Much has been written about formal positioning statements, what they are for, what they should contain and how to write them. Yet despite this, I am consistently amazed at the number of products that are launched and marketed without a positioning statement ever being thought of.
Now in many respects, the wording of the statement itself is of little consequence – it is merely a tool used to help with branding and guide marketing communications efforts and should never be released to the general public. However, such statements are an invaluable tool to align the sales, marketing, support and product development teams and can save hours of discussion during messaging and content review processes.
A good positioning statement makes it clear whom the customer is and what the problem is they need to solve.
A great positioning statement also captures information about the product or service offering, the key benefit(s), competitive forces and products and the key differentiator(s) in a clear, concise and useable manner.
Positioning statements should be purely factual and devoid of emotion, superlatives, and aspiration. And they should never be grandiose.
“No amount of optimistic positioning and grandstanding can overcome the deficits of a poor product.”
While capturing all this information is great to help inform those creating content about the product / service, perhaps the most powerful aspect of creating a positioning statement is bringing together a cross-functional team to develop the statement.
The most successful discussions I have been involved with pulled all those together that would be in charge of creating / reviewing content – with representatives from product management, product development, sales and marketing all present and contributing.
To create truly insightful marketing programmes, all basic assumptions about the customer and their needs should be challenged during this process.
In the book “Crossing the Chasm”, Geoffrey Moore[1] recommends using the following format:
This format highlights the six key variables that need to be identified:
All customer segments should be listed with as much specific detail as possible. Customers are not markets, although they may work within specific markets. For example, engineers within the aerospace industry may use a product, but the aerospace industry is not ‘the customer’.
Once the customer segments have been described, customer personae can be developed and any differences highlighted.
Clear definition of who your customers are is critical, as it will enable you to determine who your customers are not, and therefore highlight exactly which needs you need to serve.
Customer needs are by definition inherent to the customer, not the product. A need cannot be fabricated to justify a product. Even luxury items satisfy a need, even if that need is ‘merely’ to enhance one’s appearance or self-confidence.
In mature markets, the needs are often unexpressed and can be identified using market research techniques such as Hidden Needs Analysis[2].
The challenge here is to write a factual and honest description of the product without using hyperbole. It should be devoid of superlatives, emotion and aspiration.
While this may seem simple, novel offerings provide the opportunity to define new product categories and assume leadership in a ‘blue ocean’[3]. This can demand as much creativity as designing the product in the first place.
The benefit is the product’s answer to the need and should be written through the eyes of the customer. This does not mean technical specifications or product attributes, although benefits may contain a technical component.
Benefits that resonate with audiences eclipse product specifications and focus on how a customer’s work / life will be improved.
You may believe there are many potential benefits to using a product, but it is advised you either stick to a single benefit, or else combine the multiple benefits into a single meaningful benefits statement.
While it may be tempting to simply list direct competitors within a category, a wider view of competition is needed here. A detailed examination of all the ways that your customers fulfil the needs expressed in Part 2 is required for this part of the positioning statement if it is to provide true value (even if some of those solutions only partially fulfil those needs).
From that list, the true competitors will be easily identifiable based upon the customer personae developed in Part 1.
Every product needs to exhibit some element of ‘uniqueness’ to justify its existence. If product teams want to avoid using price as a differentiator then either the product needs to be different, or it needs to be delivered differently. Such differences may range from product packaging and delivery mechanisms to service and support – or even the fundamental business model.
Most technical needs arise from human motivations and tapping into these motivations is critical if a customer is to be motivated enough to delve into the technical complexities of any offering.
In order to create messaging that provides customers with this motivation, positioning statements should avoid product features and specifications.
As marketers, we must be mindful of the fact that our customers are people, and that they will only buy our products if our message resonates with them. Those messages must avoid the grandiose and, ultimately, must represent the truth. For, just as a poor positioning statements can negatively impact effective promotion, branding and, ultimately sales, no amount of optimistic positioning and grandstanding can overcome the deficits of a poor product.
Click below to access the Life Science Marketers Guide to Value Propositions.