Five Components of Effective Positioning: An “Obviously Awesome” Book Summary – Part 2

By Sarah Threet, Advertising Guide at Heinz Advertising

On this weblog, I proceed to summarize April Dunford’s guide on positioning, “Clearly Superior: The way to Nail Product Positioning so Clients Get It, Purchase It, Love It”. For half certainly one of this guide abstract and learnings, please see my weblog written right here. 

The Flaws of the Conventional Positioning Assertion  

In case you have a advertising and/or enterprise diploma, greater than seemingly, you’re conscious of the standard positioning assertion template. For these unfamiliar, the template beneficial for drafting your positioning assertion, is as follows: 

“For [target buyers], [your offering] is a [market category], which offers [main benefits] not like [competitor] which offers [competitor’s benefits].” 

The aim of this positioning assertion template is to get us to consider how our product brings worth to our goal patrons, and the way it might differentiate from substitutes available in the market. It offers a few of the vital elements to get us conceptualizing our product’s worth to the market, however it’s flawed in that it assumes we’ve all the solutions we have to create a robust positioning assertion.  

• The template doesn’t present any clues as as to whether our positioning assertion is efficient and even correct, and whereas it captures our present pondering, it’s based mostly off of assumptions we’ve about our goal patrons that is probably not true! 
• The template reinforces a default mind-set about our product and offers no steerage as to pondering outdoors of the field and reframing our product as one thing apart from what could also be most blatant (ex. Take into consideration the “weight-reduction plan muffin” versus “paleo snack” within the earlier weblog abstract).  
• We not often come again to the positioning assertion template for our use in messaging. As a instrument or supply of reference, it’s usually solely used as soon as, and the positioning assertion ought to be an integral a part of advertising, messaging, and iteration.  
• Whereas there are just a few totally different common positioning assertion templates, they’re usually troublesome to recollect in construction and elements.  

The 5 (Plus One) Elements of Efficient Positioning: 

The positioning assertion template above continues to be in follow and schooling as a result of what it’s good at is itemizing the vital features wanted to speak our answer’s worth. However for the reason that assertion itself is clunky and troublesome to memorize, Dunford encourages us to concentrate on the elements that actually make the assertion highly effective: 

1. Aggressive Alternate options: What our target market would use/devour if our answer didn’t exist. 
2. Distinctive Attributes: The options and capabilities that our product/service has that options don’t.  
3. Worth (and Proof): The advantages of these options to our goal patrons and the way they tackle their ache level(s). 
4. Goal Market Traits: The attributes of a gaggle of patrons (together with their ache factors) that make them care concerning the worth of our answer.  
5. Market Class: The market we outline our answer as becoming to higher assist illustrate the worth to our goal patrons.  
6. Related Tendencies (Bonus): Tendencies that our target market might concentrate on/keen on that will have an effect on the way in which they view our answer, and what might assist or hinder our answer’s relevancy.  

Let’s talk about additional… 

Aggressive Alternate options 

Dunford reminds us that there are steadily many options to our answer that aren’t different merchandise/opponents per se, however fairly instruments which might be extra simply at their disposal: similar to hiring an intern or doing budgeting in a spreadsheet. In B2B, the aggressive various might even be budgetary and strategic priorities throughout the firm.  

Typically occasions, our goal patrons should not conscious of all potential options to their ache level (more durable even is that if they’re not conscious of their ache level or the foundation of its trigger). It’s additionally unlikely that they’ve heard of us, our opponents, or what, as Dunford wrote, “is cutting-edge” about our answer, as a result of they don’t have any foundation for comparability.  

It’s vital that we all know what our goal patrons evaluate our answer to in order that we all know how one can re-educate them and reframe our answer.  

Distinctive Attributes 

Distinctive attributes are the capabilities and options that make your answer distinctive by comparability to the options; they’re additionally referred to as “differentiators”. These could possibly be technical options, our supply mannequin, our enterprise mannequin, and/or experience. For Heinz Advertising, as consultants, we place ourselves by our mixed experience and expertise. 

Since there are seemingly a number of distinctive attributes to our answer, Dunford reminds us that it doesn’t matter what makes us totally different, once we are focusing on, we must be aware of THIS distinctive purchaser’s comparative answer, in order that we’re sure to speak probably the most related differentiator.  

Worth (and Proof) 

What makes our answer distinctive by comparability to the options must have demonstratable worth. Qualitative information solely will get us to this point (though good evaluations are all the time a profit); we’d like irrefutable information that has been collected by way of our personal answer’s efficiency and ideally backing from third events as effectively.  

Worth ought to all the time be as fact-based as attainable.  

Goal Market Traits 

Our answer might seemingly be one which brings worth to many individuals, nonetheless, we must be strategic about our advertising efforts. Our positioning wants to obviously determine who in our complete addressable market would get the MOST worth out of our answer; that’s who we concentrate on focusing on. These are the form of patrons who will purchase rapidly, with out low cost, and can champion our answer.  

Take into consideration all the answer’s distinctive traits: is there somebody who meets on the intersection of the place all these traits overlap? Get as particular as attainable when addressing who to focus on as a great buyer.  

Dunford’s instance is of IBM’s database. They have been focusing on any firm with a considerable amount of information, but it surely wasn’t simply that IBM’s database may retailer a considerable amount of information, however that it may additionally course of the info rapidly. They started occupied with who would need information processed rapidly and why, and that’s once they started focusing on banks, due to their want for safety.  

Market Class 

The market class is a body of reference in your target market; classes are shorthand for the way prospects might group options collectively. With so many options in market, it is rather overwhelming for the typical purchaser to shift by way of so many choices.  

Categorization aids in determination simplification, however we must be cautious about how we label our answer, as a result of framing any such manner presents a bevy of assumptions. These assumptions embrace how our answer features, pricing, our goal, and so on. If we select a market class correctly, then the categorization already aids in framing, and we don’t want to teach. In any other case, most of our advertising efforts could also be spent battling incorrect assumptions.  

Typically we find yourself within the unsuitable class as a result of who we constructed the answer for might not truly be one of the best viewers, and that’s why repositioning and taking an iterative method to your positioning assertion is vital.  

Related Tendencies (Bonus) 

When used rigorously, leveraging related developments can present further context to our goal patrons why our answer is efficacious – and why it’s one thing they need to take note of proper now. Tendencies are vital as a result of prospects wish to be within the know concerning the latest, hottest, most disruptive applied sciences and approaches. As entrepreneurs, we wish to first categorize our answer and THEN have a look at related developments in our business.  

I like that Dunford included this element in her guide and I believe it’s usually ignored. We get so engrossed in our product, service, answer, model that we turn into clouded by bias and we pigeonhole ourselves. The “weight-reduction plan muffin” versus “paleo snack” is an instance that may persist with me; sure, the muffin is suitable for these on a weight-reduction plan, however the relevancy is that folks don’t wish to consider themselves as being on a “weight-reduction plan”. “Food regimen” has a variety of adverse baggage; it has much less affiliation with “well being” and extra affiliation with unhealthy undereating. 

10 Step Positioning Course of 

In my subsequent weblog, I’ll summarize how Dunford recommends placing these 5+ elements collectively in her 10 Step Positioning Course of. Within the meantime, you possibly can start to suppose extra about your answer’s positioning by making a easy positioning card and brainstorming bullet factors beneath every element. There could also be ache factors that your answer addresses that you just haven’t but considered, and people ache factors might belong to focus on patrons you haven’t conceived of but both.