These days, many ambitious young students use their college years to implement their personal projects. Some start personal blogs hoping to gain popularity and recognition. Others launch student startups in pursuit of success and financial freedom. And, there is always one thing everyone engaged in such projects has in common – lacking funding and human resources, they often have to deal with the marketing part on their own, and they make plenty of mistakes on their path.

Trying to master the art of digital marketing without any hands-on experience and the support of an established professional is sure tough. Not only do students not have enough free time to handle this effectively, but they also often leverage ineffective channels and strategies that don’t bring them any closer to their goals.

If that’s your case, don’t freak out just yet. As a student marketing a personal blog or startup, you will definitely face plenty of issues. But, there is always a way to mitigate risks and get on the right track. Right now, delegate your college tasks to any paper writing service to get support from professional writers and save enough time for your marketing efforts. And read this article to learn about the top ineffective channels and strategies that you should avoid.

Not Using a Buyer Persona

Many beginner entrepreneurs and bloggers start promoting their resources, leaving a lot of guesswork. This is natural, especially if you are not very experienced in online advertising. But, this approach won’t take you anywhere. In fact, this is the biggest mistake you want to avoid.

Without having a clear vision of your ideal buyer persona or target audience, you can’t identify their interests and pain points. As a result, you can’t cater to their needs effectively and make them want to read/buy from you.

According to experts, getting to know your audience is the key to success. So, here is how you can do this:

• Think about the groups of people who will be interested in your blog or product;
• Conduct market and competitor research;
• Talk to your prospects directly to define their needs and expectations.

These three simple tricks will help you get on the right track in your marketing strategy and ensure the best outcomes.

Marketing Through All Social Media Channels

Now, don’t get this one wrong. Social media IS effective for digital advertising. Moreover, social media can offer you some of the highest ROIs for your campaigns, but only if you use it right.

With such a wide variety of platforms, it can be hard for inexperienced users to identify the best channels for their campaigns. Namely, there is Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and many other opportunities that work well for specific types of products and audiences. But, if you feel like leveraging them all at once is a great idea, that’s not true.

To give you an example, Facebook and Instagram can provide good results for many different groups of consumers and business types, whereas LinkedIn is mostly good for marketing B2B goods. Your task is to define what kind of social media is right for you and the type of audience you are trying to reach.

Engaging in Affiliate/Referral Marketing Too Early

Affiliate and referral programs are very similar. They imply asking existing clients and other outside individuals to promote your goods in exchange for a commission from every sale attributed to their efforts. This means of advertising can’t really be called ineffective. But, it’s not right for everyone.

A student blog or startup that is still relatively young and doesn’t have a solid number of devoted clients or readers yet will not likely benefit from this approach. First of all, it would be hard to attract affiliates or referrals. 

On top of that, it’s worth mentioning that this type of marketing puts your personal brand’s reputation in someone else’s hands. So, when your reputation isn’t firm yet, it might not be the best decision to rely on such advertising too much. Besides, this type of advertising often requires more careful tracking and measuring, so it can be hard to keep up with if you are a busy student.

Not Keeping an Eye on Your Competitors

When you are just getting started with your startup or blog, it can be easy to overlook the competition and start promoting without looking back at someone. But, the truth is that whatever the topic of your source is or whatever product or service you offer – there is always someone who has already done that. And looking at them can give you plenty of insights on what you should and shouldn’t do.

Keeping an eye on your competitors can bring many benefits. It will help you see what audiences they target, what kind of content they create, and what other tricks they use to achieve results. Also, it will help you see how your blog or brand can differentiate from your competitors. 

Most importantly, by analyzing the competition, you can get an idea of what mistakes your competitors have made on their path and avoid making them yourself. So, if you are currently marketing without looking back at the competition, that’s ineffective, and you should change it ASAP.

PPC Without Proper Targeting

Hoping to get the desired results fast and save time, many young marketers decide to leverage the power of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising and get cruelly disappointed in this marketing means. And the issue is almost always a lack of proper targeting.

Here is a thing – PPC can be incredibly effective and bring stunning results. Yet, there are two main components of success that you must keep in mind – you have to reach the right people and do this with the right message. That’s the formula for success.

If you lack one or both of these components, you will likely waste plenty of time and money on PPC and won’t receive any tangible results. So, this is one more thing to avoid. But, if you carefully target the right people and craft the right message that addresses their pain points and needs, you will succeed.

