When you run a company, you know that positioning it correctly is important. But too often, brand positioning is the invisible weak link in a company's GTM strategy. It might feel tempting to outsource this critical work to an expensive branding agency, but there’s a risk you’ll end up on the other side of a huge investment with a pretty deck… and not much else.
Equally tempting is the idea that if your product or service is strong enough, the positioning will take care of itself. Right? Wrong. Nailing your brand positioning is the secret sauce to winning in crowded markets. When brands skip this step (or worse, stumble through it with no actual plan), they disappear into the background for customers who could benefit most from their products.
At Decoded, we approach brand positioning the way we hope you approach building your business—with a mix of joy, precision, and rigor that commands attention. Today, we're unpacking why brand positioning is make-or-break, where leaders consistently fumble, and why our evolved approach gets results in even the noisiest of markets.
What happens when you skip brand positioning?
Cue the facepalm. When businesses skip the hard work of clear brand positioning, what follows is like a chaotic improv game where no one knows the rules. Your marketing might look sleek, but it either blends in with everyone else or (worse) outright confuses your customers.
Picture this. You’ve got a potential customer scrolling through their feeds. They see your ad. Or is it your competitor's? Oh no, wait, is this about enterprise project management software or a personal to-do list app? They don’t know. Because your positioning didn’t do the heavy lifting.
Without distinct positioning, brands:
- Fail to stand out. You vanish into a sea of sameness where everyone’s claiming to be “innovative,” “customer-centric,” or the dreaded “disruptive.”
- Confuse customers. Mixed messages about “who you are” and “what you fix” are a one-way ticket to confusion town. And confused customers don’t buy. They bounce.
- Burn through marketing dollars. Forget delivering ROI. Ads flop, email opens plummet, content dies a quiet death on page two of Google.
- Attract the wrong audience. Without clarity, you end up with customers who don’t get you, don’t value you, and, frankly, regret buying from you.
Done correctly, positioning gets your message across not just clearly, but unmistakably. And at Decoded, that is our jam.
Where do leaders drop the ball?
Now that we’ve set the stakes, let's call out some typical mistakes. Leaders don’t intentionally sabotage their brand positioning, but good intentions don’t guarantee good outcomes. The most common blunders we’ve seen?
1. Abdicating positioning to the wrong people (or machines)
Your brand positioning can't be anyone’s side project. It’s not for the executive with too much on their plate, or the generative AI tool that spits out polished-sounding language that doesn’t actually reflect your brand. It’s also not something you can afford to half-hand-off to a consultant with no skin in your game. Positioning is a subjective process, filled with dozens of critical, subjective decisions. And you need your best thinkers and decision-makers armed with insights, strategy, and real business acumen to help you make those decisions.
2. Not doing it at all
You’d be amazed by how many leaders just don't do it. They fall back on “We’ll figure it out later.” Or, “We have XYZ urgent things we need to do now, so we’ll get to positioning next quarter.” Spoiler alert: later comes...with chaotic messaging, wasted ad spends, and a brand no one remembers. Saying “we’re not ready” is an open invitation for irrelevance.
3. Doing it (but doing it wrong)
Attempting positioning without a strategy is like baking without a recipe. You get a mess, or an unintentional science experiment. Businesses either try to sound too many alarms (“We do everything!”) or focus entirely on themselves (“Look how cool we are!”) instead of zeroing in on what customers actually need, and how you can uniquely deliver a solution.
When leaders punt on brand positioning, it doesn't just hurt the marketing team. It kneecaps their business, plain and simple.
Where people get brand positioning wrong
Here’s the thing about brand positioning mistakes. Most of them happen not because people are lazy, but because they’re focused on the wrong things. Like hyping what sounds cool instead of what solves the customer’s actual problems.
1. Trying to be too cute and clever
“Clever” is great for an icebreaker, but cleverness at the expense of clarity? That’s a branding no-no. Jargon, acronyms, or inside jokes may make you feel cool, but they alienate the people whose attention you desperately need.
2. Getting stuck in the weeds
Brand positioning is big-picture work. And yet, people try to boil the ocean, getting tangled in irrelevant details or lost in overcomplicated processes. At the end of the day, no one cares that your founders met at a kombucha-making retreat (unless that’s critical to your story).
How Decoded approaches brand positioning
Now that we've established what not to do, let's talk about how we, at Decoded, have cracked the brand positioning code. Our method isn’t just effective; it’s obsessively designed to rise above today’s noise.
The StoryBrand framework (with a twist)
We’ve been die-hard fans of the StoryBrand framework since day one and have mastered its use to eliminate confusion. At its heart, it’s all about making your customer the hero of their story. Not you. Them. You’re the guide, equipped with empathy, solutions, and an actual plan.
What we do with StoryBrand:
- Position the customer as the hero. Their problem is front and center. Your brand? The Obi-Wan to their Luke.
- Be the clear guide they need. We help brands show they’re both understanding and capable of solving big problems.
- Clarify the problem you solve. Can customers recognize their pain point in two seconds? Good. That’s clarity.
- Tell a story people want to enter. Not just copy-paste content, but cohesive messaging that answers the universal question, Why should I care?
- Unify your marketing. From your website to your email campaigns, there’s no daylight between one piece of your messaging and the next.
But here’s the thing… StoryBrand is a foundation. For today’s markets, with their unprecedented noise and competition, we knew it wasn’t the only tool a brand needs to thrive. StoryBrand is essential, yes, but not the whole enchilada. That’s where our secret sauce comes in.
Evolving brand positioning for modern markets
Modern markets are nothing short of merciless. Here’s why:
- AI-generated content has leveled the information-playing-field. There’s more stuff out there than anyone can absorb.
- Competitors are everywhere and louder than ever.
- Buyers have limited attention spans and even less patience.
Translation? “Good enough” messaging gets ignored. Period.
We evolved our approach to fill these gaps. It’s like taking the StoryBrand framework and putting it on rocket fuel. Here's how:
1. Differentiated value proposition
Your difference can’t just be “our people are the best” or some alphabet-soup acronym customers will never care about. That’s background noise. We help our clients peel back the layers to define their unique value.
- What’s your rare advantage no one can replicate?
- What matters most to your customer, immediately?
We focus the conversation on their success and build messaging that positions you as the obvious choice. It’s not about what makes you cool. It’s about why customers can’t win without you.
2. Your brand’s unique POV
If brand positioning is your battleground, a killer Point of View is the Excalibur-like sword that gives you the edge. POV is the fuel for long-term relevance.
- What fires you up? What’s broken in your industry? What inefficiency makes your blood boil? Share that truth.
- What do you wish you could fix? Great brands stand for something bigger—not for their bottom line but for a better outcome.
This sharper POV shows your brand doesn't just belong in the market; it leads the charge. It’s the kind of positioning that fosters reputation, trust, and even thought leadership.
3. Making sure you have "something to say"
Your point of view gives you a lighthouse in the content fog. It means you’re not just another brand churning out blogs and hoping for results. You’re delivering perspective, value, and leadership in every touchpoint. This isn’t just branding; it’s building a legacy.
Final thoughts
Here at Decoded, we turn brand positioning into an art and a science. Our evolved approach blends storytelling, strategy, clarity, and bold differentiation. It’s intentional, surgical, and capable of helping brands carve out their space—even when the competition is screaming for attention.
Ignoring your positioning? That’s like trying to win a race with no roadmap. But if you’re ready to show your customers who you are, why you’re here, and why they need you, we’re here to decode the complexity and make it simple. Because your brand deserves better than fading into the background. It deserves to stand out and be remembered.
Your move.
