#47: Why do marketers suck at positioning? With April Dunford

Summary

In this episode of 'Nudge to Consumer Psychology Podcast', host Phil Agnew explores the common pitfalls in marketing positioning with positioning specialist April Dunford. They discuss why marketers often fail to effectively communicate a product's unique value, using the miso soup analogy to illustrate the importance of context in perception. Dunford emphasizes that positioning is not just about messaging or branding but is foundational to all marketing efforts, defining the competitive alternative, differentiating value, target audience, and market category. The episode highlights the necessity of clear positioning for successful marketing strategies.

Takeaways

• 📌 Positioning is a misunderstood concept in marketing, often confused with messaging, taglines, vision, or branding.
• 📚 Rory Sutherland's book 'Alchemy' uses the miso soup analogy to illustrate how positioning can dramatically change product perception.
• 🎯 April Dunford emphasizes that positioning is not just about branding or outcomes but is fundamental to all marketing efforts.
• 🔑 Positioning is defined as how an offering is uniquely qualified to deliver value to a well-defined set of customers, including the competitive alternative, differentiation, value, target audience, and market category.
• 💡 Context setting is crucial in positioning; it provides consumers with the necessary background to quickly understand what an offer is and its value.
• 🎬 The opening scene of a movie analogy is used to explain the importance of context in positioning, setting the stage for understanding the rest of the story or marketing message.
• 🚫 Without proper positioning, marketing and sales efforts can be misdirected, with teams spending time undoing incorrect assumptions rather than highlighting unique value.
• 🎻 The story of Joshua Bell playing in a subway demonstrates how context can drastically affect perception and value, even for something as universally recognized as music.
• 🔄 Marketers often struggle with positioning due to a focus on tactics and a lack of perceived control over target markets or product definitions.
• 🛑 April Dunford's experience shows that without clear positioning, even the best marketing tactics can fail, leading to 'polishing poo' rather than creating value.
• 🛠️ Effective positioning is foundational to successful marketing, and marketers must ensure it is addressed before moving on to tactics and campaigns.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the podcast episode?

The main topic of the podcast episode is the importance of positioning in marketing and why marketers often struggle with it.

Who is the host of the podcast?

Phil Agnew is the host of the podcast.

What is the example used in the podcast to illustrate the importance of positioning?

The example used is Rory Sutherland's hypothetical scenario involving miso soup, which demonstrates how positioning can change our perception of a product.

Who is April Dunford and what is her role in the podcast?

April Dunford is a positioning specialist and a globally recognized expert in positioning and market strategy. She is invited on the show to discuss the confusion surrounding positioning and to provide insights on effective positioning.

What is the definition of positioning according to the podcast?

Positioning defines how your offering is uniquely qualified to deliver some kind of value that a well-defined set of customers cares a lot about.

What are the five key elements included in the definition of positioning mentioned in the podcast?

The five key elements are the competitive alternative, the differentiation in capabilities, the differentiated value, the ideal customer profile or target audience, and the market category or the market you intend to win.

What is the concept of 'context setting' in positioning as discussed in the podcast?

Context setting in positioning refers to providing the necessary context for customers to quickly understand what the product or service is, its value, and what to expect from it, similar to the opening scene of a movie setting the scene for the story.

Why is context setting important in marketing according to the podcast?

Context setting is important because it helps customers quickly understand the product or service, its value, and how it's different from competitors, which in turn reduces the need for extensive marketing efforts to explain these aspects.

What is the example of Joshua Bell used in the podcast to illustrate the impact of context on perception?

The example of Joshua Bell, a world-famous violinist, playing in a subway station instead of a concert hall shows how changing the context can significantly affect the perception and reception of the same performance.

What is the 'status quo bias' mentioned by April Dunford in the podcast?

Status quo bias is the resistance to change something because it has always been done a certain way, which can hinder the recognition and rectification of poor positioning.

Why do marketers struggle with positioning according to April Dunford?

Marketers struggle with positioning because they tend to focus on tactics rather than the foundational aspects of marketing like positioning. They may also feel that defining the target market or the value proposition is not their job, leading to weak inputs and outputs in their marketing efforts.