Content Marketing Without SEO

Whether it is content for your social media, blog, or startup website, if there is no SEO, you are losing plenty of opportunities. Long gone are the days when you could benefit from content marketing without adding some SEO magic to it.

So, if you are still there, be sure to change this as soon as possible. Study the specs of SEO, find tactics that work for your competitors, identify the strongest keywords, and start using SEO to your benefit.

The Bottom Line

These days, there are plenty of channels, tactics, and strategies for digital marketing. So getting lost among them is easy, especially when you are just getting started and lack experience.

Luckily, now you know about some of the most ineffective means of marketing that should be avoided. Each of these mistakes could make you waste lots of time and money without any tangible results. But, knowing about them, you should be able to create a winning digital marketing strategy that will help you attain your objectives. Good luck!

The post 6 Ineffective Means of Digital Marketing You Should Avoid appeared first on Platform to Showcase Innovative Startups and Tech News.

One cannot talk about digital marketing without mentioning content marketing. Content helps businesses attract new customers, create brand awareness, and improve sales. There is no content marketer that does not aim to produce quality content that will help achieve the marketing goals of the business. Still, content marketing is not always easy, especially if you are just starting a business and do not have a marketing team. There are several challenges that you might face, but with the right tools, you can overcome them. Read on to find out what some of the challenges are and how to overcome them.

Consistency

For people to take your brand seriously, you will need to be consistent. This is one of the rules of content marketing. Unfortunately, more than half of marketers are not consistent with producing content. The reason most people are not consistent with producing content is that they lack a strategy in place. Having a clear strategy helps ensure that you are prioritizing your content and communicating its importance to your stakeholders. The best way to ensure that you are consistent is by developing a calendar and monitoring the frequency by which your competitors are producing content. This will give you an idea of the amount of content to produce to create an impact in the marketplace.

Lack Of Resources

Today everything costs money, and if you have not set aside a budget for content creation, you are doing this all wrong. Without a budget, it would be impossible to produce quality content consistently. This type of challenge is particularly common with small business owners who may not have the financial capacity to produce content regularly. Besides finance, there is also the time as a resource. If you are juggling a lot of tasks at the same time, then you will not have the time to sit and research and write a blog. If your issue is time, Vazoola recommends outsourcing content marketing services. That way, you can focus on other things and let an expert handle them for you. If the issue is money, you can always recycle or repurpose content you already have. Just work on them to ensure they align with your SEO strategy.

Producing Quality Resources

As much as content marketing is an effective means of promoting a business, it also needs to be of high quality. Try your best not to create the same content as what your competitors are already producing. Customers or readers want something valuable. Go and find out what your competitors are creating and how that content is performing in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This will give you an idea of the standard your content needs to match with or exceed. Also, work on producing original and bold content. To interest your target audience, you need to be different and have a strong opinion.

Not Taking Risks

To some extent, content marketers are creatures of habit. If something is working, they will stick to it and stay in that comfort zone. If they feel a particular concept resonated with their audience, they will apply the same concept to the next post. One of the reasons they do this is because they want to give the audience what it wants. Plus, when you are already getting a significant number of pageviews from your content, why would one want to change that? The only challenge is that at one point, your audience will know what to expect from you, meaning you will start losing sight. Try experimenting with different content alongside strategies that are working for you. This way, you are still in your comfort zone but taking a risk at the same time.

Understand Different Buyer Personalities

Your buyers are not one group but rather a mixture of individuals that prefer consuming content in several ways. You can only be able to achieve the needs of each buyer by understanding what each connects with. For instance, some buyers prefer short articles, and others podcasts, videos, or lengthy articles. Do your best to serve all of them, allowing everyone the opportunity to engage with you.

As established, these are some of the challenges that come with content marketing. To overcome most of them, you need to know your marketing goals and your audience and consistently produce high-quality content. Once you understand these three things, it is easy to come up with a strategy for producing content that will not lead to burnout or waste of resources.

The post Content Marketing Challenges And How To Overcome Them appeared first on Platform to Showcase Innovative Startups and Tech News.

The advertisement of a product, service, or company enhances its visibility and increases its customer base. The products in advertisements are presented in a way that they gain maximum mass appeal and increase their sales. 

However, advertisements are not just a tool for companies to increase their sales and profits. Advertisements also ensure greater awareness about a specific brand and its products. Thus, a company also tries to enhance its customer base and increase customer loyalty towards its products through its product advertisement examples. 

