So. you have great ideas. Great products. You are ready to shake the world with your product. But how do you get in the market? How do you position yourself on top the competitions?
As a branding strategist, the first thing I suggest my clients is to think about how your products are different from the competition.
Don’t fit in, stand out!
Before you are able to position your brand, there are a few questions that you need to ask. This will help brainstorming some ideas on where you would like to be and how to get there.
What problem are you solving?
Customer wants to know about what you could do for them, what benefit that they get when they use your service or product.
Rather than saying: “I create logo and marketing materials for your branding”, I say “I help businesses creating beautiful branding that tells stories about themselves.”
How are you different?
Think about things that are unique to YOUR business, how you stand out from your competitors. It is about your business uniqueness, not your industry’s uniqueness. What makes you so special so that customers choose you over your competitors?
Who is your ultimate target?
Buying audience; a brief overview of profile, with a focus on relevant insights.
Be as specific as possible. Think of one person (or entity, like a family) and outline their values and beliefs. Think about sex, age group, occupation, locality, activities etc.
By knowing your ultimate target, you will be able to get some ideas on what you need to gain their respect and what influences their purchasing decisions – whether it is traditional marketing, social media, friends & family influence, premium price. etc.
How do your potential customers currently feel and how do you want them to feel?
This is about your current branding so it migh not be relevant for you if you are a start up. It is an opportunity to see where you are at the moment versus what your ideal brand is.
For example, when they look at your current branding (logo, website, etc) they currently feel overwhelmed and they will feel relieved.
Some of the questions are probably easy for you to answer, and some are probably more difficult. Though by thinking it over thoroughly, you could then sit down and think about how you are going to tackle the competitions and stand out from the competition.
Next post I’ll go over what influence your ideal customers to purchase!
