The one thing holding your brand back (and how to overcome it)

If your brand has been in the market for a while and you're not seeing the growth you want, it’s time to look at your positioning. Understanding and refining your brand's position is crucial for driving growth and customer loyalty. The key to this process is deep customer insights, especially through qualitative research. This will help you see what's working and what isn't and how to attract more customers who will love your brand.

The Importance of Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is about where your brand sits in your customers' minds and how it stands out from competitors. A strong position helps your brand connect with your target audience, fostering loyalty and driving growth. As markets change and customer preferences shift, it’s essential to reassess and refine your positioning to stay relevant and compelling.

Why do Customer’s hold the key?

Numbers and trends are useful, but talking to your customers gives you a deeper understanding. Methods like interviews and focus groups (qualitative research) help uncover the emotions, motivations, and behaviours behind customer decisions. For a brand looking to refine its positioning, these insights are invaluable.

Conducting Customer Research

1. Define Objectives

Start with clear goals. Are you trying to understand why customers choose your brand over others? Do you want to uncover unmet needs or pain points? Knowing what you aim to discover will guide your research.

2. Select the Right Methods

Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews with a diverse set of customers. This allows for deep dives into individual experiences and perceptions. Open-ended questions will encourage customers to share their thoughts and feelings freely.

Focus Groups: Bring together small groups of customers to discuss their views on your brand and competitors. This setting can generate rich discussions and reveal common themes and divergent opinions.

Observations: Observe customers in their natural environment to see how they interact with your products or services. This method can uncover insights that customers themselves might not articulate.

3. Analyse the Data

Transcribe interviews and focus group discussions, and look for recurring themes and patterns. Find out how customers perceive your brand, what they value most, and what frustrates them.

Refining Your Positioning

1. Identify Key Insights

Analyse the qualitative data to extract key insights about your brand’s current position. What do customers love about your brand? What are their main reasons for choosing you over competitors? What aspects of your brand do they find lacking or confusing?

2. Map the Customer Journey

Use the insights to map out the customer journey. Identify touchpoints where your brand’s positioning resonates strongly and areas where it falls short. Understanding these moments can help you refine your messaging and improve customer experiences.

3. Develop Personas

Create detailed customer personas based on your qualitative research. These personas should represent the different segments of your audience, highlighting their motivations, preferences, and challenges. Personas help ensure your refined positioning speaks directly to your target customers.

4. Craft Your Refined Positioning Statement

Using the insights gained, craft a refined positioning statement that captures the essence of what makes your brand unique and valuable to your customers. This statement should be clear, compelling, and differentiated from your competitors.

Testing and Implementation

1. Test Your Refined Positioning

Before a full-scale rollout, test your refined positioning with a smaller audience segment. Use additional qualitative methods, like follow-up interviews or focus groups, to gauge reactions and make any necessary adjustments.

2. Align Your Marketing and Communications

Ensure that all aspects of your marketing and communications reflect your refined positioning. This includes your website, social media, advertising, and in-store experiences. Consistency is key to reinforcing your brand’s position in the minds of customers.

3. Train Your Team

Educate your team on the refined positioning to ensure everyone understands and can articulate the brand’s unique value proposition. This alignment across all customer touchpoints will help strengthen the overall brand experience.

Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Brand positioning is not a one-time effort. Continuously monitor customer feedback and market trends to ensure your positioning remains relevant. Regularly conducting qualitative research will help you stay attuned to your customers’ evolving needs and preferences.

Final thoughts

For established brands, qualitative customer research is a powerful tool for understanding and refining brand positioning. By deeply engaging with customers and uncovering their motivations and perceptions, brands can craft a positioning strategy that resonates strongly and drives long-term loyalty. Ultimately, a well-defined and continuously refined brand position will attract more customers who truly love your brand, ensuring sustained growth and success.

Transform Customer Insights into Brand Gold

Ready to refine your brand's positioning and attract more loyal customers? Check out Scoops, my new AI research tool designed to help you dive deep into customer insights. Discover how Scoops can help you understand your audience better and craft a positioning strategy that truly resonates.