What is the advice given by April Dunford for dealing with poor positioning?

April Dunford advises that marketers should not accept poor positioning and should drive efforts to fix it by working with the CEO, head of sales, and head of product, as it is a team sport and fixing positioning is crucial for the success of marketing tactics.

What is the 'Science of Marketing' course mentioned in the podcast?

The 'Science of Marketing' course is a new offering by the podcast host that aims to help listeners understand the science behind effective marketing, covering consumer psychology and its application in marketing strategies.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Positioning in Marketing

The podcast episode begins with an introduction to the concept of positioning in marketing. The host, Phil Agnew, discusses the common pitfalls of poor positioning, where companies promote irrelevant benefits or features. He uses an example from Rory Sutherland's book 'Alchemy' to illustrate how positioning can drastically change product perception. Phil then introduces April Dunford, a positioning specialist, who clarifies that positioning is often misunderstood and distinct from messaging, taglines, vision, or branding. April emphasizes the importance of positioning as a fundamental aspect of marketing strategy, defining it as the unique qualifications of an offering to deliver value to a specific customer set.

05:00

🎬 The Power of Context in Positioning

April Dunford explains the importance of context in positioning, comparing it to the opening scene of a movie that sets the stage for the viewer's understanding. She uses the analogy to describe how positioning provides the necessary context for consumers to quickly grasp what a product is and its value. Without proper context, consumers may misinterpret the product's purpose, pricing, and features. April also shares a real-world example of how changing the context, such as placing renowned violinist Joshua Bell in a subway station instead of a concert hall, can lead to a drastically different perception and outcome.

10:01

🔄 The Impact of Positioning on Marketing Assumptions

This section delves into how the context set by positioning influences the assumptions made by potential customers. April Dunford provides examples to show how different positioning contexts can lead to different sets of assumptions about a product, affecting its perceived competition, pricing, and features. She illustrates this with a hypothetical product that could be positioned as an 'email' tool or a 'chat' service, highlighting how these different contexts would lead to different customer expectations and marketing strategies.

15:02

🚀 Case Study: Loom's Unique Positioning Strategy

The script discusses Loom, a video recording service, as an example of effective positioning. Instead of focusing on the technical aspects of video recording, Loom positions itself as a replacement for meetings, thereby changing customer expectations. This unique positioning has led to significant growth and a large user base. The host also expresses confusion about why marketers often struggle with positioning despite their education and experience in the field.

20:02

🤔 Challenges Marketers Face with Positioning

April Dunford addresses the challenges marketers face with positioning, attributing it to a focus on tactics rather than strategic positioning. She explains that marketers often feel they have no control over the target market or product definition, leading to a lack of emphasis on positioning. April also discusses the 'status quo bias' and how the effects of positioning are not always clear, making it difficult to identify when positioning is the root cause of marketing struggles.

🛠 The Importance of Positioning in Marketing Success

The final paragraph emphasizes the foundational role of positioning in marketing success. April Dunford shares her personal experience, realizing that without strong positioning, all marketing efforts would be futile. She stresses the importance of addressing positioning before focusing on tactics and that the best marketers ensure positioning is correct before proceeding. The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to join the next episode, where the five components of effective positioning will be discussed.

Keywords

💡Positioning

Positioning, in the context of marketing, refers to the strategy a company uses to create a unique image or identity in the minds of its target consumers. It is fundamental to all marketing work, as it helps to define how a product or service is perceived in relation to its competitors. In the video, positioning is discussed as a misunderstood concept that, when done correctly, can dramatically influence consumer perception and market success, as illustrated by the miso soup analogy and the emphasis on its importance in setting customer expectations.

💡Marketers

Marketers are professionals who promote and sell products or services. The script discusses how marketers often struggle with positioning, which is crucial for effective marketing. The term is used to describe the individuals who are responsible for the positioning strategy and its execution, highlighting the challenges they face in understanding and applying the concept correctly.

