There is a difference maker in effective marketing. This difference maker will cause you, in a split second, to make a decision between one item over another – deciding one is much better than the other. It shapes your opinions. It is the difference between success and failure in marketing. It impacts your buying decisions and the buying decisions of everyone else in the marketplace. Want to know what the difference maker is? It is your brand positioning.

Brand positioning is what you want your target market to believe about your brand – be it your business brand, your products, or your services. When we are working with companies, we want to make sure we are effectively getting their brand in front of their target market. Obviously the more someone is exposed to your logo, the more they will recognize it. However, brand positioning is more than paving the streets with your logo. We want the logo to stand for something so that when a person sees the logo, or even a portion of the logo, they think of the substance behind the logo. In other words, the logo is more than a design. It represents a concept in the mind of the viewer.

This is where brand positioning takes over. For the most part, people will believe what you say about your brand. For instance, if I see the KFC logo, I don’t have any problem associating it with a fast-food chicken restaurant. Neither do I have a problem when I see the Microsoft logo associating it with computer software, the Louisville Slugger logo with a producer of baseball bats, or the Pfizer logo with a pharmaceutical company. So the easy part of brand positioning is telling someone who you are. The hard part comes with the distinction between you and your competition. For instance, I make a distinction between KFC and Chef Luciano’s Kitchen and Chicken. One is a fast-food chain on the low end of restaurants. It is a place you might stop in if you were in a hurry, but is not the type of place you would take your wife on your anniversary. The other is a chic Chicago restaurant. It is a great place to go if you want to entertain guests. Now I will tell you I have never been to Chef Luciano’s Kitchen and Chicken. If I have never been inside their doors, why did I make this distinction? It has to do with their brand positioning. When you go to Chef Luciano’s web site, you get the feeling that the place has some class to it. First, there is the name "Chef” Luciano’s. The word "Chef” would have you believe that there is someone in charge who knows how to cook gourmet food. Next, you will see that the daily fare does not have a dollar value meal offering. The food is not expensive, but is more costly than a fast-food restaurant would charge. Finally, the offerings have more choices with flair than choosing original or extra crispy batter for your chicken. I made a split second decision about one brand being better than the other. How you position your brand is read quickly by your audience.

So just how do you want your target market to remember you? There are three questions you should consider when you are positioning your brand.

1. What do you do really well?

2. Do you do it better than your competition?

3. Does your target market care about No. 1 and 2?

Let’s consider this in reverse order. What does the target market want? Typically it boils down to four general areas: They want great quality, at a low price, delivered to them quickly, and they want a great customer service experience from you. Within each of these four areas are some distinctions that you can build your brand around, especially if your competition is falling down in one or more of these areas. For instance, if your competition is having trouble delivering their products on time and you can streamline your process to get your products out the door sooner, make it part of your brand positioning. How do you think FedEx took on the largest government agency in the U.S.A. – the U.S. Postal Service? They delivered on time. They marketed their speed. Their tagline for years was "The World On Time.” So people see the FedEx logo and they think of the most reliable courier for getting something shipped when you need it there in a hurry. But you have to do more than just create a catchy tagline to position your brand properly. You also have to back it up. This is where your brand positioning statement becomes more than just fluff. It defines who you are and how you do business. It is your best foot forward.

So what do you do really well that will make a distinction between you and your competition and will resonate with your target market? Make that your brand position. Promote it – say it, show it and back it up. Before long, people will identify your brand with the positive position you want them to remember.