HOW TO BUILD A POWERFUL BRAND POSITIONING EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER CONTENTS -

Introduction 3

Executive Summary 4

CHAPTER 1 Elements of Brand Positioning 5

CHAPTER 2 How to Develop Your Brand Positioning 6

CHAPTER 3 Brand Positioning Strategies 8

CHAPTER 4 Creating Your Brand’s Visual Identity 10

CHAPTER 5 Incorporating Corporate Values into Brand Messaging 11

Conclusion 12

2 INTRODUCTION

HOW TO BUILD A POWERFUL BRAND POSITIONING EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER -

You may have heard the phrase ‘brand positioning’ and thought to yourself, “another marketing buzzword.” Yes, brand positioning is frequently discussed during planning sessions and in industry publications, but it has more merit than well-worn terms like ‘transparency’ and ‘viral.’ Brand positioning is also more enduring than puzzling jargon like ‘SoLoMo’ (translation: social, local and mobile). Your brand positioning is the foundation upon which your product or your company builds its marketing and communication strategies.

The definition of brand positioning is embedded in the phrase. It is the position you want your product or company (your brand) to occupy in the marketplace. More importantly, it is how you want to be thought of as your customers engage with you. It’s a simple phrase that quickly and memorably defines your brand’s purpose to your audience.

Let’s consider some examples of companies with distinctive branding. How would you describe Amazon? Would ‘frictionless online ordering from the world’s biggest store’ come close? What about Starbucks? Does ‘premium coffee experience for cultured millennials’ explain how customers think about the company and what they expect from the brand? These positionings are expressed with clear words that stay with you. The phrases explain the impressions you have of these companies, likely based on your interaction with them.

While we like to believe our product or service is unlike anything currently available, let’s face facts - most products and companies have competitors. Your brand positioning and associated strategies will be essential in showing customers how you are distinctly different and how your differences have value. Think back to our Starbucks example. The iconic Canadian brand, Tim Horton’s, seems to offer the same product that Starbucks does: coffee. But Tim Horton’s recently tested a revamped brand positioning as a place for ‘simple, high-quality, no-fuss coffee for everyone.’ This brand positioning promises a coffee experience uniquely different from but equally valuable compared to Starbucks.

The Cannabiz Social team has written this e-book to jumpstart your brand positioning and strategy efforts. We explore how to develop brand positioning, discuss how brand positioning leads to strategy, and examine how to make brand positioning visible in your marketing and communication tactics. Successfully marketing your product or service starts with crafting a compelling and credible story. Brand positioning is the first sentence in your best-seller!

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Standing out and getting noticed by prospective customers isn’t getting any easier. The marketplace has millions of businesses and millions more starting up each year. All are trying to build sales and customer loyalty. A strong brand positioning and strategy can set you apart. This e-book provides our method for using brand positioning to create customer connections. This process will help you identify your brand or company strengths and build a framework for long-term success. OUR APPROACH EXAMINES: 1. The Elements of a Brand Positioning. By answering 4 questions, the fundamental elements of your position will emerge. • How are you viewed by your customer? • How do you differ from competitors? • How do your customers interact with your brand or company? • Who is your customer?

2. How to Develop Your Brand Positioning. In this section, we examine the information you’ll need to uncover positioning elements. We also suggest using the following litmus test questions to validate your positioning. • Can you deliver on and own this position? • Can you defend this position long-term? • Are you providing a solution with this position? • Can you state your position in a few memorable words?

3. Brand Positioning Strategies. Your analysis will drive you toward one of four business strategies. Each strategy has implications for how you talk about your brand with customers. The strategies include: • A head-to-head strategy where you continue to point out your differences compared to competitors. • A niche strategy focuses on a small audience with a tightly consistent message. • A ‘better benefits’ strategy takes on a market leader with messaging about how • your brand or company improves upon what is available. • A ‘truly unique’ strategy showcases your one-of-a-kind product or service.

4. Creating Your Brand’s Visual Identity. Since we learn by watching, your brand’s visual identity is vital to effectively communicating who you are and what you do for customers. From your logo to your website, marketing materials, and advertising, an integrated visual communication strategy is a ‘must-have.’