The following are some of the most popular brands that have won several hearts for their unique advertisement ideas. Each of the following companies has used specific styles of advertisements to promote their manufactured products. Be it using social media advertisements or running them on television, the following companies have some of the best product advertisement examples for attracting the crowd. 

Best Creative Product Advertisments Examples

We have curated the list of the best examples of creative advertisements that have forced people to gaze at them in awe.

1. BBC Dracula Billboard

BBC attracted millions of people across the United Kingdom through its out-of-the-box advertising strategy for Dracula Billboard. The company set up billboards across the United Kingdom with several steaks hammered on them. The arrangement of the steaks caused the real thrill at night when the shadow of the steaks formed the face of a vampire. While on the one hand, this advertised the show Dracula Billboard, it also implemented an innovative advertising strategy to catch the eyes of the people. 

It is evident how the company did not choose to go for mainstream advertising over social media or Television and came up with such an innovative idea to promote their show across the UK. But what was so different about this? 

Indeed, setting up billboards is nothing great but the arrangement of the steaks and its reflection certainly was. The company did not just aim to attract people traveling along that path but also sought to engrain the picture of their show in their minds. 

2. Always: Like a Girl

Always stands to be one of the most unique social media product advertisement examples. The company’s tagline #LikeAGirl brought about an uproar on social media as it empowered young women and ensured they felt more confident. The idea behind the advertisement phrase was an idea to accept oneself and not feel inferior. 

The #LikeAGirl catchphrase became viral all over social media, and young girls began to use the phrase more often than ever. It gave girls a lot of encouragement and accept themselves without comparing with boys. The ad made them believe they are equally stronger, quite against the popular belief. 

The product advertisement examples mentioned in this section explains the marketing strategies undertaken by a few world-recognized companies and how it has impacted their target customers. It is evident that all these advertisements focused on creating innovative or eye-catching advertisements to increase their customer base.

3. Debeers: A diamond is forever

Debeer is one of the most significant ornament companies that began its popular ad slogan ‘A diamond is forever’. It signified the importance of engagement rings, associating the same with ever-lasting marriages. Debeers brought about a significant change in the industry whereby the sales of diamond rings in general and Debeers rings in particular skyrocketed. 

The company based its advertisement on a simple message of love the importance of marriage. It utilized the romantic notions of people about marriage and presented it in a picture-perfect way through its advertisement slogan. Though Debeers rarely went for elaborate advertisements, all of them were built around this tagline. 

4. Cadbury Silk: ‘Kiss me’ Jingle

Cadbury has won a million hearts through its innovative way of advertising its products. The company believes in focusing solely on its products and framing advertising strategies accordingly. One of the most popular product advertisement examples of the company is its ‘Kiss me’ Jingle made for promoting Cadbury Silk. The chocolate company had connected the love for chocolates amongst couples and the tradition of gifting chocolates to each other. The advertisement started to air during Valentine’s Day, winning the hearts of most couples.

Additionally, the ad also portrayed the thrill of enjoying a bar of Cadbury Silk and how it translates to love and intimacy amongst couples. The name Cadbury Silk was also symbolic of the rich taste of love and smoothness in relationships. The advertisement was aimed at heightening the intimacy between couples and spreading love on the occasion of Valentine’s Day through its advertisements. 

5. Dove: Healthy skin over beautiful skin

Dove is popular for being one of the first beauty brands to challenge the normative beauty standards of women. It also encourages them to move towards choosing products for healthy skin over beautiful skin. The product capitalizes on the emotions of its customers and frames its product campaigns accordingly. Dove advertises its products by showing how it encourages women to accept their true beauty and be confident about the same. The company also has a reputation for the powerful advertisement message that it spreads through the marketing of its products. 

Dove advertisements are also popular for their highly empowering content. It deconstructs the notion of beauty and engages women from different age groups as a part of their advertisements. The company also ensures that original feedback of the users is present in its advertisements. For instance, one of the company’s advertisements aired on Television included the reviews of housewives who used dove. 

While on the one hand, this considerably empowered women who stayed at home, it also encouraged them to buy the products as they received the most honest reviews from the customers. This was indeed one of the most innovative product advertisement examples coming out of Dove. 

6. Nike: Just do it

The slogan of the brand, Nike has a huge influence upon the mass. The slogan “just do it” was created by Wieden Kennedy, an independent marketing agency for Nike’shuge television advertisement. This advertisement includes women athletes who took part in several sports events like running, playing basketball, cross-training, and walking. 

