Who do they think you are?

How unprompted awareness reveals your true market position

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a research and user testing geek. I love it. I was talking to some folk who run one of Edinburgh's many August festivals, and had to stop myself waxing too lyrical about the importance of knowing how people view you in order to really get cut through... especially in the jam packed festive smorgasbord of delights.

My preferred weapon of choice is the trifecta of unprompted awareness, brand perception and propensity-to-buy. Jargon-heavy? Maybe. Insight-rich? Absolutely.

Armed to the teeth with this information, and you can decide where you want to position yourself, do you need to change tact at all, and create yourself a fun little brand positioning strategy to be the foundation of all your future marketing efforts. And bippity-boppity-boop... brand resonance and cut through. Beautiful!

Understanding unprompted awareness

This is the reality check.

Unprompted awareness shows you what surfaces when there’s no safety net, no logo, no multiple choice. When you ask someone to name festivals, venues, attractions, or experiences, what comes out first is instinctive. That instinct is gold.

Sometimes you’ll find you’re not being thought about at all. Sometimes you’ll discover you’re remembered, but for the wrong reason. Occasionally, you’ll be delighted to learn that people already see you exactly as you hoped they would.

For example, in a previous role, I did this exercise for a very large and very well known annual event in Edinburgh. They saw themselves as a family day out. So we asked the good people of Edinburgh (and beyond) what fun family days out they might do during this time.

Crickets. Almost no one brought them to mind instinctively, despite have a 92% prompted awareness (i.e. asking directly "Have you heard of [insert event here]?").

What matters is not judging the result, but recognising it as your starting point. You cannot reposition from an imagined place. You can only reposition from the truth.

In a city like Edinburgh, especially during August, this matters more than ever. Attention is finite. Memory is ruthless. If you’re not clear on where you sit, someone else will happily take that space for you.

And let's not forget you, your colleagues, your family, your friends... you're all starting from a very skewed place when it comes to memory and familiarity with your particular organisation. And that's a very easy trap to fall into.

A quick look at brand perception

This is where things get interesting.

Brand perception digs into why people think of you the way they do. Not what you say about yourself, but the emotional shorthand people use when describing you to others.

This is often where organisations feel the wobble. You might intend to be bold, but come across as worthy. You might believe you’re inclusive, but feel intimidating. You might be trying to signal innovation, while audiences quietly categorise you as traditional.

That gap, between intention and interpretation, is not failure. It’s information.

When you understand the emotional cues you’re sending, consciously or otherwise, you can decide what to amplify, what to soften, and what to stop doing altogether. This is how brand stops being a logo exercise and starts becoming a behavioural one.

What even is propensity-to-buy?

Awareness and affection are lovely, but they don’t pay the bills.

Propensity-to-buy brings a necessary dose of pragmatism. It asks whether people are not only aware of you and positive about you, but whether they would actually choose you, recommend you, or prioritise you when faced with alternatives.

This is where positioning becomes commercial.

You might be well-liked but not chosen. Admired but not attended. Respected but not remembered when it matters. Understanding this lets you decide whether the issue is price, relevance, clarity, or simply confidence in the offer.

And crucially, it helps you focus effort where it will make the biggest difference, rather than spreading yourself thin trying to appeal to everyone at once.

Building a brand strategy with cut through

Once you understand where you sit, how you’re perceived, and whether people are inclined to choose you, strategy stops being scary. It becomes a series of informed decisions.

You can decide what to lean into, what to let go of, and where to focus your limited time and energy for maximum effect. You stop guessing. You stop reacting. You stop borrowing tactics that worked for someone else in a completely different context.

Instead, you start building from a place of truth.

And that’s when marketing gets a lot more fun. Not because it’s easier, but because it’s clearer. Every campaign has a job to do. Every message earns its place. Every creative decision ladders back to a position you’ve chosen, not one you’ve drifted into.

That clarity is what creates cut through in crowded spaces. It’s what turns attention into interest, and interest into action. Not through louder messaging, but through resonance.

Do that well, and marketing stops feeling like noise. It starts feeling like momentum.

One monumental moment

I like to leave you with one thing you can do today to get started on their journey to monumental marketing.

Ask one unprompted question, to people who are not already in your bubble.

Today, ask someone:

“When you think about [your category, e.g. festivals / museums / places to visit in Edinburgh in August], what comes to mind?”

Then shut up and listen.

No correcting. No explaining. No “oh that’s interesting because…”.

Remember:

• What gets mentioned first

• Whether you’re mentioned at all

• The words they use, not the ones you wish they’d use

If you want to add one follow-up, make it this:

“Why that one?”

That’s it.

You don’t need a survey platform, a budget, or a framework. You just need five honest answers from people who are not trying to be kind.

Because the fastest way to sharpen your position is not to say more about yourself, but to hear what’s already being said when you’re not in the room.

That’s where impact starts.