What is Brand Repositioning & How to Do It? [Complete Guide]

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Building a brand is one thing, but being able to hold your target audience’s attention regularly is another.
In today’s world of business, staying relevant comes along with creating an appeal to your target audience. This is finally the point where brand repositioning sets in. Brand repositioning is the act of changing how a brand is positioned in the mind of the customer. It is not just a logo modification or slogan change but a complete rethinking of the image in consumers’ minds.
Think of brand repositioning as a makeover for your brand. Just as a personal makeover gives one confidence and appeal, brand repositioning de facto revives a brand—making it more attractive and competitive. It usually becomes necessary when a brand is to reach a new market, adapt to changing market conditions, or differentiate itself from its competitors.
Let’s take you through the basics of brand repositioning: why it’s important, what some of the signs are that your brand may need repositioning, and the steps involved in the successful repositioning of a brand. Let’s understand, whether you are a business person or marketer of sorts, the things you need to learn to understand and execute well-done repositioning.
What is Brand Repositioning?
Brand Repositioning is the process of changing the brand’s perception in the minds of the target audience. It refreshes the image and message associated with that brand and its overall market positioning to meet new customer needs, changes in market conditions, or new goals the company may have set. This makes a brand more relevant and appealing to consumers.
For example, a company may change the logo, modify the adverts, or introduce new products to change public perception and become more attractive to other different or more extensive markets. Repositioning is done to renew the brand’s identity and make it more competitive in the marketplace.
The Difference Between Brand Repositioning and Rebranding
Brand Repositioning refers to a change in the way people think about the brand. It retains the same brand name and logo by using such a technique that may include another marketing message, series of products offered, or targeting. You could say it is like telling a new story about the same brand to attract new customers or just keep up with the market trends.
Rebranding refers to a greater degree of change. It means the creation of a new brand identity, which includes a new name, logo design, and image. In other words, it is giving your brand a completely new look to start things anew; more often than not, this is because the old brand doesn’t work that well or the company is taking a different direction.
Importance of Brand Repositioning
Brand repositioning may include a change in image, message, or products and services offered by a brand. This makes it important to do a brand repositioning to get a wider audience, differentiate from the competition, and stay relevant in the industry. Here is why it is important to do this over a certain period with a live example that will help you understand the need to do brand repositioning.Â
1) Adapting to Market Changes
Markets are dynamic. Consumer tastes, technology, and competitive landscapes do change. Brand repositioning permits a company to adapt to these changes so that the firm remains relevant. Provided that a brand is not completely up-to-date, at some point in time, it risks losing its customer base through irrelevance.
Example: Nokia was one of the biggest cell phone manufacturers somewhere, but it could not keep up when smartphones entered the market. Now, having teamed up with Microsoft in developing Windows phones, it is fighting back to regain the company’s lost positions. Though challenging, this repositioning was very important if one were to adjust to the changes brought in by the smartphone era.
2) Attracting a New Audience
Customer demographics change with markets, and repositioning a brand can again attract another segment of customers whom it had not served before. This is very important in those situations where the existing customer base of this brand is either shrinking or getting older.
Example: Cheap Mexican food, new ad campaigns cropped up for Taco Bell to make it a youth lifestyle brand. This repositioning worked miracles in targeting a new, youth customers group for Taco Bell and greatly boosted its sales.
3) Differentiation from Competitors
In crowded markets, differentiation is foremost to be different from the competitors. Brand repositioning lets a brand add special features and advantages that make it much more charming compared with its competitors. This differentiation could very well be a key differentiator.
Example: McDonald’s changed its position to become more health and sustainability-oriented. With the addition of salads, fruits, and low-calorie meals, and the drive toward sourcing sustainability, McDonald’s found a place in fast food and attracted a healthy client base while increasing its brand image.Â
When Should You Consider Brand Repositioning?
You should consider brand repositioning when you need to change how people see your brand without creating a completely new identity. Here are some key situations when repositioning might be necessary.
Market changes: If the market evolves, and your brand does not fit, you may need to reposition to stay relevant. For example, if customers become more concerned about eco-friendly products, the brand will have to reposition itself for sustainability.
Change in Target audience: If your existing audience is changing or you are interested in moving to another, then repositioning can be most helpful. For instance, if you have been building your brand on young adults but find your product more interesting to older consumers now, adapt your messaging and products to cater to them.
