Many marketing programs in large technology companies flounder, marketing plans change directions, go around in circles and often the message is lost before it reaches the customer. Without focus, marketing teams at technology companies are always working hard but going nowhere. Defining your market position will create a clear, consistent and a continuous way your organization speaks to its market. This makes all forms of marketing communications less complex and easier to manage. But getting there takes patience, discipline, negotiation and above all an “outside-in” perspective.
Positioning is Important:
From a management perspective, positioning is the true center of an effective marketing plan. A well-crafted positioning statement defines your company’s direction and answers some essential questions:
1. Who are we?
2. What business we are in?
3. Whom do we serve?
4. What is needed by the market we serve?
5. Who are the competition?
6. What is unique in our business model?
7. What are the unique benefits our customers derive from our technology services?
It is not surprising to sit in on positioning meetings and find top management are not in total agreement to the answers to these questions. And that is the first signal of a bad market positioning.
Positioning Defined
A market position (or statement of position) is a no-nonsense statement of how a company is perceived in the minds of your customers, prospective customers, stakeholders and employees.
In truth, companies cannot declare a marketing position – it must be earned in the minds of the customers, potential customers and stakeholders. Marketing is simply a means to communicate and defend that market position. When I say marketing, I mean a mix of integrated marketing tools used to communicate the desired market position.
Developing the market position can be laborious. A successful result will require some consensus building. Here are some steps towards developing a long lasting marketing position.
The Right Information
To begin with, you must have the right information i.e., answers to the questions that a positioning statement must answer. If the firm does not have the answers to the above questions, then there is lots more work in store.
The Right Persons Involved
Get your top management buy in on the market position. The CEO, CFO, VPs and directors must all be in agreement to the market position. Next, gather comments and perceptions from employees who are in contact with customers (direct or indirect).
Challenge their thinking
Remind your associates that the goal is uncovering what is real as well as the firm’s ideal vision. This includes company and competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, competitive threats, opportunities (SWOT analysis). What is being sought are reasonable and compelling supports (key messages) for a position verses competitors (do not a position in a vacuum).
The hardest thing for many people to grasp is the concept of narrowing rather than broadening a company’s focus. Differentiation is essential. If your people can’t determine differences in the company, they need to look harder. Differentiating on price is usually a dead-end.
Generate More Feedback
Concentrate on uncovering issues, competitive and internal differences of opinion. Get people talking and discussing the key positioning questions. Consider customer or prospect survey questionnaires to provide the outside-in perspective and realistic answers about the company’s present position. Also be sure to examine and be aware of what key competitors are claiming about themselves.
One of the most important aspects of the positioning statement exercise is that all affected managers see and hear each other’s ideas. It is only through this face-to-face process that understanding and consensus occurs. Try ensuring that every manager’s ideas and thoughts are noted.
Make A Statement
The desired result is a positioning statement and supporting messages that reflect today’s reality and help move the company toward it’s sought after, achievable, differentiated position. Remember, claiming to be “the leader” does not make it so.
Once the information is collected from both internal and external sources, you can begin to explore a few different positioning statement that clearly represent your various feedback . Craft your positioning statements and a set of key supporting statements for consideration during the next round.
The second round of market positioning should focus on refinement and agreement on one positioning statement and a limited set of key messages. If management output has been unfiltered, then the proposed statements and messages should be close to the final statement.
It is essential that during the entire exercise, a mission leader drive the process towards consensus and closure. Make careful note of agreements and modifications to the proposed statements and messages.
Publish the final position statement soon after the exercise ends to prevent an endless loop of iterations, changes, additions and more meetings.
Educate and Reinforce The Message among Employees
Educate and train all the employees and management to think and act in accordance with the market position. Outline the expected outcome and the benefits that communications consensus will bring and circulate in an e-mail or memo to all those involved. The most understandable benefit is that time and money will be saved in developing communications tactics. The most strategically valuable benefit is more effective communications resulting from consistent, cohesive and differentiated messages building market awareness, thus helping achieve the company’s desired position.
Start Communicating
With a final clear positioning statement, you can actively apply the new positioning statement to all communications (internal and external) – from marketing collateral to sales material, Web sites to press releases. This means that if communications do not support the sought-after positioning or do not include, reflect, address or amplify the positioning statement and key messages, they are off strategy and are not acceptable.
Get The Word Out
Now it’s up to the marketing communications, public relations and advertising managers to guide and control the consistent use of the statement and key messages by all those who are communicating. That takes some more work. But the payoff is communications success.
