April Dunford RocketWatcher.com

@aprildunford

Positioning for Advantage

I’ve Run Marketing For a Bunch of Startups

6: Startups 4: Exits 3: Big Co’s (because, exits) $2B: Exit value 10: Launches 0 - $2M: Budgets

The first problem I had to solve was always the same

Weak

Positioning

Life would be

easier if you’d just started on the

inside in the first place

Weak positioning is like Racing in the outside lane

A Brief History of Positioning

Coined by Ries &Trout in the late 70’s

The Product Era: Focus on Product Features & Benefits

The Image Era: Me-too Products could be sold with great brand image

The Positioning Era: In an Over-communicated world, you have to create a position in a prospect’s mind that takes into consideration both your strengths and weakness but also those of the competitive alternatives

Positioning: A Definition

Positioning describes how you are uniquely qualified to be a leader

at something that an identified market segment

cares a lot about

What Positioning Is NOT

A tag line Messaging

Brand A Vision Statement Value Proposition

(although these flow from positioning)

Crap I learned in marketing books: The Classic Positioning Statement

For <Target Market> who <Statement of Need>, the <Product Name> is a <Product Category> that <key benefit> unlike <competitive alternatives> our product <primary differentiation>

Hey let’s take this super important thing and turn it into the most awkward phrase

in the English language!!

Amazon.com circa 2001

“For world wide web users who enjoy books, Amazon.com is a retail bookseller that provides instant access to over 1.1

million books. Unlike traditional booksellers, amazon.com provides a

combination of extraordinary convenience, low prices and

comprehensive selection.”

Yeah, we can do better than this.

What is it As short as possible statement that describes what you are.

Target Segment The specific target market you are targeting in the short term

Market Category The market that you compete in

Competitive Alternatives If your customers don’t use you, what do they use

Key Benefit The biggest benefit that your target market derives from your offering

Primary Differentiation The one thing that sets you apart the most from the competitive alternatives

Product Name: Startup Positioning Template

RocketWatcher.com

Date:

Don’t Worry, there are still loads of ways to mess this up

Weak Positioning: Symptoms & Solutions

Symptom Potential Solution

What you are makes no sense

Test it on more prospects. Simplify the language, test it again

Your target segment is way too broad

Focus on who would be the easiest prospects to close in the next year. What it is about them that makes them easiest to sell to?

Your key benefit is weak What is the one thing that would motivate your prospects to buy?

Your key benefit is just an opinion

Do you have Proof? What proof could you have?

Your unique differentiator is weak (or not that unique)

What is the one thing that makes you different (hint: not price). Is it obvious to prospects? How would they describe it?

What is it Tulip Retail is an Omnichannel Platform that allows retailers to deliver consistent experiences across online, physical and mobile stores

Target Segment mid to large retailers that want to deliver Omnichannel solutions such as order online pickup in store, reserve online and others.

Market Category Omnichannel platforms

Competitive Alternatives Hybris/SAP, Oracle, or a set of solutions that included warehouse management, order management, POS and others.

Key Benefit The ability to quickly and easily deliver new retail experiences to customers

Primary Differentiation A “modern” platform designed from the ground up to support digital and mobile

Product Name: Tulip Retail Weak Positioning Example

RocketWatcher.com

Symptoms: Prospects didn’t get it, Competitors were large and strong, differentiation was weak

What is it A mobile platform for retail sales associates

Target Segment Large retailers with more than 100 physical stores

Market Category In-store retail platform for associates

Competitive Alternatives Point solutions for payments or clientelling

Key Benefit Put information in the hands of associates that they need to deliver better customer service and sell more

Primary Differentiation A platform that can support everything an associate does including payment, product info lookup, customer info lookup, etc.

Product Name: Tulip Retail Stronger Positioning

RocketWatcher.com

Advantages: Clear, Differentiated Value, weak competitors.

What is it A CRM Platform

Target Segment Mid to large sized companies

Market Category CRM Platforms

Competitive Alternatives Siebel, Microsoft (and other contact managers), various segment-specific CRM platforms

Key Benefit Our CRM would allow you to keep customer information consistent across various back-end systems for a more consistent experience for customers

Primary Differentiation Integration with back-end systems where customer data is also used Cheaper

Product Name: Janna Systems Weak Positioning Example 2

RocketWatcher.com

Symptoms: Too many competitors, weak differentiation, complicated benefits.

What is it CRM for Investment banks

Target Segment Large Investment banks

Market Category CRM platforms

Competitive Alternatives Siebel Systems

Key Benefit We allow investment bankers to track many to many relationships providing them to deeply mine their contacts to close new business

Primary Differentiation The Janna Hierarchy is the only CRM system that allows you to model many-many relationships

Product Name: Janna Systems Stronger Positioning Example 2

RocketWatcher.com

Advantages: Limited competition, Clear differentiation, Strong revenue-oriented value

April Dunford RocketWatcher.com @aprildunford Slideshare.net/aprildunford

Questions?