Positioning For Perfection

The right positioning statement can make a huge difference in how your product or service will fare in the market. This is true whether it is a new drug being developed by a major pharmaceutical company or if it is launching a new service at a small hair salon. By positioning a product properly you are able to not only define who your customers will be but also define who you will compete against for those customers. With this post we wanted to share our thoughts and what we typically go through to craft a positioning strategy with our clients. We complete this by evaluating six key areas of positioning.

Relevance

Determining who the product or service will be relevant for is a surprisingly challenging, yet critical, part of this process. This stage will set the tone for all of the following aspects and can dramatically change the scope of your market based on how one thinks about their end users. Many of us lean towards having a broad customer relevance, why wouldn't we?

Logically, making the product messaging be relevant to the widest array of individuals would lead to the largest possible reach and, therefore, the largest amount of possible sales. In actuality, we find that the more targeted and narrow your product relevance is the higher your impact will be with these marketing strategies. Even sellers of products with a broad appeal, such as water or fruit, craft a more narrow target market in an effort to have their messages connect with the consumer. We advise our clients to spend a lot of time thinking about who their relevant consumers are and how they can then communicate this relevance to them in a concise message that resonates with their unique needs.

Clarity

Building off that concise messaging for why the good or service you offer is relevant for your target market, the message must be clear. Research has shown that short, punchy, and clear messages stick with consumers than more explanatory positioning statements. When you only have a few moments to make a lasting positive impression with your potential customer there is no time to waste with ambiguity. Clients have often found that the most effective way to communicate their value to customers is to boil everything down to one or two lines that explain why your product is for them and the benefit they can expect by using this product.

Credibility

Now that you have defined who you are talking to and developed a clear message for why they should use your service, we need to convince them to trust you. While different products and industries require varying degrees of credibility, proving that your customers can trust you is a critical part in positioning yourself in their mind. This is especially true when trying to market yourself as a premium brand that can deliver high quality results. Luckily, there is a wide array of actions you may take to build brand credibility.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, some of the most effective methods we have helped clients implement include starting a blog, posting video conversations with customers about their products, and having a social media influencer highlight their products. Building credibility is critical and choosing the right route to do so for your firm makes a big difference in the overall impact of those actions.

Uniqueness

Tieing in the earlier points with what makes your product unique is a valuable way to showcase why they should purchase from your firm and not Competitor X. Most firms are very clear on what makes them unique, it is often the reason they got into business in the first place. However, one area we have found people fail to fully evaluate is how replicable your unique offering truly is. If you are the only person doing or selling Y in the market, how easy is it for someone to come in and replicate your unique position with an identical offering. We have seen clients who previously had advertised their unique value add traits for several months only to see their key competitor emulate that value proposition once the advertising initiative was underway. We advise our clients to look for unique features that can be protected with either trade secrets, patents, or partner relationships and set those as the flagship unique attributes.

Attainability

This is how you seal the deal with your customer in a way that both aligns with your value proposition and sees the customer commit to your product offering. While it may not be communicated directly in your value proposition and positioning statement we always look to have the end in mind when crafting these messages.

One counterintuitive idea we like to propose to clients is how easy do they want customers to be able to access their product. At first everyone says they want it to be easy for all customers but we have found that sometimes it makes sense to set up some barriers to the end customer for strategic reason. A good example can be seen in premium branded products, often having low inventory or a wait list (limiting attainability) can be good for your brand image and help elevate the premium status of your offerings. Additionally, for some service firms, having pre-engagement questionnaires can help sort for clients that better align with your skills and interests as opposed to accepting everyone that approaches you. This is a very delicate balance and it is important not to over complicate the attainability of your product as restricting access too much (or for the wrong product) will hurt brand image and reduce sales.

Sustainability

Ensuring your positioning statement is sustainable is the final key area we help clients evaluate to build a strong positioning statement. When setting up your positioning statement for a product (or even for your firm overall) you must ensure that you can, and want to, maintain the positioning over the medium term at least. Frequent positioning changes can be tiring for consumers and lead to undefined audiences who no longer connect with your marketing content. It is important to pivot your positioning only when meeting a new challenge or when overall market conditions change. Building your customer base and audience take time, it is therefore critical to ensure sustainability and consistency in the messaging you share with the market.

Using these key factors to build, promote, and sustain your positioning statement will enable increased sales and customer engagement. By telling your story to the market consistently you will be well suited to build a loyal brand following that trusts your content. Modern businesses rely on having a dedicated group of supporters and by carefully crafting a positioning strategy you will be taking the first step in building this following.