Dan Wieden, the founder of the marketing agency, said, “Each spot was developed by a different creative team and was markedly different from the other”. This advertisement had an inspiring effect on the masses. The response of the audience was remarkable. Wieden says, “the general public surprised us all.”

The slogan got widespread in the field of athletics and this tagline gradually started appearing in t-shirt prints, fridge magnets, sippers, etc. Nike then starts using this tagline in the advertisement where women portrayed empowerment by participating in sports. 

This event was followed by another advertisement that was released in 1995 where women were claiming their rights to take part in sports. The portrayal of women taking part in sports struck the mass psyche, which made them think about the conventional domestication of women. Women who released their imposed limitations started supporting this advertisement campaign. This resulted in people buying products produced by this company. Again, the tagline “just do it” also acted as an inspiration for the youth. With the message ‘to move on in life without giving a second thought’. 

Nike’s advertising slogan ‘Just Do It’ became so common and famous that it was often used by the youths as a popular catchphrase to motivate each other. The tagline instills a sense of self-confidence amongst individuals. Thus, it is evident that this advertisement expanded the company’s target customer base and gained huge popularity through its tagline.

7. Loreal: Because we’re worth it

L’oreal Paris declared its 50^th anniversary on the occasion of International women’s day. The tagline that this company has been using is “Because we’re worth it.” The company said, “The brand has been relentless in its dedication to breaking down barriers. From pioneering science and innovations that empower women through beauty, to its diverse family of global spokespeople, L’oreal Paris continues to challenge stereotypes. Giving women the confidence and power to take the place they deserve in the society.”

The brand got its popularity because of its famous tagline that portrays the empowerment of women. This line validates the worth of self in women who are shamed years after years for something or nothing. The idea of shaming women of their flaws got negativism by this line. This deserving validation for women had a massive impact on the masses. 

This led the mass in buying different products produced by the company. The second survey that was conducted in partnership with Ipsos revealed how one among the three people being sexually harassed, gets the strength of survival through this tagline. 

This company has also taken the initiative to counter any street harassment faced by women who happen to be very public. Thus, providing a safe space for women and encouraging them to fight all odds in order to survive in a male dominant society. These initiatives have very well influenced the masses of Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, France, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and many other countries.

8. Apple: Think different

The tagline of the advertisement of the brand, “think different” got its spotlight after Steve Jobs’ sudden death. This slogan has received a positive response from IBM. Apple launched its products with this tagline. Be it television advertisement, print advertisement, or other television promos. This slogan received a huge positive response from the mass. 

For this tagline, the company won many reputed awards such as the 1998 Emmy Awards for making the best commercial advertisement. They won Grand Effie Award in 2000 too, for spreading a remarkable advertisement campaign. Such was the success in producing an advertisement like that—people were seeing it as a powerhouse of marketing.

This campaign was successful in evoking the emotion of the mass. This advertisement influenced the viewers as they watched the revolutionaries. The advertising campaign seemed very appealing to the common sense of mass, which urges us to think in different ways. 

The masses started to try to think differently. This appeal obviously resulted in them buying products from this company. Gradually the company began to become popular in countries like America, France, Canada, Australia, India, and many other countries that can afford apple. The campaign utilized the reasoning appeal that was successfully able to evoke the thinking ability of the mass. Posters, billboards, and magazines were full of advertisements of Apple that would contain the slogan, “think different”. 

The repetitive assertion upon the masses through innumerable promotions made them get influenced in a positive way to think differently and thus, buy from the company.

9. M&Ms: Melts in your mouth

M&Ms are button-shaped chocolate that comes out in different colors, the name of the company being printed on the chocolates. There are several taglines by M&Ms influencing the masses to try the taste of it. The slogan that became famous among the mass of America is “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”. This slogan makes it the most likable one among the masses. This is one of the strategies of the brand where it has created a sweet that does not melt easily because of the shell that binds the chocolate present inside. Researchers say that it has become a part of the lifestyle about which people keep talking.

The product has been mainly produced to target the children though it has gained success among the youth through its creative taglines and, of course, through the advertisement campaign. After World War II, there has been a shift among the candy eaters where, apart from the children, the men and women also started to get access to candies. 

Thus the company was successful in enquiring about the support of both children and their parents. The company plays a huge role in influencing the American culture for the past eighty years. The colors also provide fun to the consumers and influence them more to buy the candies. The company also received awards for producing a television commercial. This again helped the company to reach out to the consumers. However, the tagline of this company appears to play a major role in influencing mass psychology.

Simple Yet Clever Examples of Advertisement Campaigns

Here are some examples of simplicity at its best.

