Extraordinarily Successful Market Positioning
Giving Prospective Customers a Reason to Buy
By: Sherman Titens

When I first started writing about the subject of positioning, I visited Google and input “Positioning” in the search window. Back came 17,600,000 entries! When I narrowed the search to “Market Positioning” only 4,830,000 entries came back. But, when I entered “Successful Market Positioning,” 1,290,000 replies popped up. Finally, in response to an inquiry for “Extraordinarily Successful Market Positioning,” only 265 entries were returned.

While many organizations claim to use this marketing tool, few actually do. It is time that business managers embrace this fundamental principal of marketing to acquire new customers and keep the ones they already have. Let’s examine how a business, as well as not-for-profit organizations, can use the technique to achieve an extraordinarily successful result.

Let’s say your objective is to position your capabilities in the mind of the prospective customer to help create more than a sale, to create good feelings and to encourage the formation of a relationship with an emotional bond that will encourage the customer to engage you and/or to return for more.

Positioning helps build a unique place in the mind of the customer. In so doing, it overcomes several important environmental issues:

• Marketplace dynamics no longer allow the traditional approaches to work.
• Buyers today are savvier and have more knowledge available with the continuing growth of technology.
• Helps win the competitive battle of alternatives for your customer.

Think of a stepladder with your services or products on one of the rungs and every other competitive service and product with greater share on a different rung above you and every service and product with lesser market share on rungs below you. Positioning helps you move up the ladder without getting knocked off by any of the competitors. And, that is your goal É to get as high up the ladder and into your customer’s mind as possible. Let’s label that “Mindshare.”

To succeed with your positioning strategy to build Mindshare, you must work to understand the customer’s mind, that is: What do they want, what do they need and why? With positioning, you work to become “top of mind” (on the top rung of the ladder) when your customers make their choice. Being top of mind generates Mindshare.

Positioning helps give prospective customers the “reason to buy” or “reason to believe”, by adding a strong, compelling factor beyond the service itself. With thousands of messages in front of customers every day, it is not enough just to know who the competitors are. Market research can play a critical role in understanding your customer, establishing and implementing your positioning strategy.

You need your customers to come to know and understand why they should do business with you in terms that are relevant to them.

Today, your customers usually have several alternatives when thinking about your product or service in relation to others. Customers establish a mental hierarchy of values they want and need to use as a basis of comparison before a final decision is made. A clear position helps them choose you.

Mindshare is what you are after. Winning the customer’s mind is the central challenge. As Alvin Toffler has said, “Even when they appear identical, there are likely to be significant psychological differences between contending choices.” It is this battle of psychological differences that can best be won by successfully using the principles of positioning.

Positioning is essential in developing loyalty and acceptance. In a world where the customer has many options, positioning, which builds Mindshare, is one of the keys to establish and retain customer loyalty and acceptance.

Three positioning issues must be resolved. Taken together, they can be characterized as the “Key to Extraordinarily Successful Positioning.” Consider using tag lines to reinforce ideas or positioning statements to provide insight into the marketing strategy being employed or to provide an emotional component that takes the customer beyond functional attributes of your services or application software.

First, business positioning - How do you want your business to be perceived in the competitive market? For this, you may decide to develop and consistently communicate a positioning statement or theme, such as, “We bring good things to life.” (GE)

Second, market positioning - How do you achieve the perception that your product or service is the right one to choose? You need to understand the customers, their needs and requirements, and consistently communicate your ability to meet those needs. “When it absolutely has to be there overnight.” (FedEx)

Third, positioning strategy - You must clearly identify and communicate your strengths in the relevant terms of the customers. Customers want to deal with successful businesses, especially with those where a strong relationship has been or can be built, “When you care enough to send the very best.” (Hallmark)

Positioning is one of the five pillars of extraordinarily successful marketing along with Strategy, Differentiation, Branding and Marketing/Sales Communications. Positioning relates to placement on the customer’s mental map, in the context of all that customer’s known alternatives, to achieve the maximum Mindshare.

And, you need to establish your position from your customer’s point of view. Not what you think, but what they believe. You must know what rung on the marketing ladder you occupy today. Is it on the top rung or in the middle? And, where do you want to be tomorrow?

Let research help you understand where you are now and identify a persuasive, unoccupied position your organization can seize on a higher rung of the marketing ladder. And, commit to achieve extraordinarily successful positioning in your marketing program. The payoff is profitable growth and increased business success with a growing collection of loyal customers.

Sherman Titens is the Principal Consultant of The Titens Consulting Group.