MOJO # 3: BRAND POSITIONING EXERCISE

Brand Positioning helps you hold an irreplaceable spot in your client/customer’s heart and mind.

A Brand Positioning Statement helps you capture this idea so you and everyone on your team can use it to guide your decisions. 

Think of it as your North Star. 

The goal is to associate your brand with something so uniquely “yours”, that your brand is not only perceived as different from others— it’s practically the only one, and it’s irreplaceable.

To identify your brand’s uniqueness, you must determine what differentiates you as the founder. 

This applies, even if you are not creating a personal brand.

There are four essential elements of a world-class positioning statement:

1) Ideal client or customer: Think of the people that your brand wants to appeal to and attract: What is a concise way to describe who they are? 

This doesn’t have to be based on a demographic description such as gender, age, etc.  In fact, I try and ignore these descriptions unless I have strong reasons not to. Instead, think about your ideal client’s attitude, state of mind, emotions, desires, and aspirations.  Who do they want to become, and how can you help them on their journey to embody their highest self?

2) Market Definition: What category does your brand belong to in the client’s mind?

This is not to say that your brand must be one of many. I do not believe in competition in this day and age. You can absolutely create your own market and you should. However, clients need to have a point of reference to compare you to, so they can understand where you fit.

A good way to think about this is: If they weren’t using your service/product, what other options might they be looking at?

3) Brand Promise: What is the most compelling benefit (emotional and rational) that your brand can own relative to all other options?

An easier way to think about it, is to ask:“why you?”

Of all the other alternatives that exist, what is one benefit that only you can own?

Here's a hint: Whatever it is, it involves being more of yourself.

As artist and architect Frank Gehry once said: 

“Your best work is an expression of yourself. When you do it, you are the only one.”

It’s important to note that clients will not necessarily buy from you for being yourself. This expression of yourself still needs to be a benefit in the mind of the ideal client. But once you uncover that intersection between your gladness and the world’s hunger, you are unstoppable.

4) Reason to Believe: What is the most compelling evidence that your brand delivers on its brand promise?

You are not in the business of proving yourself or convincing anyone to go with your brand. But it is reasonable for a potential client (who doesn’t know and trust you yet) to expect some form of evidence before they decide to invest their money, time, or other resources with you.

The first question to ask is: What makes you uniquely qualified to deliver on this Brand Promise– the benefit we talked about in the previous point.

If you have a product, you might be able to give out a sample or free trial. But what if you are a service provider and you cannot do that?

Then the most compelling evidence is to use these 3 components:

• Share your knowledge freely

• Explain your process

• Talk about how you got there

Sharing your knowledge freely:

Some people worry that oversharing will leave them vulnerable, and that their best knowledge should be reserved for their paying clients. I disagree. I think that there is no end to the knowledge and value that you can provide. 

Explain your process: 

The most valuable thing you can bring next to your energy and presence, is your process. This is what separates a professional from an amateur. When people pay you, they are not paying for information only. They’re paying for an end result, a transformation. Share some details about your processes, so they know that you have a solid plan for them. 

Talk about how you got there: 

Take it one step further and think about what makes you uniquely qualified to deliver on this promise? The answer is simple: You’ve been through it before.

It’s crucial that you have gone through the same journey in some way, so that you may empathize with your client. Otherwise your teachings are simply theoretical. 

Theories are great for university lectures, but transformation takes real empathy. It takes someone who’s been in your shoes and guided themselves first before they offered to guide you.

Ultimately, we have to follow through on our promises, otherwise all of our marketing is for nothing. 

I can tell you after working with hundreds of brands that the best marketing strategy is to first have a great product or service.

Putting it all together:

We'll use brands are alive as an example:

1) Ideal client or customer: 

My ideal is a mindful entrepreneur / high-achiever who wants to be heart-centered without sacrificing financial profitability and growth. They want to bring their fullest self-expression to everything they create. They want to build a brand of Passion, Purpose, and Profit.

2) Market Definition: 

Even though my background is in marketing/brand consulting, I also bring personal guidance, teaching, and healing. I don’t necessarily think of myself as a “coach” for example, but clients might compare me to them as an alternative. 

So they might think of me as a hybrid of a transformational coach (for the inner work) + brand & marketing consultant (for the outer strategies). 

In my work, I also partner with sacred plant medicine facilitators and use other ancient + modern modalities (both in-person and online).

Therefore Brands Are Alive is a “Transformational Space”.

tada!

3) Brand Promise: To help mindful entrepreneurs embody their truest Essence, amplify their brand's magnetism, and lead a business at the intersection of Passion, Purpose, and Profit.

4) Reason to Believe:

Going through it myself: I have been there myself, being out of alignment with my own business more than once. I also worked with hundreds of successful brands and entrepreneurs, so my experience isn’t only personal.

Process: We have a 3-phase framework called The Essence Amplifier. I’m also sharing as much as I can for free with guides such as this one you are reading now. :)

Putting it all together:

After thoughtfully answering these four questions, you can craft your positioning statement using this formula:

For [[ideal client]], [[my brand name]] is the [[market definition]] that delivers [[brand promise]] because only [[company name]] is [[reason to believe]].

Example: 

For mindful entrepreneurs, Brands Are Alive is a space to reconnect with their true selves and grow a business at the intersection of passion, purpose, and profit using our signature framework, Brand Essence Amplifier (Brand of Full Self-Expression)

Go ahead and start mapping this out, and be patient with yourself. It’s definitely a process!