1. KFC

The slogan for KFC is finger-lickin’ good. The company targets the visual sensory parts of the body. The advertisement and the hoardings of the company mainly focus on showing off their food products in a grand manner. The salivary glands are given a tickle while preparing such a hoarding. Predominantly they poetry their recipes to be a punch of secret spices.

They play on the element of surprise as well. Next, the main color code in the whole ambiance of KFC is red. Red is a vibrant color that catches the attention of people faster than any color. They design their advertisements and hoardings in such a manner that the color code catches the eyes faster and has a lasting effect.

The company also plays on the image which is popularly seen to be about the food products. They present food products in such a manner that portrays them to be something that is highly desirable. That makes people want to try KFC more often and leads to increasing the sales of the company.

KFC advertisements solely depend on focusing on their food product. Be it a chicken bucket or a burger, the advertisements portray an enlarged image of the product, making it look more desirable. Such a projection perfectly fits with the tagline of the company where seeing the food item indeed makes you believe it’s Finger-lickin’ good. 

2. McCain

This company dealing with mainly frozen food advertises itself to help attract the wholesalers and buyers. The company runs on the tagline of preparing food in a jiffy. 

It focuses on tapping the market that likes its food cooked in a jiffy. The advertisements provide the message that how food can be prepared in a jiffy. Advertisements allow people to be aware of the new frozen products.

The logo of the company signifies the drastic change of the logo of the company along with the change in its branding. McCain provides a homely vibe in the advertisement that makes the company find a place in almost everybody’s budget.

It is evident that the company does not have elaborate advertisements. Rather, it solely depends on spreading a simple message to its target customers regarding the ease of cooking food through McCain. 

3. Vero Moda

The Usp of Vero Moda is a blend of style along with comfort. Vera Moda, one of the best-selling retail stores in Europe has been able to establish itself across the globe. Advertisements of Vera Moda may not be that striking or setting it apart from other brands. 

Yet the brand tries to uphold its subtle feminine character that has been its primary characteristic from the very beginning. The company’s advertisements are based on subtlety and elegance. It pairs these two adjectives to develop some of the most beautiful advertisements and attracts a significant number of customers. 

Advertisements of Vera Moda have been able to reach new heights due to the birth of its social media handle. The social media handle has been able to well present the brand in a magnificent manner. Everyday feed along blending it with advertisements their new launches have helped them to boost their sales to a significant amount.

4. Nivea

The tagline “it starts with you”. The company empowers the virtue of self-love and self-power and manufactures a range of beauty products that helps people to feel good about themselves.  The advertisements of Nivea all around the world provide a feel-good vibe about oneself and ensure that people can relate to that.

The launching of the Nivea men’s range provides a range of products exclusively for men, thus promoting the idea that even men can be aware of their bodies and feel good about them. The Nivea brand takes its tagline seriously and ensures that all the advertisements abide by the tagline.

The tagline of Nivea aims at increasing self-confidence and prioritizing oneself. Thus, prioritizing always begins with the body, and Nivea advertises its products through this. It also undoes the inherent gender binary in the construction of normative beauty by including skincare and cosmetic products for men too.

5. Philip Morris International 

Being a holding company, and being the company that has launched products like Marlboro, the tagline is what would catch the attention of the people the most in this case. The company has been the mother company for many cigarette brands starting from Virginia Slims to Raffles. Folks consider these to be the elite cigarettes and for each of them, there is a separate tagline.

For example, Marlboro is “Mild as a May”. The taglines are usually simple. The sole goal of the company is to deliver products that cause minimum damage to people. The company majorly deals on goodwill and they advertise their products in an elite manner that also creates a similar image in the mind of people consuming it. 

The company also started to revolutionize the tobacco industry even after the growing awareness about the harmful impacts of tobacco through its innovative advertisements. It made most of the concept of masculinity to gain popular support from its customers who were enticed to try out its products through its advertising strategies. 

The product advertisement examples used by Philip Morris are indeed credible because contrary to most items, the company manufactured a highly controversial item- cigarettes. In spite of that, the company never failed to stay out of public attention through its superior advertisement mechanisms. 

6. Budweiser: Whassup

One of the earliest commercials promoting beer has been that of Budweiser that popularised the tagline “What’s up”. It was mainly done in order to uplift pop culture. At that time it was considered to be annoying yet the company revived the same commercial in 2020 as a part of the Covid relief measures. The advertisement yet annoying holds a lot of nostalgia, yet has attracted a large number of consumers. The revival of old advertisements has helped the company to enhance its customer base.

