Most brands fatally crash before they’ve even launched.
They are convinced that copying the competition and using rigid formulas for positioning will help them “stand out.” This is the same stupid advice that kills a brand before it can even breathe.
Most coaches have no idea how positioning works. They ignore it and end up creating something the customer couldn’t be bothered to notice.
They cannot find a unique angle to make prospects see the value in what they're offering. They are too deep in the trenches of the business to see what’s really going on.
These types of brands end only in one way. Dead.
But there are a few brands that understand. These are the ones customers obsess over. They know how to own space in the mind of their audience.
If you want your brand to survive, this is where it starts.
Brands live in memory
If you start building your brand with strategy (that encompasses positioning), you already understand something most coaches are yet to: a brand without positioning is a brand born to die.
To understand positioning, we need to be on the same page concerning the meaning of the word brand. Here’s a new way to look at it.
There is a quote by marketing and leadership expert Seth Godin that goes:
A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.
He shows that brand is a set of associations a customer makes in their mind about a business or person. This means branding is in the mind. To brand is to hack perception.
In this light, people don’t buy what they think they’re buying.
They buy what their brain remembers first. It can be an expectation, a memory, a story, or a relationship that reminds them of the reason they’re buying from a particular brand.
Brands live in memory as a solar system of associations.
The brand name is the sun, and all the beliefs, feelings, and memories you have about it are the planets, moons, and asteroids orbiting it. A powerful brand has a large, complex system with multiple layers of gravity and influence, holding all the pieces together in your mind.
The name, logo, or message is only one trigger in that system. When one idea is activated, its gravitational pull causes all the other planets and moons associated with it to fire instantly.
The tighter the connections, the stronger the recall. And this happens unconsciously, outside of consumer control. That’s why people often act differently from what they say. The gut makes the decision, and the mind builds the argument.
This is all connected by one gravitational force—positioning—which is the very foundation of strategy.
Yes, I use the em dash (—). If you don’t like it, you’re not supposed to be here.
You’ve heard the line a thousand times: “Branding is not a logo.” Every self-proclaimed guru loves to say it, but they never actually tell you what it is.
They’ll follow it up by selling you a list of things just as complicated, websites, marketing funnels, and multi-million-dollar campaigns. None of that here.
Bottom line is, branding is not only bigger than all that, it’s also a whole lot easier.
I work with coaches, founders, and consultants, and very often you’ll find someone reminiscing about colors and logos with a faint understanding of what they want to be remembered for.
This is why I say branding is easy, because they think it has to be complex or nuanced to find its place amongst the giants.
If you zoom out, you’ll realize that most people see branding as the costume, not the character. That in itself is the reason why they can’t play the role.
In How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp says that strong memory structures, built through distinctive and consistently used brand assets (like logos, colors, and packaging), are crucial for mental availability, which drives brand growth.
Brands grow by becoming easier to remember and buy, not by trying to hold onto customers forever. The goal is to increase market penetration, not loyalty. To stay top-of-mind and win, brands need to constantly refresh existing memory structures and build new ones. They need to become attractive to the brain, using distinctive cues that make you think of them the moment you shop in their category.
That comes down to five (5) things:
- Remember — Positioning begins in memory. If people can’t recall you, they can’t choose you.
- Market penetration — Positioning always exists in relation to alternatives. People compare you to what else is in the market.
- Attractive — Beyond functionality, positioning must be crafted in a way that is distinct and appealing enough to disrupt indifference. You need to pull attention and keep it.
- Top-of-mind — People only hold on to what matters to them. You need to earn that space.
- Category — Positioning needs a defined market category. Customers need a frame of reference. If they know your category, they can predict what you deliver.
How Nike weaponized positioning
These five elements align directly with how I do positioning. I’ll give a basic overview of how Nike does this on a global level:
- Remember: Nike builds memory with their symbol and three-word phrase “Just Do It,” or the recent “Why Do It?” Your brain registers them in an instant and then recalls the brand without you even thinking.
- Market penetration: Nike’s position is an act of war against its rivals. It’s on a mission to bury competitors like Adidas and Puma because it’s fighting for a position as the only brand for performance and victory.
- Attractive: Nike’s story is encoded into cues that are distinct. Its visuals, athletes, and messages are designed to be impossible to ignore because they’re selling greatness.
- Top-of-mind: They seize your attention. They don’t ask for it. They have a powerhouse of stories designed to strike a connection that feels personal. It occupies that space because it continues to deliver, and it never stops.
- Category: Their category is sportswear. It’s the point of reference. When you think of athletic gear, it’s the first thing that comes to mind, and it’s the first brand you consider when you buy.
In Africa, MTN illustrates this in telecommunications—its category is mobile connectivity, its cues are the yellow identity and the phrase “Everywhere you go,” and its penetration strategy keeps it the first choice in markets where choice is often limited by infrastructure.
Where most businesses mess up
I’m not giving you a full playbook on positioning. I’m giving you a blueprint to show you what actually makes positioning work. And the truth, I think, is: most coaches still miss the basics. A couple of things to avoid:
Unclear target audience
Naming a broad category isn’t positioning. Saying you serve “executives” tells me nothing. First-choice positioning means focusing on your best-fit clients—the ones who extract the most value from you. That requires knowing their exact stage, their current pressure, and whether what you offer moves them forward right now.
Wrong market category
The category you choose tells customers what to expect. It sets the frame for your message, your pricing, and who pays attention. Pick the wrong one and you’ll either attract the wrong people or alienate the right ones. Misaligned categories signal confusion, and confused prospects never buy.
Ignoring true alternatives
The deadliest mistake is misunderstanding who you’re really up against. Your competitors aren’t the obvious players in your industry. They are every option your client compares you to — including doing nothing.
Listen, positioning isn’t all theory. It’s something those who seek clarity have to figure out: who you serve, what category you own, and why your option is the only one that makes sense compared to all others. Most coaches guess at this. The ones who get it right become first choice, every time.
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