Competition: If your competitors are doing better than you or have better products, then repositioning is the way to set your brand name apart. Emphasize that which is uniquely yours or increase your value proposition, and you will attract many customers.
Negative Conception: In those cases where your brand has built up a bad image, repositioning can help rebuild trust. It means reshaping marketing messages and providing better customer service.
Innovations and Trends: A brand positioned according to the current trend goes on to signal to the customer that it is modern and innovative. This helps in bringing new ideas to the product and services and stay updated in the industry.
Expansion: If you have an extension in your line of products or a newer market entry, repositioning will be important in serving you well when it comes to communicating that.
How do we reposition the brand?
Brand repositioning involves several strategic steps that change the perceivable functionalities of the brand in the minds of its target audience. First, it concerns research and analysis. Be aware of the current brand perception, discover gaps, and study the trends in the market and competition. It helps to pin down points that need change.
The second phase of positioning concerns defining your new positioning by clearly explaining a new brand identity, values, and target audience. Formulate a unique selling proposition to make you unique and distinct from your competition.
Then, refresh expression-related elements of the brand identity, like a new logo, tagline, or visual identity, to set the expression of the new positioning. This refresh of visual identity has to be tuned to the new message brought out about the brand.
Refresh the marketing strategies by refreshing the way of advertising or communicating under the new brand image. This could mean embedding new ad campaigns, social media strategies, or partnerships.
1) Understanding Consumer Sentiment: Locobuzz scans social media, news, forums, and other online sources to collect real-time insights regarding how consumers see a brand. This sentiment analysis will let the brands know current perceptions and pinpoint areas that may need repositioning.
2) Competitor Analysis: Activity and sentiment tracking of competitors elucidate many aspects of segment positioning and several other opportunities for differentiation. This information gathered from competitive analysis enables the creation of a compelling value proposition as part of the repositioning process.
3) Identify Market Trends: With Locobuzz, brands can access emerging consumer trends and preferences. It will help in adjusting brand positioning strategies with current market demand and innovations.
4) Customer Feedback Analysis: Locobuzz analyzes customer feedback and conversations to provide actionable insights into areas where improvement or adjustment for the brand could be needed. This feedback loop is critical in refining the repositioning strategy further based on actual customer perception.
5) Tracking Impact and ROI: Locobuzz helps track how the repositioning efforts impact brand perception and customer sentiment, and determine the overall ROI once the campaigns are run. This would hence help the brands measure their success in terms of their repositioning strategy and bring in data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.
5 Steps to Follow for Successful Brand Repositioning
1) Research and Analyze
Before you make new changes to your brand, get the facts.Â
First, talk directly to your customers to find out what they feel and think about your brand. It may indicate some things that are working and some others that should be improved.Â
Secondly, look at what is occurring in your industry—learn and keep up-to-date with trends, new technologies, and competitors. The things that can help you to point out your brand’s position and where it has to improve are mentioned above.
 Also, recall the internal drives that check one’s strengths and weaknesses as a brand. It will help from within to see what makes your brand special and at what point you need to reform to be better in the market.
2) Define Your New Position
Now that you can see your brand clearly in its current state, define the destination.Â
First, who is going to be your target audience? Are you trying to attract new customers, or are you trying to do a better job with the ones that you already have? Then, determine what your unique value proposition will be and what makes your brand special and different from others.Â
Finally, craft a simple, sticker-like message that captures your new brand position. The message should be customer-friendly, easy to understand, and remember to drive strong brand audience relationships.
3) Develop a strategy
With your new brand position defined, it’s time to determine how you are going to bring it to life.Â
Start with a marketing strategy outlining which channels you will use to reach your audience by things like social media, email, or advertising.Â
Then start creating new content that uses your refreshed brand identity. That could mean redesigning your website updating your logo or just running new ads using the new messaging.Â
It’s similarly imperative to let your entire organization know about and embrace the new brand direction. This may be in the format of training sessions or just internal communications to get everyone on the same page.
4) Execute the Plan
Now it’s time to introduce your repositioned brand to the world.Â
Do this by rolling out the strategy with a hard-hitting marketing campaign. This may include special offers, events, or even an ad blitz to bring the target’s attention around to the new positioning.Â
Be sure all communication is aligned and organized, down to social media posts and customer service interactions, to the new brand position.Â
Throughout this process, keep an eye on how your audience is responding. For this, you can use metrics such as sales figures and customer feedback to know whether you are on target with your repositioning.
