Positioning Your Startup is Vital — Here’s How to Nail It When Arielle Jackson started to develop the marketing and communications plan around Cover (the Android app quickly snapped up by Twitter), she brought a lot of firepower to the job. During her nearly nine years at Google, she managed product marketing for Gmail, Docs, Calendar and Voice. She then moved on to Square, where she led go-to-market plans for new hardware products like the Square Stand. At Cover, she put everything she learned to work to help make the product uniquely valuable. Today, she does the same as an advisor to multiple startups. What’s surprising for many people, she says, is that marketing is actually highly tactical. There are frameworks and distinct steps founders can take to define what their company is doing, why it’s important, and why — above all the noise — people should listen to them. In this exclusive interview, Jackson shares exercises entrepreneurs can use to nail their product positioning, develop the right assets (including a name that strikes the right chord), and make a stunning first impression on the market — whether they’re launching a new feature or an entire company. How to Position Your Business At its core, positioning is a statement. It’s a sentence or two that clearly defines the problem youre setting out to solve and why your solution is compelling. Your positioning statement should remain internal, but it’s critical to everything that follows: Aligning teams, hiring the right people, developing the best product, communicating the value of your work — the list goes on. It all starts with positioning. “You need to position your product in the mind of your user,” says Jackson. “And that requires taking your potential users into account, assessing the product’s strengths and weaknesses, and considering your competition. There are so many products out there, and people are busy. You have to know who you are.” Subscribe to get fresh insights in your inbox. “You cant be everything to everyone, but you can be something great for someone.” So what does a positioning statement look like? A lot of good advice is contained in the foundational marketing guide Positioning, Jackson recommends. But in particular, she cites a formula she learned from former Google Head of Marketing and Communications Christopher Escher when she was an associate product marketing manager: For (target customer) Who (statement of need or opportunity), (Product name) is a (product category) That (statement of key benefit). Unlike (competing alternative) (Product name)(statement of primary differentiation). Using this framework, you can explain your product or service in as plain of English as possible. This requires some pre-work. Answering the following questions can help you get to a concrete statement: What’s different about the way your product/service works? Why do you do what you do? What is your broadest circle of prospective customers? Start with something like “Android users” or “people without cars,” and then try to get more specific, ending up with a profile of an individual model user. What pain points are these customers experiencing? Be as clear and specific as possible. What emotions do customers associate with these pain points? What other companies solve similar problems? Don’t just list your competitors but also their strengths and weaknesses compared to what you’re doing. Avoid all buzzwords. If there’s one word that describes your positioning statement, it should be “human.” With these factors accounted for, positioning statements can be written for all kinds of companies. Amazon’s early positioning statement is a prime sample: For World Wide Web users Who enjoy books, Amazon is a retail bookseller That provides instant access to over 1.1 million books. Unlike traditional book retailers, Amazon provides a combination of extraordinary convenience, low prices and comprehensive selection. To give an example outside of technology, Harley-Davidson publicly shared their positioning statement: The only motorcycle manufacturer That makes big, loud motorcycles For macho guys (and “macho wannabes”) Mostly in the United States Who want to join a gang of cowboys In an era of decreasing personal freedom. As you can see, the format can be flexible as long as youve addressed the key components. The goal isn’t to use this statement verbatim in your marketing or advertising, but to get people inside the company excited and on the same page about why your idea is special and going to help people attain something they want. Some people mix up taglines and positioning statements, but taglines serve a much different purpose: Theyre externally-facing catch phrases or slogans that are in line with your positioning. As an example, one of Harleys taglines is: “American by birth. Rebel by choice.” It wraps up a lot of the same ideas in a neater, more concise package. “As a rule, it’s always an advantage to be first in your market, because you’re memorable. If you can be first and best that’s great — but that’s also really hard, and it’s okay if you’re not,” says Jackson. “Positioning statements help you create the right message for the right person at the right time.” This is especially relevant if you’re launching in a crowded space, or if there’s a clear incumbent. Having a strong positioning statement can differentiate you as a premium offering, or a discount offering, or as the perfect product for a certain segment of customers. NyQuil, as the book Positioning explains, succeeded by billing itself as a cough syrup to be used by cold-sufferers specifically at night.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 05:18:03 +0000
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