The product advertisement examples mentioned in this section reveal how companies have started adopting a new method of marketing their products that include sending across a simple message. This message generally complies with the company’s mission and throws sufficient light on its products. 

7. Lay’s

Being one of the most popular chips companies globally, Lay’s has set an innovative advertising example for the world. The company has implemented different advertisements for each of its products. Lay’s also associated a local touch in its advertisements based on the flavors to gather considerable mass appeal. 

The company’s advertisements also keep in mind the demographic tastes and preferences of its target customers. For instance, the company focuses on the indigenous flavors of each region while running its advertisements. This attracts significant people towards its products and enhances the popularity of the brand. 

Lay’s is also popular for implementing celebrity marketing strategies for promoting its products. Some of their advertisement examples include the ones that involve the most loved and popular celebrities from Bollywood in India to showcase their love for a product. The company could attract the fan base of these celebrities and thereby expand its customer base through its new and innovative ways of marketing. 

Conclusion

It is evident that ad campaigns play a key role in promoting the products and services of a company and fetches a greater customer base. Over the years, different companies have implemented several advertising strategies and the best advertisement examples are given above. These advertisement examples show a different and innovative marketing strategy undertaken by each company and their thought process behind it. The examples also show how the companies frame their advertisements based on their target customers. 

One thing is for sure, all these companies seek to catch the customers’ eye through creating innovative and out-of-the-box content. Gone are the days when companies used to promote their products and services directly without providing any content to them. In today’s world, it is all about how one advertises their products and services in the competitive market. 

The product advertisement examples also prove that the audience or the target customers require engaging content to attract them towards the products or the company, and this aspect of customer behavior makes considerable sense. In a competitive market where most companies sell similar or slightly differentiated products at the same price, it is all about how the products are portrayed and how they attract the customers’ attention. 

The post 16 Creative Product Advertisement Examples & Ad Campaigns You Must See appeared first on Platform to Showcase Innovative Startups and Tech News.

A brand must have a clear positioning statement. This is because its entire brand strategy is set on this one particular idea. Plus, you cannot make the mistake of duplicating what others are already focussing on. To become a leader, the positioning statement should be exclusive and untouched till now.

Having said that, finding your brand positioning is no rocket science. You just need to be very clear and specific in identifying how you want your customers should see you. 

Here we will tell you everything about marketing positioning and how to go about doing it.

What is positioning in marketing?

First of all, let us define positioning in marketing 

“It is a strategic process where you create an image of a product in the customer’s minds. This image is solely dependent on something unique that you have to offer them.” 

 Positioning meaning in marketing scenario can be a part of the larger marketing strategy.

This entire process will involve how you can segregate your product or service from that of your competitors. Plus, you also have to identify the niche you will focus on. Lots of factors alter your marketing positioning strategy. This includes the customer’s expectations and competitor’s positioning strategy.

Let us understand using a few examples:

• BMW and Audi are luxury status symbols in vehicles
• McDonald’s is an outlet which offers cheap food options
• L’Oréal is a luxury haircare and beauty brand
• Apple offers upscale technology products

A market positioning strategy is not just adding a tagline or statement to your website. You have to explore your positioning statement at multiple levels.

You should focus all your marketing attempts on promoting the same. In the end, the customers will have to accept your positioning as a permanent brand identity.

Benefits of market positioning in marketing

Next, let us talk about the advantages of marketing and positioning. Although people do not realize the consequences of brand positioning benefits a brand in multiple ways. Have a look:

1. Focusing on a specific market

The first step to positioning is to study your market. This in-depth analysis that you do unravels new aspects of marketing for you. Eventually, you are forced to understand what your customers want and their inner desires. You can use this knowledge to formulate your entire marketing strategy. As they say, the more you know about the customers, the better you can serve them.

2. Differentiating oneself from other brands

If everybody in the market is offering the same thing, won’t the customer feel hassled? That is where your positioning in marketing helps you out. You portray a distinct image to the customer. He will realize that your brand is what they can associate with. If you have nothing unique to offer, you are contributing to market noise. 

3. Clarity on the problems you will solve

Why does your customer search for any particular product? He has a problem that needs to be solved. As a well-positioned brand, you could be the answer he is looking for. Less focussed brands make tall claims about solving many problems. However, do you think they understand the exact issue? No, and it is this idea of focussed communication that makes a customer choose a brand.

