Positioning Revisited

Charles Revlon once said: “I don’t sell lipstick, I sell hope.”

Reading my favorite staple marketing blogs, it seems that there is no lack of interest and articles regarding positioning, but most of them fail to address what I perceive to be the fundamentals.

1 – First of all choose your category, or more specifically, a frame of reference;

• A packaged goods example: Coca Cola can be perceived to belong to the ‘soft-drink’ category, in which Pepsi would be a competitor. Coca Cola could also belong to the ‘thirst-quenching drinks’ category, in which Snapple and Gatorade and tap water would be additional competitors.

As you can see, the choice of frame of reference is a choice of which market to compete in, and should be guided by determining:

a) The problem the product or products are proposed to solve

• E.g. people who buy power drills are actually in the market for holes. While conventional wisdom would put the power-drill in the ‘power tools’ category, think twice. Wouldn’t the ‘hole making’ category make more sense? Or does it belong to the ‘makes you feel handy’ category?

b) Which frame of reference the product likely to generate the greatest revenue? Consider competition, awareness, price point, etc.

When Charles Revlon said that he didn’t sell lipstick, but hope, do you think it had impact on positioning and marketing? You bet it did. Nobody sold just lipstick after that.

2 –Identify the norm

What are the points of parity for your ‘frame of reference’?

I.e. What minimum features or properties of the product(s) must exist in order for customers to perceive your product(s) or company as a legitimate and credible market offering?

• For example, a new car without airbags or a stereo would be sub-par/below norm compared to most cars. Likewise, customers might not perceive an Italian restaurant truly ‘Italian’ unless it is run by people with Italian origin or roots.

3 – Going beyond the norm

Once the point of parity has been determined, one needs to investigate how one’s product differs, or goes above and beyond parity on three levels:

Points of difference are identified as product performance associations, product imagery associations and consumer insights associations.

A) Product performance:
The ways in which a product or service attempts to meet customers’ functional needs.

• E.g. Benefits that prompt usage (“this product fits my needs because: …”)
• Benefits relating to reliability, durability and service
• Associations regarding service effectiveness, efficiency and empathy (personal relationship)
• Image and style associations (For example, the Jaguar automobile evokes associations of leather and rosewood; Starbucks evokes associations of coffee aromas, leather chairs, people reading, Harley Davidson evokes associations of chrome, leather jackets, noise, macho-lifestyle).

B) Product imagery:
Associations informed by experience.

· Own product usage or,

· Depictions of who uses the product and under what circumstances. (E.g. what kind of person would buy a Porsche? What person would buy an Apple laptop?)

C) Consumer insight:

• Reflect the extent to which the product, or the company offering the product, can show that they have insights into their customers’ problems or goals, and can make the case that they have the solution.

Thinks about these things first. Then start thinking about positioning. For example, start here.