When you think about marketing, what often comes to your mind? Eye-catching ads, social media campaigns, and maybe even influencer partnerships? But what if I told you that sometimes, the most powerful tool you have isn’t about the flash and buzz but how you position your brand in the minds of your customers? That’s where a reposition marketing comes into play. In this article, we’ll dive into repositioning marketing, explore its importance, and discuss the best strategies for effective repositioning marketing to boost your brand. Let’s get started!
Key Point
- Reposition Marketing is about altering how customers perceive your brand in the marketplace. It aims to make it more attractive without completely overhauling its identity.
- Repositioning involves adjusting aspects like brand messaging and personality while keeping core elements intact, whereas rebranding is a more comprehensive change, potentially involving a new logo or name.
- Brands can use various strategies to change market perception, including relaunches, brand rejuvenation, extensions, and partnerships.
- Several brands, such as Taco Bell, Gucci, Starbucks, and Old Spice, have successfully repositioned themselves by targeting new markets, revamping their messaging, and updating their product offerings.
- The goal of reposition marketing is to continuously monitor and adjust brand positioning to appeal to a broader audience, enhance customer value, and drive long-term success.
What is Brand Repositioning?
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Brand repositioning involves altering how a target market perceives your product or service to make it more attractive to consumers. This strategy aims to adjust or refine your brand’s identity rather than completely overhaul it. Key aspects of this process include reassessing your brand’s associations, core messaging, personality, and overall status to better align with evolving market demands and consumer preferences. By doing so, brands can refresh their image and maintain relevance in a competitive landscape.
What is a Brand Repositioning Strategy?
A brand repositioning strategy is a comprehensive plan outlining how you intend to implement your brand repositioning efforts. Successful repositioning requires a clear understanding of your goals and a strategic framework to achieve them. This strategy should include a thorough market analysis to identify new opportunities and target audiences and a roadmap detailing the steps to be taken.
The plan may also include refining messaging, updating visual elements, enhancing customer experiences, and engaging in targeted marketing campaigns. By establishing a well-defined strategy, brands can navigate the complexities of repositioning and ensure that their new identity resonates effectively with their audience.
The Difference Between Brand Repositioning and Rebranding
Is brand repositioning the same as rebranding? Not quite. While both involve making changes, brand repositioning is more of a strategic adjustment than a full transformation. Repositioning focuses on refining aspects like your brand’s image, messaging, or personality while keeping the core identity intact.
On the other hand, rebranding involves a more comprehensive overhaul, which could mean changing your logo, brand name, or even the main product itself. Essentially, repositioning shifts how customers perceive your brand without altering its foundation.
When considering a strategic change for your business, it’s crucial to determine whether repositioning or rebranding best aligns with your goals. Below is a detailed Repositioning vs. Rebranding Checklist to help distinguish between the two and guide your decision-making process.
When Should You Think About Brand Reposition Marketing?
How do you know when it’s time to refresh your brand and push it forward? Here are some key indicators:
- Targeting a New Audience: If you’re looking to reach new customers, you might want to adjust your messaging to better resonate with them.
- Declining Sales: A drop in sales signals the need for change and a strategy to boost performance.
- Industry Changes: The emergence of new technologies, business models, or competitors means you need to adapt to stay relevant.
- Lack of Appeal to Younger Generations: If your brand isn’t currently attracting younger consumers, that doesn’t mean it’s out of the running. It might be worth making an effort to connect with them.
- Competitors Holding an Advantage: If your competitors seem to have the upper hand, repositioning can help you redefine your unique value proposition and gain a competitive edge. If you can’t outpace them, find a way to work alongside them.
- Evolving Products or Services: If your offerings have changed but no longer align with your brand promise, it’s time for a refresh to ensure consistency
Top Strategies for Successful Reposition Marketing to Enhance Your Brand:
Here are eight common ways to change how people see your brand:
#1. Brand Relaunch
Starting your brand over has a big impact on its image. This method helps to make your image fresh if people think your brand is old-fashioned or out of date. It can also bring back to life a brand that didn’t do well before. When you relaunch successfully, it creates excitement and talk, which leads to more interest and sales.
#2. Brand Rejuvenation
To rejuvenate your brand means to add new things or make your current services better to keep up with rivals and fit market trends. This might mean you need to improve how good and fast your offerings are. Brand rejuvenation can help you win back old markets and draw in specific groups of customers.
#3. Brand Extension
Brand extension is a plan to grow what you offer by adding new services. For example, if you own a car wash, you might start washing pets or changing oil, too. This approach lets you reach a wider market and meet more of what customers need.
#4. Intangible Brand Repositioning
Intangible repositioning means selling the same service to a different group of customers. Let’s say your consulting company helps small and medium-sized businesses. You could start to focus on bigger companies, too.
