Creating and positioning a brand that feels authentic to an organization can be a real challenge. It often takes a lot of brainstorming, proposals and prototypes, and countless rounds of reworking, all before finally landing on a brand identity that really fits the bill. However, there comes a time when every branding strategy should be retired and then refreshed with a new approach.
Unfortunately, the lengthy process of establishing a brand can often make people reluctant to start from scratch. It’s understandable—you’ve spent time and money perfecting your brand and your business’ positioning in the market, and to an extent, perhaps it’s working. But with so much information being thrown at consumers day in and day out, it’s becoming easier and easier for brands to fall to the wayside and then completely forgotten about. If you’re looking for a viable way to gain staying power in your market, a refresh of your branding and positioning may be exactly what you need.
What is branding and positioning?
Branding is an abstract concept that applies to just about every aspect of an organization’s identity. Everything from the tone of voice on social media to the font used on a business card contributes to branding in some way. The way you’re perceived by consumers is completely dependent not only on your branding, but also on your positioning.
Positioning refers to all the key points a business should aim to hit in order to effectively market itself. A positioning strategy typically begins with an analysis of a business’ target market. Businesses will determine exactly who they’re looking to attract through marketing, and then strategize their positioning around that demographic. For example, if a trendy new microbrewery is looking to advertise to local men in their twenties, they’ll likely advertise in different places than an upscale vineyard that’s targeting older customers.
Positioning can be boiled down to four major steps:
1. Market analysis
As mentioned, a market analysis allows business owners to get valuable insight on how they’re performing with certain markets. Has engagement with a certain group gone up or down? Are new demographics potentially becoming interested in your products or services? This knowledge can present huge opportunities for growing your business, but none of that can be acted on until you know which is why a great market analysis matters so much.
2. Advertising positioning
Once you’ve analyzed your target market, it’s time to make sure you’re as visible as possible to your desired demographic. A great marketing agency will have lots of suggestions on how to get your name out to your target market. If you’re trying to attract an older demographic, you might focus on print advertising. For a younger one, your efforts might be more centred around online marketing. The exact strategy can differ wildly, depending on the brand, its services or products, and its target market.
3. Location positioning
In addition to ensuring you’re advertising in the right places, your physical location needs to be equally accessible to your main demographics. For example, if your company caters to people in rural areas, it probably wouldn’t make sense to have your physical location in the heart of the city.
4. Price positioning
There’s a lot more to pricing a good or a service than you might initially think. Generally, we tend to associate higher prices with higher quality and vice versa, even if that’s not the case. Figuring out how to price your services and products in order to form an impression on a consumer is another very important part of your overall positioning strategy.
How can a branding and positioning refresh help your business?
These days, we humans tend to be forgetful creatures. Plus, considering we’re seeing hundreds or even thousands of advertisements in any given day, it’s no wonder they rarely capture our attention. However, you might be surprised to learn that it’s important to make an impression even if your brand is already well-known. Even massive companies like Mastercard, Instagram, and Uber have all recently undergone total overhauls of their branding and positioning, which has helped them to renew their presence in the market.
Rather than thinking of a branding refresh as a hassle akin to reinventing the wheel, consider it an opportunity to expand your brand into new territory. Stopping every few years to take stock of your branding and positioning is an invaluable way to make sure you’re reaching as many people as possible, while also opening the possibility of connecting with new demographics. With a shiny new brand strategy, you’ll not only make a new and improved impression on existing clients, but you’ll also be seen by entirely new groups of people.
Questions to ask yourself when considering a branding refresh
Although a reintroduction of your brand and position is rarely a bad thing, you’ll want to make completely sure it’s the right choice for your business before making the investment. Here are some questions to ask yourself before going ahead with a marketing refresh:
- Is your design outdated? With aesthetic trends changing constantly online, it’s important that your brand design feels current, yet timeless. Take a look around other successful businesses in your industry and see if you notice anything in common with their designs. Of course, there’s no sense in copying these designs directly, but it can give you an idea of what trends are getting people interested.
- Are you getting in front of the right audience? Chances are you’ve got a fairly solid client base, but there might not be as much consistency among your target market as you like. After a market analysis, you can get a good look at how you’re engaging with various consumer groups—figuring out where you’re exceeding, and where you could get a little more exposure.
- Does your brand feel unified? A common branding issue for brands is consistency. You might have an awesome website with a great design, but if this isn’t consistent across your other channels, such as in print advertisements, business cards, or in your physical location, it can make your brand feel disjointed as a whole.
- Has your growth slowed down? Perhaps everything seems to be going well on the marketing side, but you’re simply not attracting as much new business as you’d like. If this is the case, it might be time to look at a new approach to your marketing, in order to reintroduce your company to the market.
Get started with a branding and positioning refresh at KIAI
So you’ve decided that now’s the time to take another run at your overall marketing strategy. But where to start?
Of course, it’s possible to handle the entire process by yourself from start to finish. You can contact and get quotes from a handful of graphic designers, get one or more market analyses done for your business, interpret those insights into logistical next steps, figure out the best way to approach new demographics with your new marketing, and run checks across all your brand material to ensure a united identity, all while actually running the business itself.
If that sounds like a huge amount of work, it’s because, frankly, it is. The truth is that while marketing is essential to businesses of all types, it’s a completely unique set of skills that not everyone possesses, or has the time to learn. If this sounds like you, there’s no reason to fear. Working with a qualified digital marketing agency that handles all aspects of your brand and positioning is a great way to ensure you’re putting yourself out there, while taking the burden of effective marketing off your shoulders.
In a field like marketing, where consistency and unity is key to success, it’s imperative that every member of your team is on the same page when it comes to your brand. It can be challenging to ensure consistency when working with a number of different companies, as interpretations and approaches can vary wildly from person to person. Instead, consider a one-stop-shop for all your marketing needs, such as KIAI Agency. When you get started with a brand and positioning refresh with us, you’ll always be working through a single person, who in turn is in charge of facilitating everything else. This way, you can focus on communicating your goals, challenges, and values to just a single person, completely removing the risk of something getting lost in translation.
If you’re in the marketing for a new take on your brand and positioning, look no further than the expert team at KIAI. With end-to-end services available for all aspects of a marketing refresh, we can help you make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible, ensuring you make an outstanding (new and improved) first impression.
Got more questions about branding, positioning, or refreshing your marketing strategy? Ready to have a conversation about how to move forward with your business? Don’t hesitate to contact us today!
