Brand Research For Brand Positioning

We regularly answer marketing questions here on Branding Strategy Insider. Today we hear from Victor, a brand marketer in Seattle, Washington who asks this question on brand positioning research… 

As a creative firm, we want to ensure our solutions on all deliverables are brand savvy. And discovery research is important to accurately defining the problem to solve. What are the important things to keep in mind when conducting quantitative brand research with company stakeholders vs. their consumers, specifically around brand positioning?

Thanks for your question Victor. The first task is to identify the primary, secondary and tertiary target markets for the brand. Likewise, one must also identify the different stakeholder groups. Then one must understand how the different groups view the product/service categories in question, including how they shop, what influences their purchase decisions and how they use the products/services. One must also understand the values, attitudes and other motivations of the target markets, including their anxieties, fears, hopes and desires. These first insights are usually discovered through qualitative research using projective techniques, guided imagery and laddering exercises, among other techniques. In the quantitative research phase, one must explore top-of-mind brand associations for the brand in question and competitive brands. One must also explore the importance of various values and functional, emotional, experiential and self-expressive benefits to each target market and how they perceive the brand in question delivering against each of these versus competitive brands. One might also explore several potential brand positioning statements in the quantitative research. The Blake Project tests each statement for believability, uniqueness, emotional appeal and ability to motivate purchases. Regarding internal stakeholders, you should know what their business model and strategic intent for the brand are, what preconceived notions they might have about the brand and its customers and what they hope to accomplish with the brand positioning project. Once customer and stakeholder insight is attained, then the creative process should begin in earnest using this insight to fuel the process.

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One comment

  • Gary Bembridge

    March 21, 2012 at 7:25 am

    Great and helpful article. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.

    I have found in the years I have been doing positioning that the qualitative aspects are very key. As you say, getting and determining the emotional response to a brand position is really important. It is so easy to slip into marketing jargon and get caught up into trying to be too rational – and satisfying internal stakeholders more than the consumer/ customer.

    You want a positioning that gets an emotional response, underpinned by more rational benefits and features. People need to feel something about your position. Having a “brand belief” I have found helps – what does your brand think and is trying to do.

    Gary

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