Taking a position
What does your company stand for? In other words, when your prospects and
customers think of your business in relation to your competitors, how would they
describe it? Are your products the fastest, the cheapest, or the best? Are they
safe? Soft? Sophisticated?
Navigation in this complex battleground is known as market positioning, and
it is one of the most important decisions that any business manager can make.
Positioning tells prospects who you are, and conveys a sense of what they can
expect from your products or services. It is what cues prospects to see how you
are relevant to their needs, and what sets you apart from your competitors.
Who needs positioning?
I once worked with a software company whose CEO told me that the market for
his products was too immature, and that prospects didn’t know enough about this
type of software for the company to have a position. What utter bunk! If there
is more than one company in the market, if customers have options from which to
choose, then there is a need for positioning.
Usually, the positioning statement is reduced to one or two sentences —
sometimes a single word — that captures the message a marketer wants to imprint
in the minds of customers and prospects. Think about any product category, and
the key positioning elements should be easy to spot. Which automobile
manufacturer comes to mind when you think of safety? Which provides exceptional
performance for genuine driving enthusiasts? Which credit card is accepted
virtually everywhere? Which is the cola of choice for the youthful, hip
generation?
You get the picture ... this is all positioning!
So how do you establish strong positioning? Here’s a key: your positioning
doesn’t come from you. You don’t choose the position you’re going to take, you
assess what positions exist in the segment’s mind and then determine which of
those you have the best chance of occupying and defending, based on your product
or service’s strengths and weaknesses. As one marketer has aptly explained it:
“The marketplace defines the positions, and you try to win one of them.”
There are four basic types of positions that you can adopt. These are:
- The "best" position
- The "against" position
- The "niche" position
- The "new" category
Let’s look at each one briefly.
The "best" position
In most categories, one product stands out above the rest. This is the one
that most customers in the segment would want, and the one that most competitors
secretly aspire to be. The “Best” position trades on this.
The quintessential example is Crest toothpaste. Since its introduction, it
has set itself up as the one at the top of the heap, and has steadfastly
supported this claim with testimonials and endorsements from key reference
groups. And the strategy has worked. After all, since four out of five dentists
recommend Crest, what else would you want to put on your teeth?
The "against" position
The “Against” position exists precisely because there is a widely-accepted
“Best” position. It establishes an aggressive “we are not like them” message
that defines itself versus the segment leader. It exploits the segment leader’s
weakness in a single key area, or supports a buyers’ sense of individualism.
Undoubtedly the best-known example of a company using the “Against” position
is Avis. Their long-running slogan, “We’re only #2. We try harder.” admits that
another brand dominates, but firmly suggests that customers might expect better
service from the number two option.
The "niche" position
The “Niche” position promotes the product along one dimension of superiority.
It uses a single desirable trait, and puts its entire weight behind that
element. This positioning technique has been used over and over again in the
laundry soap industry. A good example is All-Temperature Cheer. It’s not for
everyone, but those householders who appreciate the perceived simplicity and
time-saving convenience of an all-temperature detergent gravitate toward Cheer.
The new category
The New Category is just that. It defines a category that didn’t exist before
and then positions the product as the best in that new category. Competition
follows. Palm did this in the PDA market. Garmin did this for global positioning
systems. And Listerine did this with their innovative dissolving breath mint
strips.
There is no “right” or “wrong” positioning for any product or service. Some
are better than others at connecting with target audiences. Also, in any market,
a position may or may not be available to you. For example, at this point, it
would be pretty hard to unseat Intel from the “Best” position in the
microprocessor industry. However, at the end of the day, what we as marketers
think is irrelevant. What matters is what our prospects and customers think.
They decide where we fit into their perception of the world, and they vote with
their wallets either to elect us to one of the top spots, or reduce us to one of
history’s “also-rans.”
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