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Positioning Statements
Posted By: joe on 6/30/2004 10:36 AM (CST) 250 Points
i have an array of products in the product line which are very similar in basic function but with some differences which allow the consumer to 'fine tune' his/her selection. i want to write positioning statements for each, however they will sound quite similar. is this an acceptable marketing philosophy? i am really not a trained brand manager, i'm a product development guy struggling with this aspect of the job (no brand manager anymore). in any case, do all positioning statements start sound like this: "Only with the Corvette can you ride in style and at high speed"?

Posted by: kwinters* Accepted Answer
6/30/2004 10:55 AM (CST)
I think it really depends on the products...Nissan does this tactic in positioning their cars when they have the word shift on the screen then flash about 5 or 6 words after (I can't remember what they are, so that may be a testimony to it's effectiveness, oh, one is agility...) but it seems to work for them...they are doing what I consider a double brand, where they brand the word shift primarily and then secondarily brand the the other descriptors of the experience of their vehicle...so it is probably acceptable to some...
I personally think they can sound similar but be different and you will be ok, case in point above, however, it would help to know more about the statements and see them and read them for me to get a feel for how it would work...
No, not all positioning statements sound like anything in particular, that one does, others don't, depends on the statement and the point wanting to be made...
I think if you would think about the model that Nissan has used and go from there, you'll be ok, but you will never know until you have a finished set of statements that you can hear for yourself, then you will know if you like it...
however, whether the market likes it or understands it is another thing...do you have the capability of doing some tests with the statements to check them out with the consumers? If so, that is the best way to do it...come up with several differents sets of positioning statements and test them out and see what they say about them, just make sure your sample is pretty large to get as representative feedback as possible....hope this helps....
 
Posted by: joe Author Response
6/30/2004 11:08 AM (CST)
thanks.........i'll look into nissan's ways of doing this.
 
Posted by: Peter (henna gaijin) Accepted Answer
6/30/2004 11:21 AM (CST)
If the products are all similar, do you even need to position each one? You can do the brand positioning on the family only (the "Shift" Kevin talked about above), and then just use the product differences as the car level options. Sticking to the car example, Nissan Altima (in the U.S.) comes in 3 model versions, the Altima 2.5S, 3.5SE, and 3.5SL.

I think this is how many companies do it. Another example is laptop computers - IBM has the Thinkpad notebooks, Dell has their Inspiron notebooks, etc. Each company has a family which covers all notebooks that go to a segment (these are the ones for home/small office), and within each notebook family you get all sorts of processor speeds, memory levels, disk drives, etc. They brand the family only.
 
Posted by: JBtron Accepted Answer
6/30/2004 1:37 PM (CST)
Peter has stated what I was thinking when I first saw the question.

SUB-BRAND FAMILIES

Burger King has the BK Broiler and the Whopper. McDonald's has the Big Mac and the Quarter-Pounder. Nissan has Ultimas, Sentras, etc etc...

But POSITIONING STATEMENTS are meant to position against the market competitors.

Similar products won't have similar positioning statements UNLESS they're in the same Sub-Brand family.

IF this is your situation, then remember that positioning statements have to communicate the USPs (unique selling points) in as quick a manner as possible. The positioning statement in your question:

"Only with the Corvette can you ride in style and at high speed..."

is exceptional in that it speaks to the USPs immediately: high-style, speed. The words PUT you in a Corvette, and state that this is unique: “ONLY with the Corvette…”

So, take a close look at your products and HAVE FUN!

Hope this helps.

Best,

::JBtron
 
Posted by: gerardodada* Accepted Answer
6/30/2004 2:11 PM (CST)
Hello Joe,

If you can't clearly write why the products are different, your customers will REALLY be confused and could have such a hard time making a decision they may end up not buying at all.

This is why it is important to write down a positioning statement. If the products roughly solve the same need/problem to the same type of customer under the same circumstances, then you may need a positioning statement for the product line and a matrix that explains the differences between the products.

