Judging the adequacy of a brand positioning statement is necessarily a subjective exercise. However, common problems can be avoided if your brand positioning statement passes the following tests:

• Is the statement as compelling if you substitute a competitors' brand for your brand? Leading brands may succeed in adopting positions that might also be credibly claimed by followers, but the resources of the leader allow it to sustain the position. Follower brands should reconsider the competitive set or the claimed point of difference if the claim is not unique to the brand.
• Does reading the statement provide a clear understanding of who should buy the brand, when that person is likely to buy it, and what would motivate purchase? If not, the aspect of the statement that is vague should be made more specific.
• Is it clear why the target customer should consider the brand to be a compelling way to achieve some important goal? If not, the linkage between the brand's point of difference and the target's goals requires modification.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By: John Wiley & Sons, excerpted from Kellogg on Marketing, 2nd Edition by Alice M. Tybout (editor), Bobby J. Calder (editor), Phillip Kotler (foreword by) (c) 2010 by The Kellogg School of Marketing.  

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop