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Sat
04
Apr
2009
Some Homework on Positioning Statements
I've said it before, and I'm going to keep saying it. Positioning is critical. But what the heck is positioning really? Most importantly, positioning is about grabbing the attention of your audience so they want to learn more. So, know your audience! This means, your positioning statement, value proposition, elevator pitch, etc., may need to be slightly tweaked to resonate with different audiences such as customers, partners, investors, and employees to name a few. But what are the key ingredients of a positioning statement?
Here's some homework. I challenge you to work through this exercise. Be sure to place yourself in the shoes of your target customer to gain some perspective of how well your positioning may 'grab' the audience. At the end of the day, they need to know 'why' they should buy your product or 'why' they should do business with you.
By the way, don't expect to just be able to whip this up in a few minutes. I've spent hours and sometimes even days building, tweaking, and re-tweaking product value propositions. And remember, your opinion isn't nearly as relevant as your customer's. So try it out. Find out where it falls short and refine it as needed to really grab your target customer.
Answer the following questions:
- Who is the target customer?
- What need does the product fulfill, or opportunity does it create, in the opinion of the target customer?
- What is the product called?
- What product category would a typical prospect perceive the product to be in?
- What is the compelling reason that will motivate a typical prospect to buy the product?
- What solution would the typical prospect be most likely to consider as an alternative?
- What is the primary reason that the typical prospect would buy this product rather than an alternative?
Then fit the answers into the following template:
- For [target customer]
- who [statement of the need or opportunity]
- the [product name] is a [product category]
- that [statement of key benefit - i.e. the compelling reason to buy.]
- Unlike [primary competitive alternative]
- our product [statement of primary differentiation].
I'm not suggesting that this should be your statement or introduction in every circumstance word for word (although that may very well be the case in some situations). But you should recognize how this exercise forces you to think critically about your products and about your target customers (or other audiences) to ensure you hit the hot buttons when introducing yourself or your product. Does your statement produce a 'wow' factor? Use the material you generate during the exercise to guide your discussions. Sometimes you may use the entire statement as you wrote it. Other times you may reference pieces of it. Have fun.
4 Comments
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#1
Nice post Dean! Unfortunately I don't have time for homework these days.. Do you have any recommendations for ongoing testing / evaluation to manage the evolution of a positioning statement? In the lives of both new and mature products, marketers do not have complete control over their product positioning and as new unplanned uses of your products are discovered by your customers, in this case a company may want to adjust its position for these new opportunities.
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#2
Great point. Herein lies the responsibility of the Product Management function which ideally is positioned within the company as a customer advocate spending significant amount of time in a market and customer facing capacity. Understanding the nuances of how a customer derives value from a product should be a primary objective. Positioning alternatives should follow from that. One related idea is the formation of a Customer Advisory Council which is assembled periodically to share ideas with the product vendor and perhaps more importantly, consulted regularly by product management.
Some readers might think Sales is the primary conduit of customer-specific product information. I would challenge that suggesting Sales is definitely one of the primary information resources for product management, but that product management should ultimately be the primary customer advocate.
More information on customer advisory boards can be found here:
http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/topics/03/0305sj/?searchterm=customer%20advisory
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#3
Rob and Dean: These days many technology companies establish their positioning, ie. test the market, by developing customers WHILE they are developing their product. You develop an idea, and test it through simple methods like adwords. You'll find out very quickly if it resonates in the market.
cheers
Tony -
#4
Great Post. I'm actually going to go work on this "homework" right now. Sometimes the little things really help clarify where we are and where we're going and that's never a bad thing.
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