5. Incorporating Corporate Values into Brand Messaging. Although your brand positioning helps frame how you’ll interact with customers, its underpinnings should reflect your corporate values. The values that drive your daily decisions will infuse meaning into your branding and marketing efforts. 4 CHAPTER 1 ELEMENTS OF BRAND POSITIONING

Brand positioning, the place your product or service occupies in the marketplace and the consumer mindset, seems straightforward. Without a process framework, however, a positioning can be challenging to articulate. Let’s review an example to help illustrate the elements folded into a brand positioning. Outerwear company Canada Goose launched in 1957 as a manufacturer of vests, raincoats and snowmobile apparel. Over the next 30 years, travelers to Antarctica and Mt. Everest stayed warm wearing the company’s quality parkas. When the 90s rolled in, many North American clothing manufacturers were looking for ways to cut costs and began outsourcing production. Stepping away from this trend, Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss remained committed to making the brand in Canada. The brand’s authenticity and craftsmanship have made it the ‘Swiss Watch’ of down-filled apparel. Canada Goose jackets became more well-known after appearing in films including The Day After Tomorrow and National Treasure and showing up on a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover. These high-profile exposures helped expand awareness of Canada Goose. Adventurers across the decades continued to wear Canada Goose parkas to the South Pole, the Iditarod, and Yukon Gold dog sled races. Throughout this evolution, the brand’s Canadian heritage and quality made it a luxury brand deemed worth the price throughout the world. Canada Goose built its brand positioning based on how their products were viewed and being used. The company answered a few essential questions to frame their positioning, including the following: How was Canada Goose apparel viewed by its customers? Answer: Authentic and well-crafted. How was Canada Goose different from competitors? Answer: It was made in Canada. How was the apparel used? Answer: For specific occasions, from cross-country treks to staying warm in cold climates. Who was using the brand? Answer: Active, creative, adventurous people. Canada Goose’s positioning - what it is known for - emerged from its story. Canada Goose: “The best and warmest clothing on earth made in Canada for people who want durable, fashionable winter outerwear.”

5 CHAPTER 2 HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR BRAND POSITIONING

Defining your brand positioning involves using knowledge you already have about your product or service. The step-by-step process below is a disciplined approach to help you clearly articulate what you know, and solidify your brand story. Who are your customers? Answer this question with traditional demographics as well as lifestyle details. If you’re a B2B organization, describe the types of businesses you’re targeting and identify the roles of your customers such as purchasing agent, R&D, engineer, etc. If you are creating a holistic positioning for your company, you may have several customer segments to consider. Outline each target audience and estimate how much business each segment could represent. Why do your customers buy from you? The solutions you provide to customer problems or their desires offer insight into your value. Although you may have several customer segments, try to identify the common themes your solutions share across the groups. What do you offer that’s different from competitors? Understanding the competitive landscape, including competitors’ strengths and weaknesses will help you assess whether you can fully own your points-of-difference. Be sure to honestly explore whether your competitors have solutions (even if different from yours) that can address the same customer problems you’re tackling. How are you delivering value? Counsel from Fred Wiersema and Michael Treacy’s 1995 book ‘The Discipline of Market Leaders’ remains worthwhile when answering this question. The authors identified three fundamental ways to offer value. This step of the process forces you to decide which one you can deliver and stand behind. Do you provide customers with value through operational efficiency, product leadership, or customer relationship?

• If your value is delivered through operational efficiency, you’re focused on low price.

• Value-centered in product leadership is achieved by offering the best product, as demonstrated by Canada Goose.

• Focusing on customer relationships means you’re providing the best solution and the best service.

6 CONTINUED

After you have answered these four questions, you will be prepared to stake out your position and answer the question: Who is our customer and what do we want our (brand or company) to be known for? You can put your brand positioning to the test by screening it with the following questions:

• Can you fully deliver on and own this position? Your brand positioning should be strong and stable. If you need to make hefty investments or spend enormous capital to fulfill your brand promise, it may not be the right direction.

• Can you defend this position long-term? If you know competitors are on your heels with similar solutions, you may want to rethink how you want to position your brand. Maintaining a brand positioning that’s too close to the competition is possible but requires significant and on-going marketing investment.

• Does the brand positioning address a broad or narrow unmet need or unsolved problem? Mainstream or niche positionings are both viable. Your answer, however, will inform you to take one of two very different directions for your marketing and communications strategies.

• Are you able to simply state your brand positioning? A 30-word brand positioning will be awkward for you to explain and difficult for customers to understand quickly. It’s essential for your brand positioning to stick in the customers’ memory. Using a few familiar and relevant words to express your positioning will help you be readily recognized and remembered. The brand positioning you craft will contain clues that point you to an effective go-to-market strategy and the best communication tactics for connecting with customers.