💡Product Features

Product features are the characteristics or qualities of a product that make it distinct from others. The script mentions that marketers sometimes focus on promoting features that consumers may never use, which can be a result of poor positioning. The correct positioning can help marketers identify and emphasize the features that are truly valuable to their target audience.

💡Tagline

A tagline is a short, memorable phrase used to communicate a company's brand message or the value proposition of a product. In the video, it is clarified that a tagline is not the same as positioning, even though they are related. The script uses the term to highlight one of the common misconceptions about what positioning encompasses.

💡Value Proposition

The value proposition is a statement that communicates the unique value a product or service offers to customers. It is a key component of positioning, as it defines the benefits that are most important to the target audience. The script emphasizes the importance of understanding and articulating the value proposition as part of effective positioning.

💡Competitive Alternative

A competitive alternative refers to other products or services in the market that customers might consider instead of the one being marketed. The script discusses how positioning should define who the company's competitors are and how the company's offering is different from these alternatives.

💡Customer Perception

Customer perception is how customers interpret and understand a product or service based on the information provided to them. The video script uses the miso soup analogy to illustrate how positioning can change customer perception, affecting whether a product is accepted or rejected.

💡Context Setting

Context setting in marketing is about providing the necessary background or framework that helps customers understand what a product or service is and what it offers. April Dunford, the positioning specialist in the video, uses the analogy of a movie's opening scene to explain how positioning sets the context for understanding the rest of the marketing message.

💡Branding

Branding is the process of creating a unique name, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates a product or service from others. The script points out that while branding and positioning are related, they are not the same. Branding is an output of positioning, and it is crucial to have clear positioning before effective branding can occur.

💡Status Quo Bias

Status quo bias is a cognitive bias that refers to people's tendency to prefer the current state of affairs and resist change. In the context of the video, status quo bias can hinder marketers from challenging existing positioning strategies, even when they may not be effective.

💡Tactics

Tactics in marketing refer to the specific actions or strategies used to achieve marketing objectives. The script discusses how marketers often focus too much on tactics without first ensuring that the positioning is correct, which can lead to ineffective marketing efforts.

Highlights

The importance of positioning in marketing and how it can dramatically change the perception of products and services.

Positioning is a misunderstood concept, often confused with messaging, taglines, vision, or branding.

April Dunford's definition of positioning as a framework for understanding the unique value proposition for a well-defined customer set.

Positioning is not just an output of marketing but a fundamental component that influences all marketing strategies.

The analogy of positioning to the opening scene of a movie, setting the context for understanding the narrative.

The impact of positioning on how customers quickly understand and evaluate a product without needing extensive information.

The story of Joshua Bell and the importance of context in recognizing and valuing expertise.

Positioning as a tool to avoid misinterpretation of messaging, pricing, features, and branding.

April Dunford's experience with the challenges of positioning and the necessity of clear positioning for effective marketing.

The concept of 'status quo bias' and its influence on maintaining poor positioning due to sunk costs and resistance to change.

The difficulty in recognizing the effects of positioning on the success or failure of marketing efforts.

The importance of addressing positioning before focusing on tactics to avoid ineffective marketing campaigns.

April's advice on not accepting poor positioning and the need to fix it before proceeding with marketing strategies.

The upcoming discussion on the five components of effective positioning and how to create it within a company.

Introduction of the 'Science of Marketing' course and its aim to teach the principles of consumer psychology in marketing.

The example of Loom and how their unique positioning as a replacement for meetings changed customer expectations and needs.

The common struggle marketers face with positioning and the tendency to focus on tactics rather than foundational strategies.

