Reilly Newman | If brand were a soup, positioning would be the base. Just as many soups can use similar ingredients like carrots, chicken, and pepper, the base is what determines how those flavors are to be highlighted and enjoyed.
A base not only determines the flavor palette of the soup, but the overall direction for the remaining ingredients you choose to include.
It’s the preparation and profile. It’s what makes this soup different from the others.
Just as your brand’s positioning – how you differentiate in the mind of your audience – is the “profile” of your business, it determines the direction of what other ingredients your brand includes, how those are prepared, and how they compliment the essence of the soup in its entirety. Adding one ingredient that doesn’t align with the base can fragment the soup’s flavor and hurt its likability.
Following the style of the base determines the type of ingredients you include, how you prepare them, and how they are to be cooked. These additional and chosen ingredients are much like the other elements of your brand; such as your brand’s personality, promise, value proposition, and more. By having brand clarity through your positioning (base) you will know how the personality of the brand should be to have harmony with the overarching strategy.
Now that your soup is gathered and simmering, all good chefs know people eat with their eyes first.
You could source the top ingredients and invest hours into cooking the best soup but if it doesn’t look quite right or isn’t plated correctly, you can lose someone’s appetite (the sale) just as fast as you gained it with the beautiful aroma of your creation.
If your brand is the soup, then the coloring, garnish, bowl, plate, silverware, tablecloth, and price complete the entire experience.
These visual elements are much like the identity to your brand. How do they look? How do they feel? And more importantly, how do they reinforce the “soup” to enhance the entire experience.
By establishing your brand’s positioning, you are making the right investment to have a complete brand experience that is thorough, deliberate, and effective. From the ingredients to the visual appeal in your brand’s identity, online presence, messaging, and beyond. These elements must all be in harmony with one another to not just create a delicious soup, but increase the perceived value of that soup so others choose your soup from the others.
