We’ve all been there; endless meetings where we delineate the qualities of our product or service and then try to determine the position they can adopt. Wrong! A position doesn’t begin with you. It starts by assembling the positions that exist in the marketplace and deciding which ones, based on your own strengths, that you have the best chance of occupying or defending.
The marketplace defines the positions, and you try to win one of them…
A defensible market position and a clear value proposition form the foundation for the creation of your marketing plan. Marketing initiatives within the plan should be anchored to the position in the marketplace that you seek to occupy and must create a consistent dialogue with your customers.
Good positioning occurs within a competitive framework and there are numerous tools (and research companies!) that can be used to help you identify what yours should be. Some of the simpler ones include:
- The SWOT. Don’t underestimate the value of asking these four simple questions. There are several more sophisticated tools than the SWOT, but taking the time to work your way through each question can often yield surprising and valuable results.
- Listening to your marketplace. You operate in a competitive market so you will have access to media, websites, users, customers, prospects, even competitors! What are they saying about the products and services that are available? What positions do the products or services occupy? What segments exist in the marketplace? What needs are not being met? What positions are unoccupied?
This analysis will provide the vital insight that you require to establish what your brand (or company) needs to adopt to make it unique. It will also help identify the associations or benefits that you need to convey what your audience most care about.
Additionally, your position should:
- Be clear
- Have consistency of theme and exposure
- Have a strong brand platform; is usually creative, cuts through the clutter and touches a nerve.
To develop your unique position you should also consider the following:
- List all the benefits that your target group care about. What are the really important two or three?
- Characterize your position (and those of your competitors). Bring it to life by describing your product or brand as if it were a person (or animal).
- Paint a picture of your audience. How do they perceive themselves? What do they need?
- What are the competencies of your company? What do you (or could you) do that your competitors don’t?
By now you’ll have collated a lot of information that you’ll need to summarise and distil to two or three ‘ideas’ that most closely identify with what your audience care about, is consistent with your competencies and is sufficiently differentiated from your competitors.
Next you’re ready to produce a positioning statement and to identify the creative that will communicate your position to your target audience.
