Marketing - The Use of Positioning
About 40 years ago, Jack Trout and Al Ries originated the concept of positioning. They explained that marketers need to define how potential buyers “see” their product, by establishing an instant, positive association between that product with something that is already known. A clear example of this (for those of us who were around at the time) was 7-Up promoted as the “Uncola.”
For more than 25 years, I’ve had the honor of using this wonderfully simple and effective concept to drive sales revenues for my clients. As I’ve presented in a few of the videos I’ve put up on YouTube, positioning has been at the core of more than 800 projects I’ve done for new product launches, as well as generating excitement and driving sales for existing products and services.
In the next few posts, I think I’ll provide a few examples.
Btw, you may have noticed that the thinly veiled message that authors of most business books is: “You can learn something about this if you want to, but it’s really hard. It’s probably best to call an expert, like me.”
In these posts, I’m trying to active refute this. The truth is that it’s not that hard. If you understand the basics, positioning and driving demand is something that you can and should do for yourself.
Here is the basic four-step process that lay behind each of the 800+ campaigns my company and I did, largely for the Fortune 500, including FedEx, IBM, AT&T, 3M, Sony, National Semiconductor, Hewlett-Packard, Philips Electronics, Porsche, GM, CSC, Penske, and dozens of others.
- Interview people in various target market segments. What’s bothering them? What’s keeping them up at night? In particular, what are they trying to accomplish as professionals–as they express it–for which existing solutions are inadequate?
- Find a physical metaphor of this unmet need at the highest possible level. Build a positioning statement and create a narrative that reflects this back to target market at a credible but deeply emotional level.
- Build content around this positioning statement that points the way towards a solution to the unmet need. Package it in the form of free newsletters, planning guides, etc.
- Promote this content as broadly, consistently, repetitively, and aggressively as you possibly can. Get creative, and make sure that message everywhere your target market is.
In a few minutes I’ll post an example or two. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or write.
