A lot of people don’t really understand positioning. They equate it with a “mission statement” like, “We are the highest quality and the most caring company in the food business, providing the best-tasting nutritious frozen meals and baby foods throughout the world.”
Mission statements are what the management and the board of directors think of themselves. Customers don’t care. Customers care what’s in it for them.
The positioning of a product or a company is what comes to people’s minds when they hear its brand name. That’s called the de facto positioning. It’s also called reality.
But what would management want people to say? That is their desired positioning. If there is a gap between the two? Then there’s an identity and a marketing problem.
The first step is to find out: what is our standing right now? How do people place us in their lives, versus other options? What are our assets and our baggage?
Then, what are we going to do about it? Think about your desired positioning. Imagine that you are groups of customers and prospects, two years from now. Focus Group moderators throw out this question:
“Think about (your name). What comes to mind?”
Put words in their mouths and thoughts in their minds. What are they? If they are different than today’s’ groups, what shall you do? Is it fixable? What must change?
Positioning is the key marketing ingredient. I’ll talk later about how to create a winning position and also about how to position yourself for failure!
George Lemmond
