What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this video you're
going to learn how to create a competitive positioning strategy with this seven-step
framework so you can stop waiting around in the hope that your audience will choose you
and create something that will actually influence their decision
now if you're new to the channel and you want to build brands that go beyond the visuals and the
logo using strategy psychology and creative thinking then you're in the right place hit
that subscribe button and the notification bell if you want to fast track your results make sure you
grab the pro brand strategy blueprint it's a free download and the link is in the description now i
created a video on what competitive positioning is if you haven't seen that I'll leave a link in
the description below but essentially competitive positioning or a competitive positioning strategy
is the strategy that a brand uses to give their audience a compelling reason to choose them so
that they compete or be competitive in the market it's easy to assume just because the founders or
the leaders of the business understand the value that they bring to the market that
the audience will just get it too but for the most part they don't they don't just get it and
it's also easy to assume that just because you have a solution to the market problems
that that's enough and that's not enough either and this is where competitive positioning comes
in it forces you to look at the market from the audience's shoes in order to define a unique a
compelling and of course a competitive reason for your audience to choose you of your competition
so why is competitive positioning so important well the reality is when consumers choose
one brand over another there are defining factors in their decision making process
one of the biggest mistakes of business owners and brand builders around the world make
is assuming that their visual brand is enough to appeal to their audience and quite simply it's not
consumers make buying decisions every day and many of those decisions are made subconsciously but
that doesn't mean that there's no reason behind that decision subconscious are not for every
buying decision there's a defining reason for that purchase brands that overlook competitive
positioning overlook the requirement to provide the audience with that compelling reason
they assume that the visual brand will be enough to attract or that their audience will come up
with their own compelling reason but they won't if you don't give your audience a compelling reason
they'll find a brand that will the most important decision making factors for consumers
in a given market segment is largely dependent on the people within that segment and the outcome
that they're after for example within the car market a growing family with a limited budget is
a market segment that needs to be served examples of their most important decision making factors
could include price size or space fuel economy reliability now the brands operating in that space
need to define the decision-making factors that they want to be best known for then communicate
those factors consistently until they build that reputation so how do you go about developing
a competitive position for your brand well defining a competitive position in the market
is easier said than done if you want a house with ocean views chances are somebody is already living
on your perfect plot of land but where competitive positioning differs from physical positioning is
in there are no limitations to creativity now extremely competitive markets are disrupted
every year by innovative brands with new ideas and new approaches now some use groundbreakingly
innovative technology but others simply find a new way to provide a better end-to-end experience to
their audience ultimately all define a competitive position to give their audience a defining reason
to choose them over their competitors now there are no guarantees here there are no quick fixes
and there are no silver bullets but there is a proven process that you can follow to increase
your chances of finding a competitive edge over your competition step one define your
market segments now when it comes time to define your position in the market then you need to give
your audience a compelling reason but there is one rule that must not be overlooked you cannot mean
everything to everyone the broader the market you try to appeal to the more diluted your message
becomes the more focused and specific your market the easier it is to be more relevant
now the first step to achieving this is to exclude all of the people that you don't need to appeal to
by segmenting the market using key categories for example instead of targeting men you would
look to add much more specificity to enhance the focus on that specific group of people such as
stylish single businessmen in their 20s step two uncover your market demographics now once you've
categorized your market segments it's time to get to know them now the demographics of your audience
will give you that window into the circumstances and the situations of their lives so you want to
aim to uncover the demographics that define their day-to-day circumstances so you're talking their
age their gender their ethnicity their geographic location education level income family status etc
now although this information doesn't tell you too much about their behavior
it does bring together the circumstances of their lives and it really starts to bring
a bit of tangibility to them as well step number three uncover your market psychographics now the
demographics you uncovered in the previous step begins to shine a light on their lives though you
do need to dig a little deeper with psychographics before you can begin to understand them as people
now psychographics uncover the preferences and the surface level behaviors of your audience to give
you an insight into their mind psychographics include interests hobbies lifestyles sports
music food beliefs values religion etc when you couple psychographics with your demographics
your audience comes to life through the detail and gives you a clear picture on
who your target market segment is step number four develop and refine your audience avatar
so by this step you'll have clarity on who your audience is but you're not done yet
all of the information that you've gathered about their circumstances of their lives and their
surface level behaviors it will give you clarity but you need to understand how to best resonate
with who they are and this is where their goals their desires and their fears provide you with
the tools to make human connections when you know where they're going what's standing in their way
the emotions that are attached to the journey that they're on you have the means to resonate with
who they are and what they're feeling step number five research your competitors now as I mentioned
earlier effective competitive positioning hinges on your understanding of the competitive landscape
by definition you can't define a competitive advantage without knowing the competitive nature
of your competition your target market is already flirting with your competitors and some have gone
even further at the very least your potential customers know who your competitors are and the
value that they can bring to their lives when you understand the reasons that your audience choose
your competitors and more importantly why they may not then you're much better positioned to
find gaps and opportunities in the market step number six define your differentiation strategy
now defining your differentiation strategy isn't rocket science but it's no cakewalk
either there's no beautiful untouched sunny patch of grass amongst all those noisy competitors
so if you want to find a compelling difference then you have to look more closely where others
haven't maybe your target market would prefer shorter turnaround times or maybe they don't
have a problem with the turnaround times and instead they want a more guided experience
the difference that you define becomes the cornerstone of your position and the key messages
that your brand places into the market and step number seven craft your positioning statement
now a positioning statement is not a piece of marketing or website copy to tell your audience
what you mean and why you're different instead it's a tool of influence to influence your
messaging to the market so that they learn the key messages and what you want them to know about your
brand over time now your positioning statement should include the following elements it should
include the audience the challenge and the pain point the key benefit the competitive alternative
and the unique point of difference now once you've crafted this positioning statement it becomes
a guide for all brand messaging in order to influence where the audience positions your brand
in their mind now look as I mentioned before this isn't a guarantee or silver bullet it's simply a
framework that covers some of the most critical considerations now most businesses don't do this
which is why most businesses sound like they're all saying the same thing but don't do the same
as everybody else if you take the time to do it for your business or on behalf of your client
you put yourself into the top minority of brands that think strategically and competitively and
ultimately they're the brands that escape the pack and they speak directly to their audience
and they become competitive in the market now if you want to learn more about positioning
approaches and how some of the biggest brands in the world position their brands then this video
will help you out until next time brand like a master and I'll see you in the next video you