Transcripts

[Music]

hello and welcome to nudge to consumer

psychology podcast i'm your host phil

agnew and in today's episode we look at

why marketers in general

are so bad at positioning

all of us know bad positioning when we

see it we hear companies talk about

benefits that customers couldn't care

less about and we read ads for products

that promote features that consumers

will never use there are hundreds of

examples of poor positioning that i

could have used to highlight this but

the one that really comes to mind is

from rory sutherland's book alchemy

in the book rory asks his readers to

imagine if miso soup didn't exist

now imagine if your daughter invented a

perfect tasting miso soup all by herself

one morning

if you were to try this miso soup

created by your daughter

you'd probably spit it out and you'd

tell her to stay clear of the spice draw

positioning dramatically changes how we

perceive products and services it

provides the context we need to

understand what the product is and what

to expect without positioning products

and services that we enjoy like miso

soup could completely fail

to help us understand all of this i've

invited positioning specialist april

dunford on the show

april is a globally recognized expert in

positioning and market strategy she has

launched 16 products to market across

her 25-year career as a vp of marketing

her book obviously awesome is one of the

best-selling books on positioning and a

must read for marketers

here's april kicking off by talking

about the confusion most marketers have

about positioning today

[Music]

sure well you know

positioning it is a really misunderstood

concept and when you think about it

that's kind of surprising because it's

not new it's been around since the 80s

and you would think that we would know

what it is but my experience is if i get

a room of senior product people or

senior marketing people together and i

say define positioning i get a dozen

different answers and

i think part of the confusion confusion

comes from the fact that positioning is

made up of a bunch of component piece

parts and we can talk a bit about that

but when i talk about positioning i

generally start by talking about what

positioning is not

and people are often surprised so i'll

say yeah positioning you know what it's

not the same thing as messaging it's not

the same thing as your tagline it's not

the same thing as your vision

it's not the same thing as your why

as a company

and my personal pet peeve is brand

positioning i get that one the most

they'll say yeah yeah positioning brand

positioning and i'll be like

you know there's branding and there's

positioning and those two things are

actually really really separate i think

that people confuse positioning with

things that you do with positioning

immediately once you have it

or outputs and positioning but you kind

of got to get positioning first to do

any of those things like how do i do

branding if i don't know who the

branding is for and what value you're

trying to embody

positioning isn't branding it's not

pricing it's not what you put on your

website as april says we're quick to

think of positioning as the outcomes

from our marketing but instead

positioning is fundamental to all our

marketing work

so what actually is positioning

my definition of positioning is um it

kind of goes like this so positioning

defines how your offering

is uniquely qualified

to deliver some kind of value

that a well-defined set of customers

cares a lot about now i wish i had a

more succinct way of defining it

because that's a bit of a mouthful but

i'm trying to capture five things in

that definition this positioning will

define who is your competitive

alternative is so who do you compete

with it defines

how you're different from those

competitors in terms of your

capabilities it defines what your

differentiated value is it defines who

exactly is this value important too so

what's your ideal customer profile or

who are you targeting and then the last

thing is your market category or you

know what market is it that you intend

to win positioning defines those five

things we can't do anything in marketing

and sales until we have a crisp

definition of those five things that's

what positioning is as april says

positioning defines how your offering is

uniquely qualified to deliver value that

a defined set of customers care a lot

about

in her book april talks about how great

positioning gives customers the context

they need to understand what you offer a

company with crisp and clear positioning

will help consumers quickly understand

the context around the product with this

context customers can glean little clues

to quickly determine what it is you

offer how much you should cost how

they'd used your tool without needing

lots of information

april calls this context setting i asked

her why it's so important this idea of

context setting

came to me like you know one of the

problems of being a positioning expert

is that nobody knows what positioning is

so you're this expert in this thing that

nobody really gets

so the first thing you got to do is kind

of explain it to people and make it

resonate and often i'm dealing with uh

you know i'm working with technical

founders that don't have a background in

marketing and so if i start yelling on

about segmentation or you know even

market category stuff their eyes glaze

over and they're like i don't you stop

giving me all your marketing mumbo jumbo

just tell me what it is i i used to have

lots of different analogies for

positioning but

i have a handful that i really like but

this idea of context setting i think

sort of explains it the best

the way i i like to explain it to ceos

is i'll be like

it's like the opening scene of a movie

so so it's so let's say you know you

walk into the movie theater you walk in

off the street you sit down lights go

down

opening scene happens

and if you notice this in american

movies almost every american movie

starts with a panning shot of the city

skyline so you'll be like ooh city

skyline oh golden gate bridge we're in

san francisco or it's like oh empire

state building we're in new york and

then it'll kind of zoom down into the

neighborhood and you'll get to see cars

and buildings so you'll get an idea of

what time frame it is you know or the

car is old or is it present day or is it

the future and then you'll start seeing

some character and you usually get a bit

of a feel for the lead character usually

in the opening few minutes so like the

example i always give is apocalypse now

like it starts with this

