In an earlier blog post, we shared our perspective on the difference between positioning and value prop for pharmaceutical brands. We posited that positioning is the value prop within the context of the market landscape, and we shared the following ‘brand equation’:
- Target audience: For whom is the product positioned?
- Competitive set: What competitors is the product positioning against?
- Unmet needs: What are customers’ biggest frustrations with the competitive set?
- Use cases: How will customers use the product in addressing their needs?
Although these market landscaping questions are quite familiar to most marketers, we often see pharmaceutical brand teams skip this market landscaping effort in their brand positioning efforts. In our experience, the most successful brands are those that rigorously research and define their market landscape.