The case for creating a positioning statement and how to do it

Posted by Jane Toohey on 2 March 2011 | 2 Comments

Tags: positioning, branding

A company's marketing communications program needs a focus, as without direction your material can end up either saying too little, too much or just being irrelevant, unheard by your target market.

Positioning is at the core of an effective communications plan. A positioning statement derived from a strategic process can guide your company's direction. But be clear that a positioning statement is different to your market position. A market position is a very straight up statement of how you are perceived in the minds of your prospects (usually gathered by an outside-in approach to target market research). It is influenced by actual behaviour, how the brand interacts with the market.

A positioning statement, by contrast expresses how you wish to be perceived. It is the core message you want to deliver, it’s how you want your target market to perceive you.  This can be expressed through marketing, but perception only changes through follow through behaviour and the right sort of commnunication.

Creating a clear, defensible, differentiated positioning statement and supporting key messages is absolutely key to an effective marketing communications program. So what are the steps to doing this?

1. Research the market

Do not skip this stage! Too often marketing plans are based on assumptions. You need to understand how the organisation is positioned now; you have to know where the baseline is. To get this you need an "outside-in" perspective.
You also need to understand what your key competitors are claiming about themselves, how are they positioning themselves and what is the niche in the market you have to the opportunity to own?

2. Encourage Creative Thinking

Hold a strategy workshop with all stakeholders. Uncover all the issues around the brand, the competition and internal differences of opinion that influence how a brand is spoken about. A senior strategy person should guide the discussion, that person must be an expert listener and understand how to draw out everyone’s input. One of the most important aspects of the positioning workshop is that all stakeholders see and hear each other's ideas. It is only though this face-to-face process that a common understanding is achieved.

The main question to pose is “what is it that the target market want, that no competitor is effectively delivering, that this company can promise with integrity”.

3. Challenge the Thinking

The goal is agreeing a direction by defining what is reality and then what is the ideal vision. Develop a SWOT analysis. Ensure that the target positioning is achievable (never over promise) and that there are significant compelling supportive key messages.
Differentiation through an effective positioning statement is essential. If the management team can’t define the USP (unique differentiator) they need to look harder, and remember, differentiating on price is usually a dead-end.
The desired result is a positioning statement and supporting messages that reflect today's reality and help move the company toward it's sought after, achievable, differentiated position. Remember, claiming to be "the leader" does not make it so.

4. Playing It Back

When the workshop is over, gather the notes and ideas and use them to develop a summary and recommended positioning statement. Write one or two positioning statements and a set of key messages (supporting statements) for consideration by the team.
Everyone should be encouraged to give constructive input and then agreement sought at management level.

The aim is to develop a positioning statement that everyone can align with.

5. Communicate the positioning

Finally, begin actively applying the new positioning statement to all communications (internal and external) - from marketing collateral to sales material, web sites to press releases.
This means that if communications do not support the new target positioning and key messages, they are off-strategy and need to change. Change highly exposed materials first, such as the website and corporate profile.

6. Evangelise the brand

Develop a marketing program that clearly and efficiently communicates the new positioning to the right target market. Use a range of tactics and mediums, and make sure you understand which mediums your target market prefer! Advertising, blogging, social networking, direct marketing - a mix is increasingly needed as diversity in communication preferences increases. Make sure your communication is in as many of the places that your target market presides as possible.

As communications professionals we need to guide and encourage the consistent use of the positioning statement and key messages by our clients. It takes discipline but the payoff is a brand with strong equity and a marketing campaign that works!