is our job as marketers to understand those motivations and problems and build the right brands, products and services to solve them.

The better the solution, the more relevant a brand is perceived to be by consumers and the more loyal they become.

#3: Interrogate the Why. Unearth what will change behaviour

 You’ll have to dig deep to find your consumer’s latent motivations and tensions that, when addressed, will change their behaviour in a way that grows your brand.

Unfortunately, most of the low-hanging fruit & all the obvious problems & insights have already been uncovered & solved for.

But new problems are waiting to be discovered.  Either through changing consumer needs, behaviours, and preferences, or by uncovering the latent problems consumers may not even be aware of yet.

We need to dig a little bit deeper to find new perspectives.  This involves using new research methods and getting to the heart of our consumers to uncover that juicy new insight that, when unlocked, will change their behaviour in a way that is commercially beneficial to your brand.

Identifying these changes before your competitors do and possibly even before your own consumers realise it, is where you will find your competitive, first-mover advantage and the chance to drive transformational growth.

 

#4: See your competitors through your consumer’s eyes. 

Those who solve the same needs and problems for them and therefore sit in the same consideration set. 

Ask yourself, who does your brand compete with as it solves your consumer problems?  Who would my target consumer have to fire, to hire me?

Look beyond your direct substitute competitors to your indirect & adjacent competitors and identify who else could be solving the same needs, occasions, motivations or tensions.

Looking at this broader competitive set often reveals a new set of potential insights, new category mandatories & potential points of difference.

When Swatch Watch looked beyond competing with other watches to jewellery and wrist accessories, it helped redefine the brand to today’s highly aesthetic and interchangeable product range.

#5: Differentiate through feeling, not just function.

Functional benefits are easily copied. Build stronger brands by leveraging motivating human truths, distinctive assets and personality. 

Unfortunately, standing out and retaining your uniqueness is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in mature markets, where a product or service's point of difference is becoming harder to find or is quickly copied.

The successful brands are the ones that build and focus on more ownable emotional benefits, brand personality, and distinctive assets to stand out and create preference.

Feelings and emotions are more powerful and ownable, so try to:

❤️ Uncover a motivating human truth that will directly influence category behaviour and can be linked to an emotional brand benefit. 

💥 Build a hyper-relevant brand personality and set of distinctive brand assets that set you apart from your competitors

#6: Don’t forget the category mandatories.

 In the pursuit of differentiation, don't forget the points of parity you must tick to be considered in the first place.

What many brands overlook in their quest to stand out and be different is that they lose sight of the fundamental choice drivers consumers use to make decisions when buying within their competitive set.

There is no point in being different if you miss the fundamental table stakes. For example, no matter how healthy a snack might be, it must taste good, even great, if you want to encourage repeat purchases. No matter how cool and hip a hotel room is, if it fails to provide a good, quiet night's sleep, the customer won't come back or leave a positive review.

Before you try to differentiate, ensure you meet and even exceed the top 3-5 criteria your consumer will seek to check off to even make it into their consideration set.  Then determine what it is that will set you apart in the consideration set and nail the purchase.

#7: Be credible. Say it. Prove it. Deliver it.

Ensure that what you ‘say’ you can do is backed up with proof points that ‘show’ you can do it.

Although it may be deemed 'old school', the Brand Benefit Ladder ensures that any functional, emotional, or social benefits a brand promises are strongly linked to and backed up by solid reasons to believe and ownable brand attributes and assets.

This is where your brand history, heritage and consistency play an essential role. By looking back into your brand's archives, you will find assets and equities that you have earned over time and are still relevant today. You should not let go of these proof points and trust-builders. 

They may not be as unique or exciting, but they certainly give you the credibility to play in a more emotional or purposeful space.

Another way for a brand to build credibility is through its actions and behaviour. It's Brand Personality and Values.

If you think about it, a person’s personality is a key indicator of their authenticity, and how consistently they display their true personality will determine how much we trust them. It is the same with brands. Defining and delivering a consistent, authentic brand personality will build credibility, trust and loyalty with your consumers.

You must take your rose-coloured glasses off and ensure there are no skeletons in the closet.  Because if you don’t, consumers will find them and punish you.

 

#8: Consistency earns Trust. Guardrails enable Agility.

