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January 11, 2012 By 9 Comments

Me-Too Positioning gets you Nowhere in B2B Marketing

The other day I was speaking with a prospective B2B software client who needed to better differentiate itself in its market. When I asked the President of the company to tell me what makes his product more special than the next provider, he referenced the following:

  • Our product is easy to install
  • We provide incredible service
  • Our product is available at a very competitive price point

My reply to this business leader was something you might expect. I told him that at least five of his top competitors can not only say the same thing, but they already are! Like the title of this article says, me-too brand positioning will get you nowhere, fast. Me-too brand positioning is not worth the paper it is printed on. Throw it out, forget about it and find a more distinguishing way to differentiate your business. One caveat, however: There are certain times when me-too messaging must be used to ensure a sales prospect that you have the same table stakes every other provider does. The key, however, is that if you must use me-too messaging; by no means hang your hat on it. Instead, use it as back-up messaging. You must put that repetitive positioning behind more substantial competitive positioning that will really set your business apart from the rest or your sales opportunities will surely fall flat.

This example, I’m afraid, is all too common today in business. Business leaders and even marketing personnel do not take the time to look at what the competition is saying about itself before developing and utilizing its brand messages. This is a dangerous path to take and one that usually leads to lost sales opportunities.

Every business, whether large or small, or new or established, has something it can hang its hat on in terms of distinguishing characteristics. It is critical to business success that you figure out what those things are and build your elevator pitch and key messages around those points. While each business is unique and will have its own differentiating areas, there are some trite statements and phrases to try your best to stay away from, because your competition is likely already using them, and they do very little to make you stand out. Some of these overused and really non-differentiating aspects include:

  • Best-of-breed solution
  • Easy to use (try to find a better way to say this such as intuitive navigation, e.g.)
  • Industry leading (you’ll note that this is hugely overused today!)
  • Increase performance (it’s better to specify what aspect of performance)
  • Improve efficiency (it’s better to specify what aspects are performed faster and with less resources)
  • Rock-solid (what does this even mean in terms of business value?) Why not say dependable or reliable and state the reason(s) why?

I must reiterate that there are select instances when some of these words must be used, but as a general rule they should be avoided at all costs.

Customers buy B2B goods and services based on specific aspects of price, service, features, reputation, reliability, interoperability, comprehensiveness and others areas. As a business owner and/or marketing professional, it is your job to figure out what unique aspects your business has/offers and build your company’s brand positioning around those points. This distinguishing messaging will help you stand above your competition and will go a long way in terms of strengthening your sales and marketing efforts.

File under: Branding, Business, Marketing
April 11, 2010 By

Don’t Run Someone Else’s Business

Have you ever really noticed how so many businesses follow the same model? Most of the fast food chains all have the same front counter setup including the display menu above the counter on the back wall. Electronic stores all have the same basic floor plan and grocery stores as well. If makes me ask the question who started each model and why is it that most entrepreneurs would rather follow than lead? I believe that they think – “If it works for McDonald’s, who am I to question it.”

What ever happened to innovation? Originality? Is there no value in leading any more?

There are a few bright spots. I was recently at an Apple store. The cash is along the back wall. The odd thing was there were no cash registers. On purchasing they email you your receipt. The layout is open and airy, and only their icon is on the marquis. I was at a local sushi restaurant, where you sat at your “spot” and the sushi came past you in a little boat and you take the plate you want. Very unusual, and different.

Two entirely different size operations but BOTH are leaders. When consumers are trying very hard to be discriminating about where they drop their dollars, wouldn’t you agree that it would be the better move to grab their attention with a unique approach rather than be another one of many? How much more will you have to spend in advertising to distinguish yourself after trying so hard to blend in? Differentiation isn’t a catch word it’s a game changer in every regard. Back to Apple, what if the iPad looked just like the Kindle, do you really think they would have sold 450,000 in the first week?

It’s time you ran your own business and let the competition bury themselves in someone else’s.

File under: Featured
August 25, 2008 By

How To Power Position Your Brand!

Positioning your brand is probably one of the most important aspects of branding. It is the unique strategy that will introduce your target audience to exactly what it is that differentiates your product or service from your competitors. I am working with a number of companies right now developing exactly this.

It is absolutely fascinating what gems come out of discussions on positioning. At the outset, many companies are hard pressed to recognize a difference. All they see is the obvious. My strength is that I want to understand how the product or service is delivered, how is it made, what is the experience that surrounds the product or service? Several times the difference is not in the actual product but the delivery of the product or the follow-up. You have to look at the entire product cycle from conception to happy customer and beyond. There is an opportunity in there. You can count on it.

Compliances offer up positioning opportunities. Training offers up positioning opportunities. Frankly there is much to learn from every angle and nuance. For example, I worked with a consumer food product customer. They felt that their fruit product was much like all their competitors across the world. All were grown exactly the same way, with the same ingredients, under similar conditions using the same technologies and marketing and shipping conditions. I refused to believe that there was no opportunity and so I dug deeper into the industry standards. I wanted to know how one product is rated over another. What was intriguing was that the very standards for grading our produce was the opportunity for a very BIG aha moment. Here is the skinny on fruit standards. They are judged on 3 criteria – size, appearance and firmness.

Consider these criteria again: size – appearance – firmness. Is anything missing? I suggested there was and it was huge.

Taste.

You see, taste isn’t a criteria. That is left up to the individual. I suggested that there must be at least a minimum standard that a good sample must taste like. With watermelon, it’s the sweetness – a lemon, its tarty characteristic. Everyone agreed that we were on to something.

Once this particular fruit standard for taste was established, we then contracted the two leading agricultural universities in Canada and the United States to independently develop processes that tested for taste based on the bar we set. While other competing fruit have may won taste competitions judged by consumers, we now have established a definitive test for taste not unlike the the test for size, appearance and firmness. The processes were legally protected and are now proprietary to us.

We were now the ONLY fruit tested for taste!

Our fruit’s taste was now a guaranteed standard of quality NOT based on differing opinions, but on quantitative data. The bar had been raised.

A very compelling difference. This my friends is positioning. In this case the customer had to change how it did business and in doing so, introduced a new standard to their industry. This is not the work of a follower, but a leader.

Positioning can be very powerful if you are savvy enough to recognize the opportunity and bold enough to implement it. The real gems are far beyond the obvious. Look all around the edges of your product or service.

One other small example I will tantilize you with involves a current customer who has a software product. He is in a saturated market where all developers (including them) use one simple digital tool as the basis for determining solutions inherent to the software. If they carry out one small alteration I am suggesting to this simple tool they will instantly make that common tool the achiles heel for every competitor they have – over night.

This is no small boast. When I suggested it, the customer saw the potential immediately. So simple.

Currently the tool has no real value to the software only to say that it has to be there. Much like a car has to have tires to move smoothly over a road – they are important, but they are a given in every model and simply not seen as important or influential enough to warrant a mention in the marketing of a car. This simple tool is such a animal. We are not complete on this yet, so I can’t mention specifics.

My tease is to inspire you look deep into the soul of your product or service and develop a positioning strategy that goes way beyond fancy advertising slogans and resonates with target audiences, by eliminating pain points (defined in a previous article) and making customers want to work with you. A great positioning strategy will excite you, your company and ultimately lead customers to love you.

Are you up to the challenge?

File under: Featured