In today's post, Ashton talks about the positioning territory of size where your brand offers the most of something or the largest of something.
Our perceptions are selective, and our memory is highly selective. Harvard psychologist George Miller proposed that only seven chunks of information, like seven brands in a category, can easily be held in short-term memory.
Therefore, the importance of good brand positioning is crucial for the success of a business.
Positioning is about defining that single thought or idea you want to own and then focusing on owning it. This strongest and most persuasive thought in the customers mind must be true to you, relevant to your audience, and must make it difficult for your competition to compete.
Most businesses talk about the same things and forget to mention the things that make them truly different. If you're competing with a giant in your category and talk about the same things, you'll lose.
Coles and Walmart focus on the price or value that they offer. The words "save every day" and "always low prices" are the most persuasive thoughts in the customer's mind when they think of the brand.
This was one of Michael Porter's famous strategy choices of price leader vs. value differentiation.
This positioning territory of size focuses on the large range of products or services the brand offers. The aim of this territory is to fix range into the consumer's mind, so if breadth of choice is the need, then they're the brand that springs in to mind.
Positioning on size says, "the bigger, the better."
By stressing the size or number of outlets a brand has, consumers are made aware of the brands market leadership. This territory taps into marketing professor Robert Cialdini's the social proof that says, "If they're big, then everybody must be using them, so they must be good."
In the next post, learn how other successful brands have positioned themselves first in the market place with their products and services.
This the first post in the series called Brand Positioning Territories.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated for relevance and freshness.