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In today's information-driven
society, people are bombarded with messages from a wide variety
of sources. In this confusing environment, many businesses can't
get their messages heard, understood and remembered. As a
result, their products or services are overlooked or
misunderstood by prospective clients.
The process of developing a
clear and simple understanding of a brand or product has been
characterized by Al Reis and Jack Trout as establishing a
position in the minds of one's prospects.
"To succeed in our over
communicated society," they argue, "a company must create a
position in the prospect's mind, a position that takes into
consideration not only a company's own strengths and weaknesses,
but those of its competitors as well."
Three rules of effective
positioning come from a basic understanding of how people
screen, process and store information.
RULE 1
Your positioning message
should be unique in an important and/or novel way. If your
position is not unique, your product or business will generally
be thought of as a "me too" imitator of an existing competitor.
If this is the case, you should ask yourself "Why should a
prospect buy my product or patronize my business?"
Earlier this decade, Pepsi
tried to expand its market appeal by abandoning its long-held
slogan of "The Taste of a New Generation," which had built on
its position as a soft drink popular with the young and young at
heart. The slogan was changed to "Gotta Have It!" in a highly
publicized Super Bowl campaign. Unfortunately for Pepsi, Coke
had built an image as the category leader. (Its earlier campaign
had claimed "Coke Is It.") Pepsi's campaign was unsuccessful and
was subsequently changed to "Generation Next," which again built
on the brand's youth-oriented image.
RULE 2
Your positioning message
should be easy to understand. A message that is complex or
confusing will often be disregarded unless it is viewed as
important enough to justify the mental effort required to
understand it.
An ideal positioning message
can be summarized in a phrase or even a word. For example, when
you think of cavity prevention, you probably think of Crest.
Often businesses get tempted to fully explain what they do and
in the process they confuse prospective clients.
This seems to be a growing
problem in the telecommunications industry with the increase in
the types of options for communicating electronically ranging
from PCS phones to the Internet, not to mention the wide array
of calling plans.
RULE 3
Your positioning message
should be believable and not significantly inconsistent with
existing beliefs.
A company may find it very
tempting to break this rule when it's trying to expand its
market or reposition itself. A classic example is Levi-Strauss,
which had tried to expand its brand into more formal men's
clothing. In the process the company introduced Levi's Tailored
Classics and Levi's Action Slacks and Suits. They failed in
large part because Levi did not have the reputation for making
high-quality formal clothing.
But when Levi introduced
Dockers, which had a new brand name and only a moderately more
upscale image, the company achieved great success. Levi was able
to establish a separate but complementary position for Dockers,
which would have been difficult to achieve using only the Levi
brand name.
If the message readily makes
sense, it is simplified and categorized in our memories. If the
message is not compatible, it is often discounted or ignored. It
is very difficult to change people's minds once they have an
established perception or opinion.
Trying to be all things to
all people rarely works. Developing a unique, simple and
believable position in your clients and prospects' minds will
simplify their purchasing decisions. They'll often thank you for
it.
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