shot of the beach and it's all nice and

there's palm trees and the music's all

tinkly

and you're like oh this looks nice maybe

this is not apocalypse right now maybe

this apocalypse like half an hour now

from now and then all of a sudden the

music starts to get a little bit more

intense you get a little bit of like hey

is that dust maybe no it's smoke and

then the helicopter goes fly by and then

boom they set the beach on fire and

you're like oh yeah

here we are

in the middle of the war it is

apocalypse right now and then it

switches the scene switches to

martin sheen in his hotel room right so

he's in the hotel room

and and and we see that it's his

memories right so he's in the hotel room

and his hotel room looks like crap and

he's drinking and he's smoking and he's

clearly in distress and he walks over to

the window and he peeks out the blinds

and you get the first line of dialogue

in the movie which is his thoughts and

he says saigon i'm still only in

saigon

every time i think i'm gonna wake up

back in the jungle

so here we are we're two and a half

minutes into this movie and we know a

lot like we don't we know we we're we're

in the middle of the vietnam war we're

very specifically we're in saigon our

lead character has been there before and

he's got full-on ptsd and he's in

distress and we know how to feel about

this movie like this movie is not going

to be a laugh riot

you know and now we can settle in and

pay attention to the details of the

story because we can orient ourselves

and we can interpret everything else

that happens without having to say where

are we what's going on who's this

whatever

positioning does the same kind of thing

like it helps gets customers pointed in

the right direction and sort of oriented

so they can figure out what's

differentiating about you

this context setting is so vital because

without it all of your messaging pricing

features and branding will be

misinterpreted april gives a great

example of this misinterpretation in her

book she talks about joshua bell a world

famous american violinist joshua

regularly sells out concert halls where

tickets cost more than 300

a night his shows can easily generate

half a million dollars in revenue just

in an evening but researchers wanted to

see what would happen if you placed

joshua in a different context out of the

concert hall

for the test researchers asked joshua to

play the violin outside a busy subway

station in washington dc during the

morning commute

would joshua's brilliance stand out

or would this complete change in context

mean he went unnoticed

joshua bell performed for 45 minutes in

that time

1070 commuters passed by and of those

only 27 gave him money and only seven

paused to listen his total earnings for

this concert weren't half a million

though they were just 32

context matters

here's april giving an example of how

context can help or hinder your

marketing

so if i go in and i say hey i got this

product and it's email

and that's all i tell you like the

minute i say email you're like oh you

just made a whole bunch of assumptions

you're like who do i compete with gmail

what do i cost you're free

what features have you got you got a you

got a calendar you got an inbox you got

a spam filter right

but if i came in and said hey

i got this thing and it's chat

99

feature overlap like basically the same

product totally different set of

assumptions totally different context oh

chat oh well your chat that's different

right i don't have

spam filter i don't have a calendar

i

you know maybe it's free maybe it's not

completely different competitors

that shift in context it just shifts the

starting point

this is how positioning works if i come

in and i do a good job

of setting this context

then i just save marketing and sales a

lot of work like i don't have to tell

you who my competitor is it's assumed i

don't have to list every single feature

half that stuff is table stakes i could

probably take a guess at the pricing and

a whole bunch of stuff right so

everything's easy i i kind of get it

yeah now just tell me the special stuff

about you because i get what you are now

i just need to know the differentiating

stuff but

unfortunately it works the same if we

mess it up so if we do a bad job and we

position the product in a context where

it sets off a set of assumptions about

my product that aren't true

now i got marketing and sales having to

do an awful lot of work

saying

undoing the damage your positioning is

already done

like so you know i use that example

specifically because once i work with

this company and they describe

themselves as email for lawyers and so

everybody just assumed they compete with

gmail and everybody just assumed they're

free and everybody just assumed they had

a calendar and they didn't have any of

that stuff

and what they really were

what was really special about them was

they had this kind of secret sauce

feature that was that would that allowed

the lawyers to collaborate with their

clients and so it was really about

collaboration so if they reposition

themselves as team collaboration

well although all the assumptions are

different it's like

don't you don't compete with gmail and

yeah we're gonna pay money for that

because we pay money for slack and you

probably compete with slack and your

team collaboration for lawyers so i

expect you to have some fancy

collaboration stuff oh gee that's

exactly what you got

so

this is what this positioning needs to

do it needs to kind of just orient you

in the right direction so that you're

not spending the entire sales call or

marketing tactic or whatever saying no

no we're not that no no no not no stop

thinking that no word

not that either

before you actually get to the good

stuff it's like when you're halfway

there already and now you can just focus

on the stuff that makes you different

and better

[Music]

just last week i announced the launch of

the science of marketing course and i

couldn't be happier with the response

heaps of you have got in touch to join

the waiting list and get access so thank

you i can't wait to hear what you think

the course is built to help every nudge

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highlighting how consumer psychology can

be used to improve your marketing

whether you work at a one person startup

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check it out access is completely free

but the waiting list is getting quite

long so don't hesitate to sign up today

click the link in the show notes or head

to

scienceofmarketing.teachable.com to sign

up

[Music]