7 CHAPTER 3 BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGIES

Your examination of your company or brand uncovered essential positioning elements that will affect your strategy. Armed with insights, you’ll pursue one of the following four options: For example, Oxford Dictionary’s legacy logo – dark blue with a serif font – evoked strength and stability. The brand’s redesigned logo shifted to a Twitter-like light blue, removed the serifs in favor of rounded lettering, and added a symbol that resembles Beats headphones. To appeal to younger audiences, the brand sacrificed its core purpose: ‘the definitive record of the English language.’ Stand-out logos share these characteristics:

1. A head-to-head strategy. If you’re operating in a mature market with several close-in competitors, you’ll need a plan that sets you apart. Examples of effective head-to-head strategies include:

• Avis. With Hertz, the leading provider of rental cars positioned as cost-efficient, Avis chose to demonstrate its corporate value by focusing on customer relationships. Remember their tag line is “We Try Harder.”

• Scope. Listerine mouthwash’s sensible promise to deliver a germ-free, clean mouth helped it achieve a #1 position in the marketplace. Scope’s head-to-head response pivoted to focus on the harsh taste of Listerine and positioned itself as the better-tasting alternative. Early advertising included the phrase “No more medicine breath.”

2. A niche strategy. Your analysis of who uses your brand and how they use it may point you to a niche strategy. For example, a website development company reviews its customer base and realizes more than half are HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) companies. Word-of- mouth and good results among these companies have led to positive reviews and referrals. The website development company looks at market trends and sees a $50 billion North American market forecasted to grow more than 6% annually. They decide to position the company as an expert in HVAC website design and pursue this growing and profitable niche.

8 CONTINUED

3. A ‘better benefits’ strategy. If you’ve identified a growing market and decide to jump in with your company or brand, a ‘better benefits’ strategy can be effective. UberEats, a recent entry into the food delivery business, is positioning itself against leader GrubHub in with several points of ‘better’:

• UberEats is international, while GrubHub serves the U.S. and U.K. markets.

• UberEats’ app offers personalized menu ideas, helping customers choose restaurants based on past orders. GrubHub does not yet provide these types of recommendations.

• UberEats is building on its position as an ‘enabler,’ extending the trust it has as a transport company to food delivery.

4. A truly unique strategy. Being first to market is an enviable position. Your brand or company stands out, in part, because your offering is one-of-a-kind. Uber’s entry into transportation is an excellent example of ‘truly unique.’ As with most good ideas, however, competitors soon follow. Uber’s ‘private driver’ upscale positioning faces challenger Lyft’s promise to be ‘your friend with a car.’

Another example of a company with a unique position is LinkedIn, a platform focused on ‘connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.’ To date, LinkedIn doesn’t have any direct competition.

9 WITH YOUR BRAND POSITIONING AND STRATEGY DEFINED, IT’S TIME TO SHIFT YOUR FOCUS TO COMMUNICATING YOUR MESSAGES TO CUSTOMERS. MANY MARKETING TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR COMMUNICATION STRATEGY, BUT THE MOST ESSENTIAL MAY BE THE VISUALS YOU PRESENT. CHAPTER 4 CREATING YOUR BRAND’S VISUAL IDENTITY

WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE VISUAL MESSAGES DOMINATE. Why? Because the human brain comprehends an image’s meaning 60,000 times faster than it understands words. We gravitate toward images as time-saving methods for learning. A strong visual can create better connections, too. When you hear a radio commercial about Quaker’s Instant Oatmeal, you’ll likely only remember about 10% of the message. But if you see an advertisement showing a warm bowl of Quaker Oats and the iconic Quaker logo, your recall of the brand improves to 65%. Expressing your brand positioning visually helps solidify what your product or company stands for in the minds of your customers. High-quality imagery that reflects elements of your brand story will be compelling. It’s important to reinforce your story consistently across your visual touch-points with customers including: • brand logo • website • packaging • marketing tools such as brochures, sell sheets, trade show banners • print, television, or online advertisements As you develop your visual story, consider working with an outside creative agency. Your knowledge of your brand and your customers combined with the creativity and design talents of an agency will deliver a strong visual identity for your company or product. Brand imagery can be literal, such as the Quaker on the front of Quaker Oats. Images can also be metaphorical. For example, look at the visual identity of The Parkinson’s Foundation. The logo is a contemporary design resembling a brain inside a human head. The shape acknowledges the neurological disorder the organization champions. The color scheme focuses on bright blue and white, colors that evoke vibrancy, life, and strength – characteristics the organization advocates in its mission. The Parkinson’s Foundation wisely folded its values into its positioning and visual identity. They’ve tapped into how they work together to serve their customers and demonstrates their commitment at every touchpoint.

