How do I construct a positioning statement?
| Answer: First, use your customers' most desired benefits as the basis of the positioning statement. A positioning statement has four parts: the name of the customer segment, the most important benefits to that segment, the primary competitors (however this is not that important), and the key reasons why you can provide the customer benefits better than the competition. The most difficult part about writing a positioning statement is identifying the key reasons for differentiation from competitors. This information, of course, comes from the company analysis. The question to ask is why can your company promise these benefits better than the competition? You can't just talk about any competencies or strengths, but rather only those strengths that directly relate to the benefits desired by the customer segment. This is the essence of finding a differential advantage over the competition. If you can't write a positioning statement, perhaps you don't have the competencies called for in the last part of the statement. Likewise, if a competitor could easily match this statement, maybe this isn't a segment you should be targeting. For a positioning statement template and more details on how to construct a positioning statement, see our tutorial on the subject. |
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