Build brand guardrails across all Ps to ensure consistency over time, while facilitating fast and informed decision-making in an unpredictable world.

Your brand will need to stay dynamic & flexible to compete in today’s fast-paced world. So, you need to establish Brand Guardrails to spell out which elements of the brand positioning and the marketing mix are classified as SHOULD ALWAYS BE and should never change, what COULD BE if the situation called for it or SHOULD NEVER BE as it would damage the long-term equity?

Every day, someone in your business will need to make a decision that will affect how your brand is perceived in the marketplace. This decision-making process needs to be fast, but it also needs to be informed to keep the brand on track towards its long-term goal.

Therefore, it is essential that you not only define your brand guardrails but also ensure that everyone involved in executing your brand positioning is fully informed and aligned. This may include cross-functional partners, such as the sales team, R&D, or external partners, like your agency village.

These guardrails may define strategically which categories your brand can or cannot enter, or other brands you would or would never collaborate with. Tactically, it could be the tone of voice and humour in a social media post, or a price you are willing to drop to on Amazon before you devalue your brand position in the market.

These guardrails ensure that in times when you need to make fast, tactical decisions to remain agile, you need to make rational, strategically sound decisions with your head, not your heart.

 

#9: If they engage the customer, they shape the brand.

It's every function’s role to deliver the brand strategy, not just marketing. 

Every touchpoint a customer or potential customer has with your brand will shape their perceptions. Whether it is with a salesperson during the research and buying phase or a customer support contact after the sale, each interaction will shape whether that customer will repeat their purchase in the near or far future or recommend you to someone else.

Therefore, you must take the entire organisation on the journey of creating, sharpening or understanding your brand strategy, so they know what you are trying to achieve and ensure their interactions help you get there.  Furthermore, the insights your customer-facing staff can contribute during the brand strategy development phase can be magical.  Don’t forget to include them in the process wherever you can.

 

#10: Complacency kills. Sharpen, don’t saw.

Sharpen your strategy regularly to remain relevant as the world changes rapidly. Find the golden thread and seek to move things forward rather than completely changing them.

Strong, iconic brands are built over time using a relevant, enduring, and consistent brand promise, purpose, and personality that builds trust and loyalty among their consumers.

However, the world is changing rapidly, and your well-established, iconic brand may be losing its stronghold as your consumers' needs and problems evolve, or new start-ups and insurgent brands disrupt the status quo and redefine category rules.

Or you could be one of those previously insurgent brands that rewrote the rules when it launched and is now being reset by a new set of brands breaking those rules all over again.

Balancing your brand's strategic endurance and its consistent, recognisable, trusted assets with the need to be agile in a turbulent world is tough.

But it can be achieved by asking the four essential questions regularly.

1. Who is your consumer, and are you still relevant to them? Beyond the standard demographic and psychographic description, have you identified the specific need or problem your brand solves for them and, therefore, plays a meaningful role in their life?  Consumers' needs and problems have evolved rapidly in recent times, so you may have to course-correct.

2. Who are your current competitors, and are you still distinctly different or better than your competitors? Like consumers, the competitive landscape is constantly changing, and if you have been successful in the past, competitors have likely started cutting your grass and eroding your point of difference.

3. What is your brand promise, and what do you deliver to solve your consumer's needs better than your competitor?  Importantly, in today's sceptical world, what's your proof?  Why should people believe you?  What used to convince them may not be as effective today.

4. What are your brand guardrails for maintaining consistency and guiding fast decision-making?  Which elements of the positioning are classified as ALWAYS BE and should never change, what COULD BE if the situation called for it or should NEVER BE, as it would damage the long-term equity?

It’s about SHARPENING your brand positioning, not sawing it.

If you'd feel like you might need to answer these questions and sharpen your brand positioning, I'd certainly love to help you!

I can run a SHARPEN YOUR BRAND POSITIONING strategy workshop, where we will answer each key question using our signature tools and frameworks, and inspire you with case studies of brands who are ‘doing it well’. You will leave with a clear action plan to sharpen your Brand Proposition and ensure your brand is maintaining what made it great while evolving to keep up in today's turbulent and fast-changing world.

Email me: anne@viamarca.com.au so we can start the conversation.