Every brand wants to be top of mind with potential customers. But this takes more than a catchy slogan or a sleek logo, especially when you're forging relationships with B2B clients.

You need to understand how target customers view your brand so that you can connect with them. Brand positioning research gives you valuable insights into market demands and customer behaviors to help you stand out from your competitors.

So, how do you go about it?

But first...

What Is Brand Positioning Research?

Brand positioning research is the process of discovering how your brand fits into the market.

In B2B, it analyzes how your company is perceived by the businesses you want to work with, and the value they feel it holds. It compares customer perceptions against the way people perceive your competitors.

Any company can (and should) do this research, whether launching a new business, rebranding, refining market positioning, or adapting to industry shifts.

The goal is to use the information and insights to improve or determine your messaging, differentiation, and market fit.

Why Conduct Brand Positioning Research?

Research gives you insights that will shape your positioning strategy and marketing plans so that you increase your chances of standing out.

Here are a few other benefits:

• Understand market needs: Learn what your target audience values most so you can align your brand with these needs
• Identify opportunities: See where competitors fall short, so you can position your brand to fill those gaps
• Build connections with consumers: Uncover what prospective customers want and need so you can develop relatable messaging and increase loyalty
• Strengthen your brand's long-term value: Build lasting value, keeping your brand relevant as trends shift

Advantages of Strong Brand Positioning

Ultimately, the goal of brand positioning research is to strengthen your market position and stand out from competitors. The advantages of doing so are several.

Encourage brand loyalty

When other businesses feel that your brand aligns with their own values, they're more likely to want to work with you. Trust is what leads people to become repeat buyers, and it's a key factor in B2B marketing.

Increase recognition and recall

When people see your logo, hear your slogan, or interact with your brand in any way, they will recognize it instantly (and hopefully associate it with high-quality products and service). The longer sales cycles involved in B2B make recognition and recall essential.

Reduce price sensitivity

A strong brand position supports more competitive pricing strategies, as customers who see the value in your brand may be willing to pay a premium—important in B2B, especially if you're selling high-value services on a long-term basis.

Enhance market share

With more brand awareness and a stronger position, you'll be better equipped to attract more of your target market, making it easier to capture a larger share than competitors.

Seven Steps to Conduct Brand Positioning Research

Now, let's look at how to conduct research that yields real insights.

1. Define your target audience

Understanding your audience gives you a clear picture of the businesses (and the people within those businesses) that you need to appeal to, and it enables market segmentation.

For B2B marketing, you can use vertical-based positioning to find your ideal customers. For example, if you offer enterprise architecture tools, you'll be targeting large corporations who value efficiency and want to modernize their IT infrastructure.

Once you know their preferences and pain points, you'll be able to create messages that resonate with particular buyer personas, such as the company owner or the IT lead.

2. Identify your unique value proposition (UVP)

Figure out what makes your brand unique. What do you offer that others don't? Why should fellow businesses choose to work with you, instead of your competitors?

Your UVP should highlight the benefits and value your brand provides, in a way that feels connected to your target audience. You want to position your business as a source of expertise in your niche, so think about any awards or certifications that prove your credentials.

Talk to your internal team and stakeholders, too. Get a sense of what they think your brand stands for and where they see its potential.

3. Conduct customer surveys and focus groups

Direct feedback from your audience is invaluable. They have already interacted with your brand, and in the B2B space you're aiming to turn initial customer relationships into long-term working relationships.

Ask questions about their experiences and perceptions to clarify their view of your current brand position and what might need improving. You can do so in a few ways:

• Surveys. Quick polls and more in-depth surveys can be an effective way to gather large amounts of data about customer preferences and history of brand interactions.
• Focus groups. Group sessions allow for more in-depth exploration of opinions and feelings about your brand. They reveal deeper insights into your customer base that may not come out through survey questions.
• One-to-one interviews. Face-to-face explorations provide in-depth, qualitative data for understanding customer experiences and expectations.
• Social listening. Not just for B2C, social listening is a great way to capture unfiltered feedback. Monitoring relevant social media, industry-specific forums, professional networks, and online reviews gives you a glimpse of how people talk about your brand organically.

4. Analyze market trends

Keeping an eye on industry trends helps you stay relevant to the businesses in your niche; it also helps you to use expert knowledge as a differentiator.

Are there any shifting preferences or emerging technologies impacting your sector? Knowing where your market is headed allows you to position your brand as a leader, not a follower.

5. Evaluate competitor positioning

Take a close look at the competitive landscape. How do your rivals position themselves with marketing messaging and visuals? Look at their strengths, weaknesses, and gaps you might fill.

That helps you identify unique opportunities for your brand to stand out in ways that they don't—and so win over some of their customers.

6. Combine findings to formulate positioning

Once you've gathered your insights, start creating a positioning strategy that aligns with your brand's strengths and target customers' needs.

Here are a few positioning strategies and examples:

• Price positioning sets up a brand as the most affordable, or as the one that offers businesses the best value for money or return on investment in a competitive market, or worth paying a premium for in the case of high-end products.
• Convenience positioning focuses on how convenient it is to access a product or service. You could highlight the ease of setup for a Cloud software product, or promise next-day delivery for manufacturing components, for example.
• Quality positioning highlights product features and attributes, such as durability, craftsmanship, and quality. Use testimonials and customer stories to demonstrate.
• Benefit positioning focuses on the unique benefits of the company, products, or services—for instance, how your business capability modeling services can help the customer's organization to maximize its potential.

Once you've chosen your strategy, craft a brand positioning statement to guide all branding and marketing efforts thereafter.

7. Test and refine

As market conditions change, your brand's positioning may also evolve. Test your current positioning with customers and gather feedback. Use their responses to refine your marketing messages and ensure they still resonate over time.

Stand Out with Effective Brand Positioning Research

Successful brand positioning can be a game-changer for your marketing strategy—as long as you put in the hard work to carry out detailed research.

Use the results to tailor your messaging to a targeted audience of business owners and industry professionals, building relationships and encouraging customer retention.

More Resources on the Role of Positioning in Marketing

The Key to Successful Positioning: '3Cs' Research

Positioning as the Foundation for Great Messages

Differentiation and Positioning: What Does Your Business Stand For?

How to Align Product and Marketing Teams Through Positioning