4. Increase your chances of being remembered over others 

Don’t you want your brand to be a top-of-the-mind recall for customers? Of course, that requires a precise chalked-out positioning in marketing strategy to do so. But, it is not easy to find that unique differentiator. You have to employ a thought process that is strategic and creative. Since it is impressive, your customer remembers it well. This exclusivity will help him to pick you over the others.

5. Brand storytelling that customers identify with

A customer loves a well-told story. If your brand offers him that, he will clearly want to associate. Furthermore, your positioning statement is focused on addressing the problem he is facing. As you move ahead, this approach provides an effective brand strategy. Will a customer identify with a problem solver or someone who is trying to target many problems at one time?

6. Justify your pricing strategy

As a brand, you have to convince your customers to buy you. One aspect of this process is justifying your brand’s price band. If you are confused about positioning in marketing, how can you ever do that? Once you explain to your customers what you deal with, they may pay up the price as they know you deserve that much. 

7. Understanding the customer challenges

If you do not know what problem the customer faces, will you be able to help him? Absolutely not. When you proceed with positioning, you understand his concerns to a deeper level. This is followed by your attempt to offer something which offers them a respite. If the customer finds you as a problem solver, he would want to know more about the brand.

8. Increasing your relevance in your niche

Many brands fail because they refuse to sell themselves in one niche. But don’t you think claiming a big chunk of a smaller pie in the market is a better idea?

By positioning your brand, you can explore an untapped niche. This enhances the scope of your brand outshining and becoming the leader. Always remember that the higher your relevance to a customer, the higher will be the brand loyalty they show.

Types of positioning

Moving on, it is time to talk about the exact positioning process. You can position the brand based on multiple criteria. This includes all those factors which help you frame your marketing strategy. By effectively working on each of them, you may create an effective positioning in marketing strategy.

1. Pricing

Pricing is an essential consideration in the buying process. By marketing your brand on pricing, you can target a large number of customers. When it comes to choosing, a customer evaluates the pricing carefully. For example, no one would want to pay a massive amount for razors. Many a brand has lost out on market share as cheaper alternatives entered the market. 

Essentially you must offer a reasonably priced product at a decent quality. That contributes to making your product a better choice than others. For pricing-based positioning to succeed, you must find the price your customers don’t mind paying. Keeping your product price near around that benchmark helps.

2. Quality

Customers can go the extra mile for a high-quality item. This fact is especially true if you are selling them a luxury product. Paying an extra price is not an issue as long as you do not compromise the quality you offer. 

Will you choose an Audi over an average car brand if it does not maintain its quality? The answer is probably a no for all those customers who keep quality a priority.

By positioning in marketing based on quality, you have to convince the quality of your product is remarkable. This is not a problem as here you choose a statement that resonates with what your brand stands for. 

So, if you are a luxury cosmetic brand, you must highlight ingredients that make you unique. Whatever methodology you choose, Quality positioning can make you a clear leader.

3. Convenience

Convenience positioning is when you will offer the customers ways to make his life easy. For instance, if you are an e-commerce brand, “one-day delivery” and “free shipping” can add to your equity.  What more does any customer want? Getting the products delivered to their home without any delays is undoubtedly going to entice them. 

Earlier, you had to rush to banks to fulfill all your financial obligations. Banks realized this was irking the customers who already had their hands full with tasks. Now they offer mobile apps and phone-based banking for those who just cannot take out the time.  The same tasks now fulfilled from the convenience of home is a sure-shot crowd puller.

4. Customer service

A customer interacts with the brand at multiple levels. If he is not satisfied with this interaction, he may not want to come back again. Positioning in brand based on Customer service is helpful in industries like Hospitality and Banking. 

You just don’t believe in treating your customer as a king. You must work towards giving him that kind of experience.

A disgruntled customer means havoc for a brand in this online world. Focus on statements that trigger instant connectivity with your brand. 

A brand that patiently solves its customer’s issues 24*7 is a better bet than one which has fixed customer service hours, for a local brand being available at late hours helps in establishing a feeling of trust between customer and brand.

5. User group

Can you sell a baby product to an adult male? No, you cannot, and that is where you target your customer group through brand positioning. Find out a specific niche of people you will want to talk to. Now create your positioning, which is only focused on catering to their needs. Just by catering to a small set of customers, you increase your success probability manifold.

