It is often said that change is the only constant – and not in vain. New buildings spring up on the streets and turn into homes, young people grow up and become adults, and wines age and bloom in taste. Same, but in a slightly different dynamic, companies also develop and change, grow up, and mature.
When we talk about the business world, whether it is IT or real estate, growth, and development are fast-paced, and changes are sudden, which makes adaptability the most important skill for survival. What will help in keeping any business afloat is challenging its status quo, revisiting who it is now, and in case of change, presenting their new and upgraded identity to all interested parties on the market. We do it for our clients all the time through a process called repositioning.
Ok, but what exactly is repositioning?
Repositioning in marketing refers to the strategic process of changing the perception of a company’s products or services in the marketplace. It involves altering the company’s image, target market, or competitive position in order to gain a competitive advantage and increase sales.
Market repositioning of a company can be compared to a person getting a new wardrobe. Just as a person can change their clothing style and appearance to create a new image and impression, a company can also modify its products, pricing, and branding to create a new market position and appeal to a different target audience. Similar to how a new wardrobe can give a person a fresh start and help them stand out from the crowd, repositioning can help a company differentiate itself from its competitors and increase its sales and profitability.
How repositioning differs from rebranding
Brand repositioning is a broader strategic process that involves changing the company’s overall market position, while rebranding is a more specific effort to change the company’s brand identity and perception in the marketplace. They differ in their focus and scope:
- Repositioning involves changing the company’s overall strategic direction and market position, while rebranding focuses on changing the company’s brand identity, including its name, logo, messaging, and visual design.
- Repositioning, unlike rebranding, may involve changes to the company’s products or services, target market, pricing strategy, distribution channels, or competitive position, with the aim of creating a stronger market position and improving profitability.
- Rebranding, on the other hand, is typically a more focused effort to change the way that the company is perceived by its target audience. This may involve changing the company’s name, logo, color scheme, messaging, or visual design to create a new brand identity that is more relevant, appealing, and memorable to customers. Rebranding may also involve a new marketing campaign to promote the new brand identity and increase brand awareness and loyalty.
The process of brand repositioning
First of all, let’s acknowledge that repositioning is a somewhat lengthy process that requires a strategic approach and, often, many parties involved. The upper management, marketing, and sales on the client’s side and the creative team consisting of strategists, copywriters, and designers on the agency’s side are a must.
Situation analysis & data collection
In order to refresh the existing positioning, we must first get acquainted with it. We do so by gathering all the information about the company and its brand through a tailor-made questionnaire and/or focus groups. Parties that may be involved in this stage are the upper management, investors, partners, and employees. If you’re curious to see what the questions look like, scroll down to the bottom of this blog to find the ones we used in one of our favorite repositioning processes we’ve ever done!
We also need to understand the company’s external environment, so we analyze all the factors that influence it, such as the industry, legislation, competitors, and any other current events (such as pandemics or economic crisis).
Data analysis
Once the data is collected, it’s time to review it, analyze, organize, categorize, and narrow it down. Most of the time, our research process allows us to narrow down the data. For example, if we talk about how investors perceive the company and we notice something being mentioned often. It has to be taken into account, whereas if there are pieces of information that are only mentioned once, then it might not be as crucial for the new repositioning statement.
This is when the new positioning statement starts to take shape. It is now in its raw form and is ready to be polished.
Statement & brand story development
In this phase, our copywriters take over the filtered and systematized data and create a clear sentence that represents what the brand is and what it offers – a unique positioning statement.
Lastly, every repositioning needs a revamped brand story – a few paragraphs of text that make every brand more personalized and allows stakeholders to feel like they truly know the brand: how it came to be, what it stands for, what it values, and what it strives for.
Visual identity update
This part is optional – some brands are happy with what their identity “looks like,” and some would like a little remodeling. If that’s the case, this is where our designers come into play – they have been part of the process silently all along, but now is their time to shine. Based on the client’s brief, they also perform a situation and market analysis and provide a mood board of their competitors and the initial ideas for the brand to stand out from the competition while maintaining the recognizable brand identity.
After the client picks the desired art direction, the designers and videographers move on to the implementation stage and provide samples for all their visual materials, from social media posts to corporate presentations, email signatures, etc. Once the client confirms the samples, our team completes the rest of the designs.
We’ve prepared a questionnaire to help you as a starting point with your own repositioning efforts. Get access to it by filling out the form below!
