If there’s one song to sum up what I want my clients’ brands to be, it would have to be “Unforgettable” made famous by Nat King Cole. It’s powerful, heart felt and of course unforgettable.

Yes, positioning a brand to be “unforgettable” is a tall order for anyone. And it’s no longer enough to simply throw a lot of money into the marketplace to “buy” awareness for a brand. Today’s consumer has become too savvy at blocking irrelevant marketing messages. So brands, more than ever, need to have relevant ideas behind them in order to establish and protect their positions in the marketplace.

What’s positioning strategy?

Positioning strategy is one of the greatest challenges clients face. It’s not because they don’t have great ideas, it’s usually because they cannot pick ONE overriding idea and commit to it.

Many call the positioning the proverbial “stake in the ground”. It’s how you intend for your target audience to see your product, service or cause relative to competing alternatives. Committing to a brand’s positioning strategy means having a focus. And by focusing, it means admitting that their branded product, service or cause is not intended for everyone. This can be scary because we fear leaving out a critical audience. But when we don’t stand for something, we end up standing for nothing. We end up being quite forgettable.

Where are you now?

I just moderated focus groups last week for an association client who is evaluating what to do with a newly acquired brand (another membership organization). I used a car metaphor question to get a quick thumbnail on how the participants perceived the client’s market position relative to competing organizations. If there’s one thing focus group participants always seem to know, its car brands (thank goodness!).

The car question goes like this, “If X organization were a car, what kind of car would it be and why?” This question ignited a fury of excitement for both the participants and the client. And the answers solidified for the client where their brands (old and new) really stood in the marketplace, what they really symbolized. It’s now the jumping off point for us to refine their brand’s position in the marketplace.

Evaluating your strategy- The Four C’s?

When forming (or evaluating) brand positioning strategies, I like to use the four C’s to help vet and eliminate the forgettable options. The four C’s are…
1. Clarity
2. Compelling
3. Credible
4. Contrasting

Clarity- Does the desired positioning strategy make sense to the audience? Is it singularly focused? Can they easily and accurately repeat back the main idea (or is it more like a game of “telephone” where the idea exponentially deteriorates as it passes through more and more hands?).

Compelling- Is the desired positioning strategy based on something your target audience actually cares about? Or is it based on something safe, vague or “me too”?

Credible- Does the positioning strategy come across as believable coming from your organization? Remember you can’t be all things to all people. Don’t give consumers yet another thing they can roll their eyes at.

Contrasting- Does the positioning strategy contrast you enough with your biggest competitor? Since consumers are not especially good about sorting out shades of gray, it’s very important to be as opposite of a competitor as possible. Being opposite should not stop with the positioning statement, it continues on with other brand decisions, such as brand personality, color palette and the desired brand experience.

Using the four C’s will help you challenge, narrow and brand’s unforgettable positioning strategy. And once you get the positioning strategy right, you’ll have a solid platform upon which to create that unforgettable marketing.

Listen to Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” for free.

About Pecanne Eby, MBA
With 20 years of marketing practitioner experience, Pecanne is an independent Marketing Consultant in Denver, CO. As the founder of Brand Mentoring, Pecanne teaches, guides and supports her clients in their efforts to leverage branding as a powerful differentiation strategy.