How to create an effective positioning strategy

Now let us focus our attention on setting up positioning in marketing strategy. We have already dealt with the criticality of having a solid positioning plan. Creating a strategy that can target all aspects requires time and attention. Here we will tell you all the steps that you must follow:

1. Creating a positioning statement

Your business needs to stand out amongst the rest. Hence it needs a brand identity that fulfills the same purpose effectively. Positioning in marketing statement is the same identification that all brands need. You have to showcase a quality through your positioning statement, which makes it different.

The positioning statement you choose will be how your customers perceive you. Mind you; these perceptions stay for a long time.

Furthermore, a wrong positioning statement could hamper your brand’s appeal massively. Ask the following questions if you are unable to find out a suitable positioning statement.

• Is your positioning statement able to create a unique image of your brand?
• Does it promote your USP suitably?
• Is it focused on the target customers and their problems?
• Can your customers understand what you are trying to say?
• Is your statement promising a real benefit?

If you are getting a Yes answer to all these questions, it means your positioning statement is accurate.

2. Add a Tagline

After you have decided on the positioning in marketing statement, what next? You will now have to work on getting a tagline. If chosen perfectly, your slogan becomes the identity of your brand. Customers are quick to remember that you are associated with the tagline. In most cases, they will believe that you can fulfill what you say in your tagline. For example:

• ‘Just, Do it’- Nike
• ‘There are some things money can’t buy; For everything else, there is Mastercard’- Master card
• BMW-The Ultimate Driving Machine
• De Beers- A Diamond is Forever

These taglines are etched in the consumer’s minds. Even after many years, the customer can identify the brand associated with the tagline. 

3. Analyzing your competitors

Do you want to know where you are lacking? Just have a look at what your competitors are doing. Just do a quick go through of the following parameters:

• Their market share and growth rate
• All their marketing efforts, engagement, messaging tactics
• Details of promotional campaigns and ads run
• Collaborations, social media, engagement with customers, etc.

Now that you know what they are up to, can’t you chalk out a unique statement of your own? 

4. Find your present situation

You have grasped the way your competitors operate. Now you have to compare it with your current situation. You can analyze your market share and compete for it. Again you will have to compare yourself on the parameters you used to analyze the competitors.

5. Explore your unique position

You have all the data at your disposal. Whether it is market understanding, audience and competition, you know everything. Start with thinking about what will make you different from the rest. Make your marketing plans and messages in tandem with this positioning. Doing that will show you as a player who is clear about what he says and does.

6. Positioning through Advertisements 

When you talk of positioning in marketing, Advertisements become the first platform to use. You have to be sure that your ads are sharing your USP clearly. For example, if you are in the luxury skincare segment. You will first have to identify your target audience. Next, create a need gap. In this case, we can talk about blemishes on the face. Create your advertisement content on the following parameters.

• Value statement- We reduce blemishes, share customer testimonials, and success stories
• Design- Use an influencer who is bright and resonates with the target audience
• Use of young models- An obvious connection they can feel with the models
• Comparison- How your cream is a solution to blemish removal, which other creams can’t do.

Remember that this positioning is suitable for your product. A beauty product targeted at wrinkle removal cannot use the same as its positioning statement.

7. Testing the marketing positioning

In the end, you should test the efficacy of your positioning in marketing campaign. Testing could be both qualitative and quantitative. Just use the typical research tactics to lay your hands on this valuable data.

The results of this campaign will benefit you manifold. First of all, you will get to know whether you are moving on the right track. If your message is strong, you can use it for other marketing efforts. Also, you could modify any mistakes made in this positioning. 

If at any time a brand feels it is losing out, it can always reposition its brand. To do that, you will have to conduct the same strategical process once again. Since you have past experience, you can now drop out of concepts that did not work. 

Some companies can also launch a new product to avoid the hassle of repositioning. That is also feasible as long as you have a clear idea of what your customers want. However, there is no sure shot guarantee of success here too.

Conclusion

A lot of sweat and toil goes behind making your brand a success. Creating a positioning statement for the brand is just one part of the same. No one can deny the importance of positioning in marketing efforts.

Furthermore, a demarcated USP reflects your brand in a positive light. The customers can associate with the premise of your brand. Once that happens, they can easily cover the journey of being a prospective customer to a loyal one.

Often companies tend to follow the same idea as their competitors. This will, however, reduce the exclusivity of your product. If there are already many players in a market, operating in a smaller niche proves to be helpful.

For any positioning to be successful, you will have to start early. It always takes a lot of time to set up a campaign and get the desired results. Wait patiently for the exact results to come. If nothing works still, then you might have to change your positioning statement. 

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