5) Evaluate and Adjust
Once the positioning process kicks off, one cannot continue to track progress daily where you can measure the success by keeping relevant metrics, and engage with your customers and employees regarding their reactions.Â
Are they responding positively to these changes? If not, be ready to make adjustments as needed. Also, be prepared for a change in priorities from time to time.Â
This could mean refinement of messaging, redefining your ideal target audience, or even developing better products and services. By staying flexible and open to feedback, you could be best positioned to ensure that brand repositioning efforts can be an effective and durable long-term solution.
Brand Repositioning Examples
1) Taco Bell
Taco Bell greatly repositioned its brand by enhancing the menu to include healthier and fresher ingredients while not compromising on the pricing strategy. This was mainly due to a change in consumer eating habits and demand for healthier food options.Â
Taco Bell introduced the Cantina Bell menu, which adds grilled chicken and black beans to the items to give health-conscious people looking for a lot more nutritional value from quick-service restaurants a reason to come back.Â
Taco Bell sought to boost its brand perception above and beyond traditional fast food by diversifying menu items in an attempt to appeal to more demographics while focusing on the quality of items as much as their value.
2) Starbucks
Starbucks repositioned itself from ‘being a coffeehouse chain’ to a ‘lifestyle brand’ by being synonymous with premium coffee experiences and involvement in community activities.Â
It incorporates the opening of Starbucks Reserve stores and Roastery locations dealing in high-end, small-batch coffees, and elevated coffee experiences. Focusing on the quality and craft of Starbucks allowed the brand to distinguish itself within a very aggressive market, flowing toward not just coffee lovers but also consumers seeking unique and Class-A coffee experiences.Â
Such rerouting was bound to shift the brand perception from what had existed as a mass-market coffee supplier to a luxury brand where it could be closely affiliated with clients through premium offers and sustainability and social responsibility focus.
3) Apple
Apple’s brand repositioning journey was marked by a huge transformation the company was undertaking to move from a niche computer manufacturer to a global consumer electronics and digital services leader.Â
Known early on for its innovative line of Macintosh computers, Apple diversified its product line with Bluetooth breakout devices like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, which changed everything about personal technology and entertainment consumption. By sleek designs, ease of use, and tight integration across its product ecosystem, Apple built customer loyalty and became an industry leader technically.Â
This shift helped Apple transcend heritage to place itself at or near the top in smartphones, tablets, wearables, and digital distribution of content, firmly entrenching the innovation reputation and premium product brands of this company.
4) Nokia
What surrounded Nokia was a huge brand repositioning strategy that migrated from being the leading manufacturer of mobile phones to becoming a network infrastructure and digital services provider.Â
Right after the sale of its mobile phone division to Microsoft in 2014, the company refocused all its efforts on developing telecommunications technologies, particularly 5G network solutions and digital transformation services for enterprises. This strategic shift has enabled Nokia to capitalize on using its competencies to support any telecommunications operator or enterprise around the world in handling the growing demand for solid connectivity and digital solutions.Â
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Refocusing on network infrastructure was a strategic gain of lost grounds for Nokia within the competitive landscape of the telecommunications industry while milking new opportunities brought about by emerging technologies such as the IoT and cloud computing.
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Final Thoughts
Brand repositioning is just a calculated business strategy to change the perception of the brand in consumers’ eyes. Sure, it extends beyond the changing of logos or slogans. It changes a brand image and message or product offerings to keep relevance and attract new customers.
Other key reasons for repositioning are adjusting to the changes in the market, getting new target audiences, and differentiation from rivals by communicating unique benefits. Some other uses for it include changing negative perceptions of a brand or capitalizing on new trends and innovations. The steps included in the process of brand repositioning are research initially, then defining the new brand position, development of strategic planning, effective execution, and continuous evaluation of feedback to make amendments.
For instance, think about Taco Bell changing to a healthier menu or how Nokia recentered on telecommunications technologies. At the end of the day, brand repositioning is all about how the competitive advantages and charms of a particular brand will be renewed. Brand repositioning ensures that, amidst changing market dynamics, the brand will stay relevant and engaging for the target segment.