Why Your Positioning Sucks And How to Fix it (w/ April Dunford)

Summary

In this video, April highlights the crucial role of positioning in marketing. She explains how strong positioning is essential for success, and how marketers must not only execute well but also influence the company's positioning decisions. Through her personal experiences, she emphasizes the need to identify competitive alternatives, unique capabilities, customer segmentation, and market category to build effective positioning. April also shares insights on the common pitfalls in positioning and stresses the importance of understanding competitors, even unconventional ones like 'no decision' scenarios, to improve market effectiveness and drive sales.

Takeaways

• 😀 Weak positioning can undermine even the best marketing execution, leading to poor results. It's essential to address positioning to make your marketing strategy successful.
• 😀 Even if it's not directly your job, if you recognize weak positioning, it's your responsibility to push for it to be fixed. Strong positioning is key to executing successful marketing.
• 😀 Early in her career, the speaker believed execution alone was enough. However, she soon realized that marketing without strong positioning is a waste of effort.
• 😀 The first company the speaker worked at had great positioning, which led to excellent marketing results, but the second company struggled with poor positioning despite strong execution.
• 😀 Marketing is about more than just polishing a bad product. If the foundation (positioning) is weak, no amount of marketing can fix it.
• 😀 To succeed in marketing, especially if you're aiming for higher roles (like VP Marketing or CMO), you need to focus on the bigger picture and ensure the positioning is strong.
• 😀 Traditional marketing schools teach positioning through a formulaic approach, but it’s not always clear how to apply it, especially when selecting the right market category.
• 😀 The speaker’s epiphany came from learning about competitive alternatives, realizing that understanding what your competitors offer and what customers need is critical for effective positioning.
• 😀 Positioning has five critical components: competitive alternatives, unique features, value, customer segmentation, and market category. All must align for effective positioning.
• 😀 Starting with competitive alternatives ensures your positioning is differentiated and relevant. It’s essential to know what customers would do if your product didn’t exist.
• 😀 A common mistake in positioning is misidentifying competitors. Many times, deals are lost not to direct competitors but to internal solutions like Excel or manual processes.

Q & A

Why is positioning important in marketing?

Positioning is critical because it defines how a product is perceived in the market relative to its competitors. A strong positioning ensures that the product stands out and addresses customer needs in a unique way, which is essential for driving sales and building a successful brand.

What are the challenges faced when positioning a product?

The challenges arise when the product's positioning is weak, and marketing teams struggle to differentiate it from competitors. Additionally, it can be difficult to identify the best market category, target audience, and value proposition that resonate with customers.

What role do marketers play in positioning, even if it’s not explicitly part of their job?

Marketers should still take responsibility for positioning because, without strong positioning, even excellent tactical execution will not yield results. If positioning is weak, marketing efforts will just polish suboptimal products, limiting the potential for success.

How did the speaker approach positioning in their early career?

Initially, the speaker focused on execution, believing that the key to success was delivering perfect content and marketing strategies. However, they later realized that without strong positioning, even great marketing wouldn't produce meaningful results.

What is the 'positioning statement' that marketers often use, and why might it be inadequate?

A positioning statement is a structured formula used to define a product’s positioning. However, it can be inadequate because it oversimplifies the process and doesn’t account for the complexities of competitive alternatives, customer needs, and the value proposition.

What five key components are necessary for defining effective positioning?

The five key components are: 1) Competitive alternatives, 2) Unique attributes or features, 3) Value (what the product can do for customers), 4) Customer segmentation (target audience), and 5) Market category (the context in which the product is positioned).

Why is it difficult to define product positioning in isolation?

Defining product positioning is difficult because each component of positioning is interconnected. For instance, the value a product delivers depends on its unique capabilities, and customer segmentation depends on the value that resonates with target customers. All components need to align to ensure effective positioning.

What was the speaker’s approach to solving positioning challenges over the years?

The speaker initially attempted to break down positioning into its components and test various iterations in the market. Over time, they learned the importance of starting with competitive alternatives and using them as the foundation for developing a differentiated value proposition.

How does starting with competitive alternatives improve positioning?

Starting with competitive alternatives ensures that the product is positioned against real competitors and fills a gap in the market. It helps marketers define the product’s unique value, as it must be better than the alternatives to win customer interest and sales.

What common mistake do companies make when identifying competitive alternatives?

A common mistake is failing to recognize 'no decision' as a competitor. In B2B, many deals are lost to inaction or internal manual processes, which are significant competitors. If companies don't address these, their product positioning won’t be strong enough to drive action in the market.