The positioning statement can help you question if you really need that kind of product selection, and once you have it nailed down, it helps the rest of your company, your sales team, and your customers, understand why should they choose one product or another.

Good luck!

Gerardo
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Accepted Answer
6/30/2004 5:09 PM (CST)
All good responses from above. I would only add to keep in mind a “position” is a place relative to competitor’s places. Your family of brands “place” will over ride any individual sub-brand place. Or think of your position as a solution (rather than a product). Your family of solutions probably have enough in common for a overarching position.

Here’s an excerpt from recent article:

Why is claiming and owning territory so important? The answer is in the inertia factor. Once a brand owns a place in the customers mind, it has the tendency to stay in that place. Competitive attacks for owned territory will have built-in disadvantages. Our minds are designed to hold on to what is familiar and already accepted. Conversely, we tend to reject competitive assertions as foreign and unwelcome. Those who remember playing the game "king of the hill" have experienced this phenomenon first hand. It's easier to defend the top of the hill. It's harder to knock off the defender of the hill. A hill can represent any marketing category. Mt. Everest is the highest mountain. K2 is the second highest mountain. The "king of the hill" principle applies to the marketer who owns K2 just as it does for the marketer who owns Mt. Everest. The marketer's task is to select a hill that matches what the brand can legitimately own in the marketplace.

http://www.schraff.com/adv/helpdesk/brand_is.php

hope this helps
 
Posted by: tjh Accepted Answer
7/1/2004 3:05 PM (CST)
Are the products truly different enough, each uniquely their own thing, that they deserved to be separately positioned or product-ized?

If not, the subfamilies, or simply a separate model # style might be the thing to do. Are they really simply the same product with additional or different features? You could position the different feature sets, but still keep them "in the family."

If they're truly each unique enough to deserve the separateness, then USPs, positioning, etc., will be in order.
 
Posted by: visualwords* Accepted Answer
7/7/2004 4:52 AM (CST)
Hi Joe,

this is my 2 cents. There's been some great response, but I'd like to add something more specific to marketing / packaging of drugs.

I think if you look around the off-the-shelf stuff we have today, you'll see that most products will tell you at least 2 things. Firstly, and this is required by law, the amount of active ingredient, and secondly, the target group.

I'm assuming that all your products have diff active ingredients, and NOT different dosage of the same compound. if thats the case, i think you may want to:

1) identify primary target group - the ones that stand to benefit most.
2) identify secondary group, the ones that can also benefit
3) in whatever way your product is different/special/unique, champion that in an understandable manner.
4) mode of action or delivery, if different from the rest in the class.
5) any particular reason why a product will work well for a target group (eg adults) and not for another (eg children)?
6) sit down with your technical specialists/ chemist or whoever, come up with a catalog of the above. see if there is significant overlap
7) ideally (as mentioned) you'd want to have specific product recognition, but at the same time promoting your whole range.

i'm no branding guru, but i find that this helped immensely when we were doing info packaging for a range of protein/peptide lines a few years back. I tried to be as general as possible, as i'm not sure what sort of products you are pushing. If you have more specifics, that may narrow down options.

regards,
kelvin keh
kelvin at visualwords dot com
 
Posted by: johncaccese Accepted Answer
7/16/2004 10:49 PM (CST)
I like to run my clients through an exercise that begins with a "Marketing Situation Analysis" and then we develop carefully worded answers to the following questions (in order from top to bottom):
1. Describe the product/service in no more than one short paragraph.
2. What pain does this product/service alleviate?
3. Who will use this product/service? What is my specific target market?
4. "Why do I, the customer, need a product/service like X?"
5. What is product/service X selling against in the marketplace?
6. What is the job that communications must do?

Once I know the answers to these questions, the proper product/service positioning and key selling messages practically identify themselves.
 
Posted by: Val (Moderator)* Moderator Response
7/18/2004 3:55 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question, since its more than 2 weeks old. We do this to make sure members' contributions are rewarded in a timely manner and to improve the visibility of newer questions. Thanks, so much, for participating!

Val (Moderator)
 


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