4 Steps to Better Positioning Research
This is part 3 of a series about better ways to use market research in the development of brand positioning. In part 1, I describe the problem with traditional positioning testing, and in part 2 I introduce a solution: a research-grounded approach.
The research-grounded approach to positioning uses research as an input to strategic thinking—rather than as a “validation” step at the end of the process. Instead of wordsmithing positioning statements with customers in surveys and focus groups, the research-grounded approach calls us to develop a holistic understanding of the market before ideating on strategy.
So, what does a research-grounded approach look like in practical terms? Does it require a bloated research and discovery phase at the start of every positioning project? Not at all!
Here are four steps to implementing the research-grounded approach:
#1. Define the Research Questions
Using your team's preferred positioning framework, draw up a list of 3-5 core questions to inform each element of the framework. This is where you can brainstorm with your teams about what you need to know about your target audience, the brand’s competitive differentiation, the brand’s capabilities (and so on) in order to create effective positioning. The brand team's stakeholders should align on these questions, so no one is surprised by information gaps later.
These questions should be specific enough to provide clear direction, yet they should be broad enough to contextualize the brand in customers’ lives, leaving the door open to learn something unexpected.
For example:
Too narrow: What are customers' favorite product features for Widget Model X?
Better: What drives customer satisfaction in the Widget category?
In the above example, if we stick with the “too narrow” question, our understanding of the world will be limited to a list of current product features. We will never know if customers actually like the #1 favorite feature of Widget X, or if it’s simply the least bad part of a mediocre product. And we may never learn about other factors that affect satisfaction, such as value or purchase experience.
#2. Take Inventory & Assess Risk
Now that research questions are defined, gather all available information resources to generate answers to these questions. Start with what you have available internally within your agency/client team. Be sure to consult any centralized market research teams early on so you can quickly find the most up-to-date versions of reports, and take advantage of any data services you can use without additional cost. These information resources could include:
Primary Market Research Reports & Data Sets, such as:
Segmentations
Persona Research
Customer Journeys
Brand Trackers
A&U Studies
Claims/Message Research
Product Research
Customer/Sales Data
Social Listening
Secondary/Syndicated Market Research Reports
Public Opinion Research
Third Party Data
Census Data
Competitive Audits (e.g., messaging, brand, product, etc.)
Once gathered, review these materials, looking for answers to the research questions you’ve already defined. You may need to go to the original data sources and re-analyze to get the specific answers you need. Or, you may find answers by triangulating data points across multiple sources.
When you've answered as many of the research questions as you can, take a step back and rate the evidence available to answer each question:
Is it possible to completely answer each question with the available data?
Do any information gaps present a significant risk?
How confident is the brand team about its assumptions and hypotheses?
After assessing the evidence base for each question, detail the specific gaps and the risk of not filling them. Some information gaps may be less detrimental than others, considering your overall needs.
#3. Fill the Gaps
Gather with brand stakeholders to discuss and prioritize which gaps to fill through new research. Be sure to include both market research and business unit stakeholders, as they will be able to help you come up with solutions to the gaps.
From here, develop and execute a research plan to fill the specific information gaps. This could be as intensive as undertaking a customer segmentation study, or as simple as analyzing existing data in a new way. At this point, a strategically minded researcher can help you develop a research plan, matching the right methodology to each gap while maximizing efficiencies.
This is not a one-size-fits-all process, so beware of anyone claiming that an off-the-shelf solution can fix all of your gaps.
#4. Align Together
After filling the gaps identified in the last step, gather project stakeholders to share and discuss the findings. The goal of this meeting should be to align on a consistent set of facts about the market context in which the brand lives. If the brand team can feel good about understanding the target audience, the brand's potential to differentiate, and the most compelling reasons to believe, you can then focus on how to develop a strategy that most effectively plays off these truths.
This alignment meeting is also an excellent opportunity to start discussing criteria and guardrails for choosing a final positioning strategy, so those leading the positioning development can take these needs into account.
By the end of these four steps, brand teams and strategists should feel well-prepared to evaluate positioning directions, and have a clear understanding of the data points that any strategy must address.
