In short
Your positioning is clear when your whole team says it the same way in one sentence, and customers recognise you without an ad explaining you. If every channel tells a different story, nobody remembers your brand. Then you pay full price for every new customer.
Why good ads aren't enough
Many young brands grow through performance marketing at first. That works as long as an ad explains the product. The real question is what sticks once the ad is gone.
A clear brand makes people recognise you, recommend you and buy again. Without it, you pay for every contact again. On the shelf, where no ad can help, this becomes obvious.
The one-sentence test
Ask five people on your team what your brand stands for. If you get five different answers, you don't have a positioning, you have five opinions. A good sentence has four parts:
For [whom], [brand] is the [category] that [benefit], because [proof].
The hardest part is almost always the proof. Everybody says "premium" and "natural". Proof is something only you can claim.
Five warning signs
- You need a paragraph to explain what makes you special.
- Website, ads and packaging each tell a different story.
- Your target group is "all women between 25 and 55".
- New products appear because they're in demand, not because they fit the brand.
- Agencies ask at every briefing what the brand actually is.
How to sharpen your brand
- Narrow your target group. Better to understand one customer precisely than ten roughly.
- One promise instead of five. What should people say about you if they only have one sentence?
- Nail down the proof. Ingredient, origin, method, founding story: what makes the promise believable?
- Define tone and look. A brand platform your team and agencies can work with without asking.
- Translate it into every channel. From the product page to the packaging. The shelf is the toughest test.
This rarely needs a new logo. Usually it's about sharpening, not reinventing. How I approach it is on my brand building page.
Quick check
- Your positioning fits in one sentence, and your team says it the same way.
- You have proof that no competitor can claim in the same way.
- Website, ads and packaging tell the same story.
- New products are judged by whether they fit the brand.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between positioning and a brand platform?
The positioning is the core statement: for whom, what, why. The brand platform is the toolkit around it: values, tone, look, dos and don'ts. It lets your team and agencies put the positioning into practice day to day.
How long does it take to sharpen a brand?
In my sprints it takes four to six weeks. At the end you have a positioning, a brand platform and concrete guidelines for your most important channels.
Do you need a rebrand for this?
Usually not. Most brands have a good core that has just become blurry. A new logo doesn't solve a positioning problem.
About the author
Martin Kunze is a brand business builder based in Berlin. He has built brands, led portfolios with revenue responsibility and represented both in front of retail, in a global corporation and with start-ups.