10 Brand Questions & Positioning

It is 59 days away till the end of 2024. The past couple of podcast episodes have generated a barrage of questions from you all. So, tomorrow’s podcast episode will be a Q&A in an effort to respond to all of your questions. And speaking of questions, there are 15 that you should ask yourself when you are in the audience cultivation phase.Let’s start with:1. Who are our current customers, and what do we know about them?You can collect this information through Google analytics, your email marketing list, through the past purchases data, so on, and so forth2. What demographic characteristics (age, gender, income, education) define our target audience? Same as above, but you can also conduct surveys when someone purchases from you to gain more clarity.3. What psychographic traits (values, interests, lifestyles) do we believe our audience possesses? Social media is good for access to psychographic information. By seeing what a person likes, posts, comments on and who they interact with you can gain insights to personal preferences.4. How do our products or services align with the needs and preferences of our potential audience?  You’ll know the answer to this question by analyzing the data you have on your customers including the pain points. Your products, and services always has to solve a problem for your customers. For example, in the short term maybe you are seeing your audience is stressed out because of the elections here in the U.S.A quick solution can be providing humorous non-political content, merch or products. Help them escape for a little while.Long term problem, your audience is complaining about zippers on hoodies. They always break, get stuck or frayed.Solution, provide options like the button down hoodie, a velcro hoodie, a lace up hoodie, a pull on hoodie. See what I mean?5. How do your competitors identify and engage their audiences?That’s easy, sign up for the newsletters, marketing lists and anything else your competitors offer. Follow them across all their mediated platforms, and set up google alerts on them. It will become very clear how they are engaging w/ their audience.6. How can we gather direct feedback from consumers to better understand their motivations and preferences? Surveys, polls, and review sites are some of the best ways to answer this question.7. What online or offline communities do our potential customers engage with?  Social listening should help you uncover this information. Swarm, which use to be foursquare, is an app where people check in where they are at, and that might help you see if there are patterns offline. For example, if you notice a significant group of people that talk about your niche or similar products as yours are going to /starbucks on Wednesday every week. There might be a reason for that.8. What are the common objections or misconceptions potential customers have about our brand? Active observing. Monitoring comments, reviews, and surveys can help you understand and expertly address the concerns that surface.9. Are there seasonal or temporal factors that affect our audience's purchasing habits? Depending on what it is that you are offering, the holiday season can be great or horrible. Analyze the buying behaviors in your brand as well as the competitions.10. How does our branding resonate with our perceived audience, and what changes might be needed? Again this is gleaned through social listening, purchasing data, and reading reviews and comments.These questions can guide brands in refining their approach to audience identification and engagement.So, what’s next?Brand positioning..Brand positioning is a critical aspect of any marketing strategy,...