Obviously Awesome by April Dunford is an effective book on marketing positioning. It is short enough to be read in one sitting, makes a few points, and then it’s done. It’s a refreshing take on business books that compensate for a shortage of ideas with filler.
Quite a few ideas made it into my knowledge-base. Here are some of them:
What is Positioning?
Positioning is the act of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares a lot about.
Positioning = Context
Context enables people to figure out what’s important. Like context setting in the opening of a movie.
When customers encounter a product they have never seen before, they will look for contextual clues to help them figure out what it is, who it’s for, and why they should care. Taken together, the messaging, pricing, features, branding, partners, and customers create context and set the scene for the product.
Traditional Positioning is NOT Actionable
Al Ries, “the father of brand positioning”, in his book “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” describes the basic approach of positioning as not a process of creating something new and different, but a way of manipulating what’s already in the mind, to retie the connection that already exists.
“The goal is to position the product in the mind of the prospect.”
Al Ries
The traditional statement as described by Ries himself is:
FOR target buyers, your offering IS A market category WHICH PROVIDES competitor’s benefits UNLIKE primary competitor WHICH PROVIDES competitor’s benefits
The worst part of a positioning statement exercise is that it assumes you know the answers. And coming up with the answers is the challenging part.
The 5+ 1 Components of Effective Positioning
Competitive alternatives. What customers would do if your solution didn’t exist.
Unique attributes. The features and capabilities that you have and the alternatives lack.
Value (and proof). The benefit that those features enable customers.
Target market characteristics. The characteristics of a group of buyers that lead them to really care a lot about the value you deliver.
Market category. The market you describe yourself as being part of, to help customers understand your value.
Bonus - Relevant trends. Trends that your target customers understand and/or are interested in that can help make your product more relevant right now.
April proposes a 10 step process to design an effective positioning, but that’s beyond the point of this post.