Everyone name-drops “positioning” like it’s obvious. Most brands and talent still don’t know where they are positioned in the market or what that term even means.
The Explanation
Positioning isn’t your brand voice, your logo, or your “vibe.” It’s the answer to one question: Who chooses you over the obvious alternative, and why?
Positioning is where you’re placed on a perceptual map in a customer’s mind. Not where you hope to be placed but where you’re actually positioned.
What’s your positioning in the market?
If you can’t answer that question, you don’t have a position — you have a persona.
The perceptual map is the tool marketers use to visualize this. It’s a two-axis grid where you plot your brand and your competition based on two attributes that matter most to your customer — commonly things like price vs. craftsmanship (for fashion), or traditional vs. innovative, or mass-market vs. niche/exclusive. Each brand gets plotted as a dot based on how the customer perceives it (not how the brand describes itself).
Example of a Perceptual Map:
How to find ideal positioning: our 3-Part Formula
1. The Gap:
What need exists that the “name recognition” players are ignoring? This is the same lens I use on every brand deal I pitch — applied here to you, instead of a client.
2. The Proof:
What’s the receipt? Not a claim — a result, a client, a number, a before/after.
3. The Contrast:
Who are you positioned against? Positioning only means something in relation to an alternative. No alternative, no position.
The Framework
Steal this. Fill in the blanks:
“I’m the [category] for [specific person/problem] who [gap the obvious choice ignores] — proven by [specific proof point].”
Say it out loud. If it sounds like everyone else’s about-me section, you haven’t found the gap yet.
Now, is your position aligned with your vision for your personal brand or business? Are you attracting the right clients? Do you want couture clients but receive Fashion Nova inquiries? If that’s the case, then how you’re being perceived needs to change. Sometimes it’s your brand identity, sometimes it’s the content you put out, other times it’s who you’re being associated with.
Do you need to identify or change your positioning in the Market?
Then book a free consultation below:
If you have any questions or would like for me to audit your brand please send me an email Sschirru@dynamicallybpr.com
XOXO,
Dynamically Branded
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