#5. Brand Acquisition
Buying another brand can save money when you want to offer more services without building everything from the ground up. This approach helps you break into new markets fast and grow your slice of the pie without spending ages on development.
#6. Working on Your Brand Essence
If your brand doesn’t have a clear position or stand-out feature, it’s time to sharpen your brand essence. Customers should link your services to a specific experience, often an emotional one, like top-notch customer care. Take Optica Africa, for example. They’ve made a name for themselves by offering high-quality eyewear and great service, which has led to a strong brand identity.
#7. Brand Associations/Partnership Marketing
Teaming up with other brands has a big impact on changing how people see your company. It can boost your visibility and help you reach new customers. When you work with a famous brand that offers services that go well with yours more people notice you. Take the NASCAR car wash chain as an example. They made themselves stand out by using the racing league’s logo.
#8. Brand Repositioning Through Transparency
Being open and honest is key in today’s market. Studies show that 94% of customers prefer companies that don’t hide how they work. To build trust and keep customers coming back, be clear about your prices, how you provide services, and your overall performance.
What Is an Example of a Reposition Marketing Strategy?
Here are six successful examples of brand repositioning:
#1. Taco Bell: From Cheap Mexican Food to a Youth Lifestyle Brand
Remember Taco Bell’s famous “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” chihuahua? While the quirky mascot initially attracted attention, the brand soon became synonymous with cheap fast food. However, as sales declined and competition grew, Taco Bell needed a fresh image. They launched the “Live Más” campaign, redesigned their interiors with upscale “Cantina” locations, and experimented with new menu items like breakfast and Doritos Locos Tacos. These moves turned Taco Bell into more than just a fast-food spot—it became a lifestyle brand, especially with the help of a meme-savvy social media presence that resonates with younger audiences.
#2. Gucci: From Sleek and Sexy to Instagram-Worthy and Progressive
Gucci was once known for its bold, provocative style, but by the mid-2010s, it struggled to appeal to Millennials. When Marco Bizarre became CEO in 2015, alongside new Creative Director Alessandro Michele, the brand underwent a transformation. Gucci embraced a more progressive, gender-fluid image, focusing heavily on Instagram culture. They modernized their logo and leaned into social causes, attracting younger, fashion-forward consumers and launching the brand into one of its most profitable periods.
#3. Starbucks: From a Third Place to Premium Coffee
Starbucks once revolutionized the way we socialized, positioning its coffee shops as a “third place” between home and work. However, by 2008, the brand was facing challenges due to overexpansion and the financial crisis. Starbucks refocused its message on the quality of its coffee with the “coffee value and values” campaign, reinforcing the premium nature of its product. They reminded customers that a great cup of coffee was worth paying for, a move that helped the company regain its footing and become more profitable.
#4. Old Spice: From Grandpa’s Scent to “Smell Like a Man, Man”
Old Spice, once seen as a brand for older men, was losing ground to newer, cooler brands like Axe. In 2010, they completely repositioned themselves with the now-iconic “Smell Like a Man, Man” campaign featuring NFL player Isaiah Mustafa. The humorous, over-the-top ads resonated with younger consumers, transforming Old Spice into a modern, trendy brand. Sales skyrocketed, and the campaign is still considered a masterclass in brand repositioning.
#5. Veolia: From Waste Management to Social Responsibility
Veolia, a global waste management brand, showed that even B2B companies can benefit from repositioning. The brand moved beyond just waste management, highlighting its commitment to social responsibility and environmental sustainability. By sponsoring events like the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, Veolia reshaped its image, making waste management not just functional but also meaningful. This repositioning helped differentiate the brand in a traditionally unglamorous industry.
#6. Spotify: From Free Music to Content Creator & Tastemaker
When COVID-19 hit, Spotify’s ad-supported model faced challenges as advertisers cut budgets. In response, Spotify repositioned itself as more than just a music streaming service. They shifted focus to original content like podcasts and curated playlists, positioning themselves as tastemakers in the audio space. This move helped them not only survive the pandemic but also thrive, creating a more sustainable business model focused on exclusive content.
What Are the Objectives of Reposition Marketing?
The Objective of Repositioning Marketing is to change how your brand or product is perceived to make it more attractive to a wider audience. It’s not just a one-time effort; it requires ongoing monitoring to track how your brand is positioned over time. This continuous evaluation helps you understand what’s working and what needs improvement, allowing you to adapt your strategy accordingly. Just like the score in a game, your brand’s position can shift, and staying on top of these changes is key to long-term success.
Repositioning gives businesses the opportunity to embrace positive changes in the market that not only benefit the company but also add value for consumers. By enhancing the usefulness or appeal of a product, companies can offer more to their customers while boosting sales at the same time.
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