when it comes to setting context with

positioning one company i admire is loom

loom is a video recording service that

lets you record videos of yourself and

of your screen to quickly share with

colleagues now conventional marketing

wisdom would say that loom is a video

recording tool

so you might expect them to highlight

all the things that a good video

recording tool needs

things like video quality the amount of

storage or the audio options you'd

expect them to compete with quicktime

and you might think they should be

available without an internet connection

for example

but no

loom positioned themselves very

differently instead they position

themselves as a replacement for a

30-minute meeting that's their

competitor no competitor isn't quick

time

this subtle change in positioning

completely changes the expectations

suddenly buyers don't care about video

quality they just care about how easy it

is to share their videos

buyers don't need heaps of storage they

just need a comments feature to get

instant feedback on their presentation

and instead of needing different audio

options they just want a url that they

can instantly get after their video is

created so they can quickly send it and

share it with a colleague

loom now has over 1.2 million daily

active users in just two and a half

years since launching growth that

wouldn't have been possible without this

context setting

but loom

is a unique example unfortunately most

marketers really struggle with

positioning now this baffles me because

most marketers have spent years studying

positioning either on the job or at

university

so i asked april why do so many

marketers struggle

well you know i think we struggle with

positioning because we we tend to be

really really focused on tactics

and everybody wants us focused on

tactics you know like like people will

come up to you and say like give us the

facebook ads man why aren't we running

the facebook ads

you know and if you just surf around on

the internet all the articles and

everything else everybody's talking

about tactics and

how do we optimize tactics

uh and sometimes that's because the

marketing team

maybe doesn't have a lot of impact on

the inputs or they think they don't they

think this stuff is sort of a given

they're like well we're you know we just

you know my my boss or the ceo or the

founder came and said look this is this

is the target market this is the ideal

customer profile just make me some

marketing campaigns to go after that

and so we don't necessarily get this

idea that you know what if we've got

that wrong

all our tactics are going to suck

but we often don't feel like we have

control over that we're a bit like

people just want me to hack some growth

here man

and i don't get to decide what the

product is and who we're going after

necessarily um so i think that a lot of

times we get or at least the impression

i get from marketers is they're a bit

like you know this isn't my job like i

don't i don't get to decide that stuff

but

here's the reality i came to when i was

a vp marketing the reality i came to was

even if my ceo doesn't think that's my

job to decide who the target market is

and you know what market is it we intend

to win

if i don't get that right

then it means the inputs to all my stuff

are weak and the outputs are going to be

weak like in in programming we call this

garbage in garbage out if it's crap

going in it's just crap coming out the

other side so what what became clear to

me early in my career as a or at least

after my first couple senior jobs was

people might not think it's my job but i

can't do my job without this stuff being

clear

so i'm going to have to drive an effort

if i think positioning is weak i'm going

to have to drive an effort to fix it and

i'm going to have to do that by working

with the ceo working with the head of

sales working with the head of product

it's a team sport and so i don't

necessarily get to own making the

decisions but somebody's got to own

fixing this stuff because if it doesn't

get fixed

who who gets to blame me because my

tactics are failing

in her book april refers to this as the

status quo bias we all know this bias

it's the idea that we don't want to

change something because it has always

been that way perhaps your company has

always targeted a certain customer or

