…Why it’s important to have one Before You Start Communicating….
One of the most profound statements made on the subject of positioning comes from Louis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” When Alice found herself at a fork in the road and totally confused, she asked the Cheshire Cat, “Which path should I take?” He replied, “Where do you want to go?” to which she responded, “I don’t really know!” His comeback was, “Then it really doesn’t matter which way you go, does it?”
So it is with the marketing communications campaigns of just too many companies. Without direction or focus, a business often appears to behave like a multi-headed creature…speaking from many mouths, saying nothing and going nowhere, and wondering why.
From a management perspective, positioning is the heartbeat of an effective communications plan. A well-crafted positioning statement will define your company’s direction. It will answer seven essential questions:
- who you are (the business)
- what business you’re in
- who are you in business for (what people do you serve)
- what’s needed by the market you serve
- against whom do you compete
- what’s different about your business, compared to your competition
- what unique benefit is derived from using your products or services
It’s surprising how few companies there are in which the management team is in total agreement on these basics, or for that matter, where the answers can even be found. You might call this the mission that enables the vision of the business to be fulfilled.
It’s important not to confuse a positioning statement with market position. As Harry Beckwith states so clearly in his book “Selling the Invisible,” “A position (or statement of position) is a cold-hearted, no-nonsense statement of how you are perceived in the minds of your prospects. A market position, by contrast, expresses how you wish to be perceived. It is the core message you want to deliver in every medium (you use).” Avoid confusing the two and remember that companies can’t position themselves as anything. It’s about what the market perceives them as standing for. Wishing it won’t make it so.
So, how can you get your communications program on the right path? By creating a clear, defensible, differentiated positioning statement and then supporting key messages to guide you and others along the way. In most organisations, this takes some introspection and consensus-building.
Making it Happen
The following is a process for developing your company’s communications direction (positioning statement) and path (key messages). The purpose of this is to create clarity, consistency, and continuity in the way the organization speaks to the market. This makes all forms of communications less complex and easier to manage. Getting there takes patience, discipline, negotiation, and above all, an “outside-in” perspective. Because of that, a coach, or a business planner, and possibly a marketing specialist working with the coach can be of value in managing the project.
The Right Information
It’s important that you have all the necessary information before you begin. Review the seven questions a positioning statement must answer. Many companies don’t share business and (or) marketing plans with their coaches and/or those responsible for their PR initiatives. Plead, demand, or beg, if you must, but get a copy of these valuable documents. The answers should/need to be there. If business plans don’t exist, you’ve got lots more work in store for you.
The Right People
Enlist the right people in your company…those who are most interested and involved in key company activities. Alert them to the need to participate in the positioning effort. These are typically the owner, the general manager, the controller, director of marketing, manager/supervisor of sales & customer service, etc. It’s essential that those in key communication roles participate in this process. You must get the “buy-in” from the entire management/supervisory team.
The Right Thinking
Before your initial planning discussion, you might consider investing in, and circulating copies of Trout and Reis’ book, “Positioning – The Battle for Your Mind” to everyone on your work team. It’s arguably the best original work on the subject, it’s a quick, inexpensive read and will help frame the team’s thinking about a very qualitative subject.
Next, outline the expected outcome and the benefits that communications consensus will bring, and circulate by e-mail, prior to the first meeting. The most immediate, tangible benefit is that time and money will be saved in developing communications tactics. The most strategically valuable benefit is the more effective communications that result from consistent, cohesive, and differentiated messages, which build market awareness and thus help achieve the company’s desired position.
Generate Ideas
In the first work session (it’s not just a meeting!) concentrate on uncovering issues, as well as competitive and internal differences of opinion. Get people talking and then discuss the seven key positioning questions, one at a time. Customer or prospect survey questionnaires can provide the outside-in perspective as well as realistic answers concerning the company’s present position. Also, be sure to examine and be aware of what key competitors are claiming about themselves.
An outside meeting facilitator should guide the discussion, listen, and gather information. A second listener/note-taker is valuable to capture all the important ideas that tend to come rushing out.
One of the most important aspects of the positioning statement exercise is that all those involved or affected truly see and hear each other’s ideas. It’s only through this face-to-face process that understanding and consensus can occur. Use marking pens and flip chart pads to make collecting and displaying ideas easier. Try ensuring that all manager’s ideas are recorded. Then, as pages fill up, tear them off and tape them to the wall for everyone to see and reflect upon during the exercise.
Challenge Their Thinking
Remind managers that the goal is uncovering direction by defining what is real, as well as management’s ideal vision. This includes your company’s and competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, competitive threats, opportunities (SWOT). What you are seeking is reasonable and compelling, not simply a position stated in a vacuum.
The hardest thing for most of us is to grasp is the concept of narrowing, rather than broadening a company’s focus. Trout and Reis’ book, “Law of Focus” is very clear on this subject. Differentiation is essential. If management can’t determine differences in the company, they need to look harder. Differentiating on price is usually a dead-end. There will always be someone willing to sell for less.
The desired result is a positioning statement and supporting messages that reflect your current business reality, and then begin to move the company toward its sought after, achievable, differentiated position. Remember, claiming to be “the leader” does not, in and of itself, make it so.
Playing it Back
When the team session is over, gather the ideas and use them to develop a summary, as well as a recommended positioning statement. The summary should focus on contrasts and similarities among the various ideas. Finding and incorporating competitive messages to illustrate available positions and claims is also helpful. Craft one or two positioning statements as well as a set of key messages (supporting statements) for consideration by the workgroup. “Wordsmith” all the collected perspectives and distribute them shortly before the second session. It’s important that everyone have ample time to review it and develop any necessary questions before encountering each other again as a group. Hopefully, participants will come prepared with constructive ideas and will be intent on reaching agreement and closure.
The second session should focus on refinement and agreement on only one positioning statement and a limited set of key messages. If management output has been unfiltered, then the proposed statements and messages should be close to the final product.
It’s essential at this point for the session leader (coach, facilitator or marketing manager) to drive the highest possible level of consensus and closure. Make careful note of agreements and modifications to the proposed statements and messages, again using the flip chart process. Ideally, the leader should publish the final “statement” soon after the session ends to prevent an endless loop of iterations, changes, additions, and, heaven forbid, more meetings.
Don’t put the final recommendation out as an e-mail message or you’ll enter a version control nightmare and perhaps never gain management team closure/consensus.
Now Alice, the Path is Clear
Finally, the company will begin to actively apply its new positioning statement to all communications (internal and external) – from marketing collateral to sales material, websites, to press releases. This means that if your corporate communications do not support the sought-after positioning, or do not include, reflect, address, or amplify the positioning statement and the key messages, then they are off strategy and thus not acceptable or desirable. Fair warning: getting your people to “dump or garbage” large inventories of sales, promotional, or collateral material isn’t easy. There are options. Options like changing only your high-profile materials first. This process could then be repeated as market conditions require…semi-annually is customary…not monthly or quarterly, until all materials reflect the latest positions.
Get the Word Out There
This should provide you with an idea of what’s needed to initiate an effective, position-driven communication program. Advertising or direct marketing personnel should also be valued and included in the process. Their involvement ensures that they will support and implement the positioning statement and key messages.
Then it’s up to your marketing, communications, public relations, and/or advertising people to guide and control the consistent use of the statement and key messages by all those who are in communicating roles. This will take considerable effort at the onset, but the pay-off is significantly better and more effective communication.
If you would like to take steps to implement any of these tips into your business strategy, Our Business Growth Specialist Tim Coleman will help you on your journey with an initial 1-2-1 coaching session.
