Exclusive Research on Brand Positioning in 2021 to Help You Get Ahead

Exclusive Research on Brand Positioning in 2021 to Help You Get Ahead

Many new entrepreneurs feel that if they start a business, customers will come. But that isn’t the case since everybody who’s ever started a successful business understands that if you create it but don’t properly brand it, no one will come.

Whoever wants to have a good start in the market must understand how to use brand positioning principles to make their company appealing to its target market.

But because brand positioning only works when it’s done correctly, we performed a survey that’d help entrepreneurs effectively understand and position their companies.

We put several brand positioning principles to the test to see how customers react to brands that take a modern vs. traditional approach.

Why the Survey was Necessary

Our goal was to figure out which brands customers were drawn to and how that differed depending on the demographics of the audience.

This knowledge will assist you in making swift branding decisions and in selecting a position that’s appropriate for your organization, whether you manage a small, medium, or large business.

Now, to accomplish our goal, we asked people in the United States, “Would you rather work with a modern and innovative company or a traditional and trustworthy organization?”

Why We Chose this Question

Realize that choosing the tone of your business is one of the most essential and defining decisions you’ll have to make when building or rebuilding your brand. This choice is crucial because it helps entrepreneurs, product managers, and brand leaders to shape their company’s future.

Take a moment to imagine how the market would look like if:

  • Steve Jobs had chosen Executex over Apple
  • Zappos was still called Shoestore
  • Amazon still used Cadabra as its brand name
  • Nike was still known as Blue Ribbon Sports
  • Hydrox had chosen a better name

The tone of your brand influences the overall attitude of your company and the feelings customers associate with it. Your tone is so important that you must include it in your company’s naming process.

Despite the fact that there are numerous brand tones, the majority of them fall somewhere between the two ends of the spectrum: “traditional and trusted” tones or “modern and innovative” tones.

Here’s a look at some traditional brands:

  • Gucci
  • IBM
  • Liberty Mutual
  • Warby Parker

Here’s a look at some modern brands:

  • Apple
  • Robinhood
  • Slack
  • Urban Decay

Courtesy: Squadhelp

The most crucial consideration for entrepreneurs when choosing a brand position is whether their business should be a modern or traditional one, so we carefully prepared our survey to capture which audience demographics are attracted to modern companies and which are attracted to traditional brands.

Our Discovery from the Survey

In some respects, the survey’s results were predictable, but in others, they were revealing. Here’s a breakdown of what we got from the 301 persons that participated:

  • Persons between the ages of 25–34 have a strong affinity for modern and innovative companies. While surveying this demographic, over half of the participants preferred new and innovative brands over traditional and trusted brands.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • Persons between the ages of 35–45 preferred new and innovative brands over traditional and trusted brands. Still, it’s worth noting that this group was evenly split between the two options.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • Persons between 45–54 and 55–65 were more interested in well-known companies with a long reliable history.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • Persons between the ages of 55–65 were particularly drawn to well-known and trustworthy brands.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • The survey showed that men had little to no preference for either a modern or traditional brand.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • The survey showed that women were more likely to choose traditional and well-known brands.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

  • Overall, 153 people out of 301 preferred traditional and trustworthy companies, while 148 chose modern and creative brands. The result clearly shows that either position is excellent; it all depends on who you’re trying to reach.

Courtesy: Squadhelp

What it All Means

The results of the survey showed that many young people are interested in new and creative brands. So, for a business targeting a younger crowd, consider positioning your business to its audience by giving it a unique, modern, and innovative brand identity. 

However, suppose you’re trying to reach an older demographic, like older Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In that case, you’ll need to take the traditional path and position your company with a classic brand name because persons between the ages of 45 and 65 have a solid attraction to historic and trustworthy businesses.

The results of the survey also demonstrate why business owners must assess their brand’s tone before positioning or naming their company. And when it comes to finding a great brand name, one quick way to get a solid name is to use a reputable business name generator.

How Does this Work in Reality

Hulu is a perfect representation of a well-positioned brand. When the brand first launched, its name was a gamble that tipped the brand tone scale from normal to the extreme by being “modern and innovative.” And, with over 40 million subscribers, you can bet their gamble paid off handsomely.

Hulu’s current success stems from the fact that its tone is ideal for its target audience and its service. From millennials to Gen Xers, young people make up the majority of their target market, and as we’ve seen from the survey, this demographic desires a brand that’s “modern and innovative.”

Grant Polachek is the Head of Branding at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the worlds #1 naming platform, with 30,000+ customers from early-stage startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation.