A Quick Note on Brand Positioning (and my “soup list”)
Use Brand Positioning to Find the Right Identity for Your Game, Product, or Service
In a previous blog post, I discussed why it is so gosh-darn-important that your board game product not only be excellent, but also be UNIQUE.
Because otherwise, given the number and quality of games out there, you risk blending in with the crowd. What you need is to differentiate yourself from your competition/other options.
Which begs the question: “How do I find the way my tabletop game is unique?”
One way is to create a “brand positioning map”:
“Brand positioning mapping refers to the task of identifying and assessing a company’s unique position in the eyes of consumers. A brand position map is a diagram or chart. It includes a brand’s position relative to the attributes that it’s being measured against” (source).
Translation:
Assess your most relevant and important competition
Find how THEY are unique
Organize them on a chart to display the market
Find a gap in the market you can fill
The goal is to find a place in the market that you can OWN. A “position” in relation to your peers that, while similar, is not identical to anything else your target audience is considering.
The idea is simple: it’s easier to differentiate if you know who you are differentiating from.
It’s a pretty basic concept, and requires more examples than elaboration. So let’s start with something silly and with low stakes…
Are You a Doctor or Physician?
Then Your Brand Positioning is Much More LOCAL
Like my winter soup and stew list (yum)
I cook a lot. And every Autumn I go over my Pintrest boards and saved Instagram food posts and determine which stews I want to make throughout the cold months.
I have a lot saved, which means I really only have time to make each once. So I take some time to plan out and organize which ones I really want to make.
And while all being soups and stews, they are all very different from one another. Some also take well over 5 hours to cook, while others I can whip up in 40 min. Some require careful attention to the ingredients and details, while others you kind of just throw everything in. Some are very light and best with a crust of bread, while others are hearty and are best poured over mashed potatoes.
Regardless, when I can only make so many stews across a winter, I would much rather have each one be distinct and different, rather than make two that overlap.
Some of my favorites include:
Kevin’s Chili from the Office (recipe here)
Isaac Toups Gumbo (recipe here)
Adam Ragusea’s Healthy Simple Chicken Noodle (recipe here)
A unique Finnish Salmon soup (recipe here)
Ramen where I “eye-ball it”
And just for kicks and giggles, here is a “positioning map” for all my soups and stews.
Image is not property of Riley James Copy
NOW NOTICE… this is not "what is good and who is bad”. The X axis is “time it takes to make” and the Y axis is “how difficult it is to make”. All are excellent soup/stew options. All are yummy. And I look forward to eating them soon.
What does this position map show me? It shows me that all of my various soups and stews are unique, even if most of them use chicken broth, onion, garlic, olive oil… lots of same ingredients, but at least when it comes to preparation, they are unique!
I could have made one with the axis being “simple/complex flavor” and “expensive”. Or I could have made one that is “how well it keeps in fridge” and “how many dishes my wife has to do afterwards”. And with each of those, the position changes.
Ok, that was very fun and frivolous (for me anyways). And when it is something silly you can kind of just wing it like I did?
But what about major corporations worth tens of millions of dollars?
Well, in that case, the research that goes into the brand positioning would be thorough and extensive.
Here are some other position maps from other industries you might be familiar with:
Image is not property of Riley James Copy
Coffee Shop Chains
Image is not property of Riley James Copy
Car Brands
Yes, as a board game creator, you are not managing millions of dollars of investor money.
But you are dealing with thousands of your own dollars and considering the success of your passion project.
The stakes are still high.
How YOU Should Create Your Own Brand Positioning Map
Brand Positioning is relatively self explanatory. And while it is a service I offer in my “Branding and Strategy Packet” it is something I believe any board game creator can do on their own. Here is your step by step process to help you along:
Identify Your Target Audience: I’ve repeated this many times on my blog, but you need to know WHO would love your game, and why. They are your north star for marketing communication.
Pick the Right Sector of the Market: If you are making a fun party game, then that is the sector you need to look at. You don’t need to look at other classic games (ex: Monopoly) or complex euro games (ex: Terra Mystica).
Set X/Y Axis: This is the most important part; WHAT will you measure? Is it the price? length of play? Number of tokens? Complexity? Style of play? Picking the right ones may require some trial and error.
Identify Games/Businesses: Find the games within the sector that are most similar to yours, or the companies that share your values. Pick between
Examine the Games/Businesses: This is the most difficult part, but you can do it. Remember, for a brand positioning map, you are just trying to place them on your X/Y axis. You aren’t measuring everything, just those terms. So consider those terms, and do the following:
Look at the the games/businesses, and ask yourself: “What are they saying and how do they say it? And what do they NOT claim about their game, and why?”.
Go to chatrooms and see what players (your target audience!) are saying about those games/businesses. When it comes to marketing, these customer opinions are actually more important than the self-perception of the company.
Draw Out the Chart: Place all your competitors on the chart. If there is no open, unique place for your game, then you have two options: 1) change the X/Y axix, or B) you need to change something about your game to make it unique!