always talked about a certain feature

all that work creates sunk costs that

make it tough to challenge and change

another problem is that sometimes the

effects of bad or good positioning

aren't even obvious to us

on a day-to-day level it can be really

tough to determine if your work is

failing or succeeding due to positioning

here's april explaining an example of

why this is from earlier in her career

this is the way i thought about this

early in my career

after so i had this job and i was right

in marketing and and i was a hot shot

and everything i touched turned gold it

was awesome and part of it was we had

this

amazing crisp fancy positioning it was

so good

and and when your positioning is really

tight like that and you're the right

product at the right time everything you

touch feels like magic like stuff that

shouldn't work is working it's amazing

right and then i and then we got

acquired and i had to stick around for a

bit whatever then i pop out and i go to

the next one right so i'm still pretty

convinced i'm pretty hot stuff so i get

to the next job

and

you know the the ceos give me the pitch

about here's here's what we are and

here's who we compete with and here's

how we're different and this is the

value and whatever and i'm looking at it

going poof

that doesn't sound awesome but you know

what that's not my job to figure that

out my job is you give me whatever you

got i'm gonna apply my marketing super

genius to it and i'm gonna weave gold

out of that straw that's that's how i

saw my job

and what happened was you know next

thing you know three months later i'm up

nights and weekends i'm grinding out

stuff that should be working that isn't

working i'm killing myself my team's

killing themselves

you know and all we're doing

is polishing the poo that's all we're

doing it's like we got we got poo coming

in and we got slightly fancier poo

coming out the other end of this process

and that's it

and so

after months of doing this finally i'm

like you know what we can't like there

is no marketing genius

that can turn the lousy positioning into

something good

like

we got to have good stuff in order to

and it doesn't matter how great we are

at tactics it doesn't matter how smart

we are it doesn't matter how many years

experience we got or whatever if the

inputs are bad the outputs are bad and

so from that point forward i was like i

cannot continue to accept

poopy positioning like if the ceo comes

and says here's the thing april and i

look at it and say

nope not today

we're gonna have to fix this otherwise

i'm not gonna be able to do my stuff

you're not gonna be happy i'm not gonna

be happy nobody's gonna be happy so we

gotta fix this first before we go

downstream and fix the rest of it the

point here is that good positioning is

the bedrock behind good marketing with

it all of your marketing is elevated but

without it

all of your marketing will struggle

yet many marketers don't focus on

positioning rather than fix the root

problem we try different tactics we test

out different messaging we change the

advertising channel all to no avail as

april says the best marketers won't even

start working on tactics until they know

the positioning is right

so how can you create effective

positioning at your company well that is

a discussion for the next episode of

nudge so join us in two weeks for that

[Music]

thank you so much for listening today

april and i as i said will be back in

two weeks to tackle the five components

of effective positioning we'll talk

through april's work and give you the

tools you need to create positioning

that really resonates in the meantime

you can go and pick up a copy of april's

book obviously awesome by clicking the

link in the show notes you can also make

sure that you don't miss the next

episode by hitting subscribe on your

podcast player or by signing up to the

nudge email mailing list by going to

nudgepodcast.com or by clicking the link

in the show notes

that's all from me today if you have any

questions about today's show please do

get in touch with me you can reach me on

nudgepod

gmail.com i respond to every email on

there so please do get in touch and

remember to tune in next fortnight to

april's brilliant framework to create

great positioning at your company thanks

for listening

[Music]