- In a sea of pricey marketing campaigns
and new business ventures arising daily,
you may be thinking,
how can my brand earn people's trust
and give my business the inside track?
Hmm... (bubbles popping)
Well, unfortunately, bad news first.
I'm here to tell you that it's not enough
just to have a great product or service.
You need to control the narrative
around how you're perceived by the outside world.
This is called your competitive advantage.
It is the single most compelling reason
people should buy from you.
And in order to craft this narrative,
your branding needs to be based on a clear strategy
of how to manage and influence public perception.
That's why you should hire me as your PR manager.
No, just kidding.
In this video,
we're gonna dive into how you can build
a more compelling positioning
and stronger branding
and the crucial building blocks you need to have in place
in order to make that happen.
Positioning is a huge undertaking.
No one company is the same,
and there will be specificities in your niche
that you'll need to take account of.
But there are common questions
and exercises you can do
to help you get close to the answer.
To ground this topic in something more familiar,
we'll be taking a look at Arc'teryx,
a high performance outdoor clothing
and equipment company
to show how a positioning exercise
can manifest itself in real life.
The first thing is to learn from your competition.
When someone in your target audience
searches for a cure to their problem,
they probably won't be looking for you specifically
unless, of course,
you've already solved the positioning problem.
In which case,
I'm not sure why you're watching this video,
but I'm glad that you're here.
Instead, they'll be looking for a solution to their problem
and assessing the best provider of that solution.
So you'll need to take stock of the competition.
Let's take a super successful company like Arc'teryx.
They provide high end outdoor wear.
They're not cheap,
but they're one of the best known brands out there.
How do they stand out from the competition?
To figure that out,
you'll need to explore questions like,
what are your competitors offering?
For Arc'teryx, that meant examining things
like their competitors' production.
Most other outerwear manufacturers
produce their clothes cheaply abroad.
Arc'teryx chose to produce its clothes on site in Canada.
Style is another factor.
Many outdoor retailers were revamping designs
and patterns without drastically changing
the actual quality of their products.
Arc'teryx chose to make iterative changes
to gradually compound the quality of its clothes
rather than making superficial changes.
So take stock of the areas
your competitors are clustering around.
What are the commonalities between them?
What language do they all use?
If they all talk the same,
maybe you need to have a different tone of voice
to stand out.
Another question is,
where are your audience's needs not being met?
Serious outdoor people,
the ones who climb mountains
and laugh in the face of frostbite,
not me,
want to know that they're equipped with clothing
and products that are built to last
no matter how harsh the conditions get,
especially if they paid a lot of money for it.
Arc'teryx has a laser focus,
pew,
on sustainability.
They don't want you to have to buy three jackets from them.
They'd rather you only need one that lasts and performs.
That's a brand people are willing to pay extra for.
So what's your brand's equivalent?
The better you understand these things,
the faster you'll identify gaps you alone can fill.
Some key questions to ask are,
what's the change in the world
that's made by product or service a must have?
People don't like change.
They're only gonna start or stop a behavior
if they believe their place in the world
is going to drastically improve or worsen.
So think about the change in the world
that makes your brand the best partner
to lead them through that change,
and not your competitors.
You should also ask what's possible for your customers
once they've chosen you as a partner?
What's the new potential?
Envision what your customer's lives
will be like with your product.
To zero in on what that could look like,
let's talk about the next step of your positioning.
Identifying your USP or unique selling proposition.
What does your business offer that no one else can?
A gap in the market isn't enough.
You need something unique to fill that gap
and heal the pain caused by that gap.
More than that, you need to back it up.
If you make empty claims,
you'll get found out very fast.
And I'm not saying that's coming from personal experience,
but don't you dare Google Jamal hoax scandal 2022.
So your USB needs to be authentic and fundamentally true.
Arc'teryx has put evolution at the heart of its brand
right down to its logo.
Its products are in a continuous process of improvement.
Do you help people do new things
or the same things but better?
Can you solve a specific problem faster?
Is your product or service of a higher quality?
That's a claim consumers hear a lot,
so if it is, how?
Arc'teryx aren't afraid to get into the specifics.
They fuse quality materials from suppliers like Gore-Tex
and Polar Tech to create, (smooching)
the very best materials.
Or are you cheaper?
If you are,
how can a potential customer trust
that you'll do as good of a job
as a more expensive competitor?
Figure out your point of difference and lean into it.
From there,
you can start to build a brand positioning strategy.
First, clarify what your business stands for.
Figure out the pains it solves,
who it helps,
why your way is unique,
and the payoff that happens when someone chooses you.
The more tightly you can articulate your positioning,
the more focused your messaging
and the more compelling your brand will ultimately be.