11 CHAPTER 5 INCORPORATING CORPORATE VALUES INTO BRAND MESSAGING

YOUR ANALYSIS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS, YOUR SOLUTIONS, AND YOUR COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS ARE OUTWARD SIGNS OF WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR COMPANY. YOUR BRAND POSITIONING, VISUAL STORY, AND MESSAGING WILL BE MORE POWERFUL AND MORE MEANINGFUL WHEN TIED TO YOUR CORE VALUES. For Canada Goose, our earlier example, their primary mission is to ‘free people from the cold – no matter where they live – and empower them to experience more from life.’ A review of their logo, website, and online catalog show their commitment to authenticity, craftsmanship, and reliability. LinkedIn’s goals of inclusivity and connection are reflected in their branding, their approachable color scheme, and an easy-to-use application. UberEats relies on beautiful food images, a fresh white and green color scheme, and simple text to communicate their commitment to making it easy to access great-tasting food. As you finalize your brand positioning, strategy, and marketing activities, take a step back and review them through the lens of your corporate values. Does the language and imagery you’ve created link uniquely to your purpose? Your teams are the face of your brand. They are your ambassadors. Are they infusing their daily interactions and work product with your purpose and position? Are your values guiding their daily decisions? Creating a brand positioning incorporating your values and your purpose will help you connect with customers, stand out from competitors, and provide direction to co-workers.

12 CONCLUSION

THE SUCCESS OF YOUR COMPANY DEPENDS ON YOUR ABILITY TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS AND PROVIDE VALUABLE SOLUTIONS. Brand positioning and strategy help guide your organization toward consistently reaching and engaging with customers. With brand positioning playing a significant role in customer interactions, it may be tempting to invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in positioning work. You may believe that a complex positioning statement is going to produce better results. If you think about it, however, the most influential brands have simple and clear positioning. General Electric (GE) promises to make our world better. Do you recall one of their taglines? “We bring good things to life” simply communicates their brand position. We have outlined a step-by-step process to help you find the right brand positioning and strategy for your brand or company. The method harnesses what you already know. Identify your purpose, your values, and your strengths. Think about why customers buy from you instead of competitors. Craft a statement that tells what you will deliver. Use words that will be meaningful to your customers and distinct from your competitors. With a powerful positioning to identify your go-to- market strategy and visual identity, success is in reach!

-

At Cannabiz Social we take pride in being agile, responsive and technically savvy. .

BOOK A MEETING TODAY

CANNABIZSOCIAL.COM RESOURCES

Tim Hortons Opened This Cafe To Prove A Point About Its Coffee. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/04/19/tim-hortons-latte- cafe_n_16109098.html

The Most Successful Brands Focus on Users - Not Buyers. https://hbr.org/2018/02/the-most-successful-brands-focus-on-users- not-buyers

Canada Goose Mission, Benefits, and Work Culture. https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Canada-Goose/about

How Canada Goose Went From Small Outerwear Company to International Luxury Brand Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur. com/article/241286

Defining Brand Positioning https://medium.com/@afrench53198/defining-brand-positioning-a4e6092c7943

Examples of Brand-Positioning Strategy https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-brandpositioning-strategy-25213.html

Humans Process Visual Data Better http://www.t-sciences.com/news/humans-process-visual-data-better

A Simple Definition Of Brand Positioning https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2016/11/brand-positioning-definition/

Our History https://www.canadagoose.com/ca/

GrubHub Versus UberEats https://versusreviews.com/food-delivery-apps/compare/grubhub/to/ubereats/

Easy Tips On How To Create A Brand Position For Your Product Or Service https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansutter/2016/05/06/ easy-tips-on-how-to-create-a-brand-position-for-your-product-or-service/#38879e551073

The Management Framework that Propelled LinkedIn to a $20 Billion Company https://firstround.com/review/the-management- framework-that-propelled-LinkedIn-to-a-20-billion-company/

Uber vs Lyft - Brand positioning, expectation and culture http://brandingandstrategyblog.com/brand-strategy/uber-vs-lyft-brands- effect-customer-expectation-internal-culture/