Go Ask Alice

One of fiction's finest marketing minds, The Cheshire Cat, once told Alice in Wonderland something all business owners and marketers should remember:

"If you don't care where you are going, it doesn't make a difference which path you take."

For businesses bent upon success, it does matter which path you take. A positioning statement helps you chart your path to success because it lets all your audiences - internal and external - know where your organization stands in the battle for your consumers' minds.

Positioning: What Is It?

You should not confuse a positioning statement with your market position. As Harry Beckwith states in his book Selling the Invisible, "A position is a cold-hearted, no-nonsense statement of how you are perceived in the minds of your prospects. A positioning statement, by contrast expresses how you wish to be perceived. It is the core message you want to deliver in every medium."

Your positioning statement will be found where three items intersect:

- your business acumen/aspirations
- your market
- what truly differentiates you

Of the three, it is your market which holds the key to your positioning. That doesn't mean that your acumen and aspirations are irrelevant. You must have a clear understanding and shared agreement on these at the management level in order to develop an effective positioning statement.

My approach to developing an effective positioning statement and an actionable marketing plan begins with gaining this understanding. Here's how we go about it, and you can too:

- interviews with management and employees to learn job responsibilities, current marketing practices, as well as to surface questions for customer interviews

- a review of appropriate primary and secondary research

- a series of one-on-one customer interviews

Customer interviews allow us to probe for information such as:

- how customers perceive your "product" and other products in the category. what the customer wants from the product category he is not now receiving. what is the primary customer benefit of your product

- how your customers currently position your brand. how customers perceive your competitors

- what media habits, lifestyles do customers share. what industries do they work in, what are their titles, what associations do they belong to

- how do customers want to be communicated with

Once all the information is in, you may develop a positioning statement that clearly says who you are, defines your audiences, indicates what markets you are targeting, and states what makes you different from your competitors.

Once this is done, everyone knows where they are going and then it's easy to find the right path.

About the author: Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.

---

How Will Your Visitors Remember You And Your Business? Brand Yourself From The Crowd...

Big and Yellow 'M' reminds you McDonalds... 'DELL' with oblique... Read More

Blonds Have More Fun!

In the book, The Blond Knight of Germany, American authors... Read More

Articles: The Perfect Branding Tool

If you own a web-based business, you're probably aware of... Read More

Optimize Your Mailing List For Better Results

A list of customers who have previously bought from you... Read More

Quality and Service - Yeah, Right!

One of the critical drivers of business success is having... Read More

How to Work with Your Graphic Designer

As a graphic designer, I can tell you something right... Read More

Brand Identity and the CEO

This week I spent a few hours with a highly... Read More

Brand Building 201: Finding The Ideal Way

The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an... Read More

What About Me? What You Need To Know About Me-Marketing

What about me? Are you asking yourself this question? If... Read More

Self-Marketing: The I Focus

Ever had one of those conversations where you wondered what... Read More

Eye On The Pie: Branding From an Investors P.O.V.

When building a business as a brand it's important to... Read More

Build Brand Identity Through Product Branding

Building a product into a brand leader is not easy,... Read More

Managing the Corporate Brand - a Reputation Perspective

Adored, respected and coveted by customers and organisations alike, corporate... Read More

Brand Awareness - Brand Identity

About once a month a few of us at the... Read More

Product Positioning for Enterprise Software and Information Technology Companies

Good marketing positioning is like good lying. No, we're not... Read More

Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design

Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should... Read More

Quick Tactics To Brand Your Business And Make More Sales

This may come as a surprise... to you, but Branding... Read More

Branding: You are the Brand

What's in a brand name? Everything! Think of these brands:... Read More

Could Ray Kroc have founded McDonalds in the Era of Sarbaines Oxley?

Over regulation of our free markets is stifling our growth... Read More

My First Year In Cyber Space

My first year as a Cyberpreneur was a steeplearning-curve. I... Read More

Don?t Overlook Your Email When Considering Your Brand Identity

You wouldn't skip letterhead when sending out a sales letter... Read More

Brilliant Branding Builds Business

Branding is more than product recognition or a simple logo.... Read More

Boston Brand Building - Brand Identity Guru

"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir... Read More

How To Create A Brand That Sticks

Most people, when they hear the word branding, think logos... Read More

Creative Branding Increases Sales Through Company Recognition

The one thing that everyone has in common is that... Read More

The Top 10 Strategies for the Positioning of Success

Many businesses of today are often driven to compete striclty... Read More

Branding Your Products Is Important

I was chatting with a couple of friends, all of... Read More

Build Customer Loyalty by Promoting Your Customers

Do you want to attract new customers while building greater... Read More

Value Proposition Writing - Brand Identity Guru

Your Value Proposition, or as I usually call it, your... Read More

The Very Basics of Design

Design is a very subjective thing, therefore, if you ask... Read More

Brand Equity Building - Measuring Brand Value

Measuring brand equity allows a company to establish a baseline... Read More

The Big-Pay Off -- Brand Value

Many CEOs and marketing directors find their time wasted evaluating... Read More

Shattering the Branding Myths

If you've been online long, you're sure to have seen... Read More