So with Arc'teryx,
they're unashamed that they make clothes for hikers,
runners, and explorers.
They don't try to push lounge wear or formal wear.
Their clothes are for the outdoors.
They live and breathe it.
They believe it, and so do their customers.
I haven't even bought anything from them
and I'm starting to think,
no, geez, maybe I should go on more hikes.
You know what I'm saying?
An example of positioning for your brand
should include all the elements and go something like this.
The way people are buying
in our part of the world is changing.
It's never been harder to do this,
which means it's never been more important
for providers to offer this
because when we do,
it doesn't just help customers continue
to do this same things well,
but it also unlocks a whole new world of opportunities
that you can only tap into in this new world.
We're here to help make that possible.
Here's how.
If your positioning includes these elements,
my friend, you're gonna be golden.
And I'm not talking about the Harry Styles song,
although that is a banger.
One more thing to note about your positioning.
It should be just as much an internal guide
as an external message.
Everyone in your company should believe in it
and feel that it's authentic to your brand.
Pull together an internal document of the rationale
for your brand's positioning.
Share it across the business and make it easily accessible.
You need people to believe in your positioning
before your customers can.
Also, and this is really important,
don't be afraid to say who your brand isn't for.
Bold and honest brands are open
about who they can and can't help.
Your competitive advantage should attract the right people
and turn away the wrong ones.
It'll save you
and the customer a lot of time
if you're both confident about what you do
or don't want from each other.
So don't try to be all things to all people.
A niche brand will find a broad audience.
When you found your USP
and our articulated it through your positioning,
it's time for the rubber to hit the road.
You need to put in the work in the real world.
So it's crucial you choose the right marketing channels
for your brand.
Your positioning is no use in a vacuum.
You need as many eyeballs,
hearts, and minds as you can get.
So when you're assessing your marketing channels,
ask yourself these questions.
Where does your target audience spend their leisure time?
What people do with their time
says a huge amount about what they value,
whether they're socializing,
looking up new ways to do things,
building, creating, learning.
The more you can learn about their leisure habits,
the more you can tailor your marketing to meet them
in places where you can add value to their day-to-day lives.
Places they could be include channels like social media,
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,
visual platforms like Pinterest,
video platforms like YouTube,
or communities like Substack, LinkedIn or Reddit.
We've done a whole video on persona research
including figuring out what your prospects truly value
and where to find them.
The link is in the video subscription.
Link to this is understanding
where your consumers spend their money.
Do they prefer to buy in store or online?
If they do buy online,
do they make purchases through the original store
or with Amazon or through social media?
You should also get a sense of where they go
for information and advice.
This will give you a sense of what sources
potential buyers deem trustworthy.
Hopefully, I'm one of those sources.
Amen.
Finally, you need to track their progress
and adapt your strategy.
Once you know where your positioning
is most likely to make an impact,
you need to track its effectiveness.
Successful businesses have started from scratch
or rethought how they sell completely.
It's a clear sign that you need to continuously examine
and refine your competitive brand
and strategy to stay ahead of the game.
Some simple ways to track progress include ask people,
conduct surveys on brand loyalty and advocacy.
Surveys like net promoter scores
and customer satisfaction
are good indicators of customer sentiment.
Another way is brand awareness.
Do people recognize your brand?
What do they associate it with?
This will give you a better sense
of whether your brand has penetrated consumer's minds
and become part of the consideration process.
Market share and sales data can show
if your brand resonates with consumers.
Market share is one of the most revealing indicators
of whether your competitive branding is working.
The best competitive branding is delivering.
It doesn't just emerge off the back
of a great product or service.
It needs constant support, evaluation, and tweaking.
It's the best of you for all the world to see,
so get excited about it
'cause at the end of the day,
figuring out your competitive advantage is fun
and it matters a lot.
It'll help you sell more products more often,
give you and your fellow employees a cause to stand behind,
and it'll make your consumers happier.
If you're ready
to start building your competitive advantage,
we've got you covered, my friend, like a swaddled baby.
You can get our free guide
on how to build a consistent brand right here
and tell us in the comments below
what makes your brand stand out.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
and check back every week for the latest
and greatest marketing tips and best practices.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I'm gonna go competitively brand myself
as the guy who needs some cookies.
All right.
I need people to know that I'm hungry
for a nice chocolate chip Mrs. Fields.
Ooey gooey.
Hit me up please.
Until then, I'll see you next time.
- I can find this client info.
- Have you heard of HubSpot?
HubSpot is a CRM platform,
so it shares its data across every application.
Every team can stay aligned.
No out of sync spreadsheets or dueling databases.
HubSpot, grow better.
(upbeat music)