Why even good products can fail to win customers over
Good positioning clearly defines where your product stands in relation to other similar products in the market as well as how your customers perceive it. It highlights your USP and makes your customers feel that there is a clear added benefit to their lives by using your product.
In 2007, the Washington Post conducted an experiment in ‘context, perception, and priorities’. They placed Joshua Bell — one of the finest violinists in the world — in front of the busy Washington Metro Station. Outfitted in a baseball cap, a baggy t-shirt, and next to a couple of garbage cans, Joshua played his ‘life-changing’ music. The result? Out of the 1,070 people who walked past him, 7 stopped and took a look. He made $32.17; no different from the average busker.
A violinist par excellence, he failed to evoke interest because of where and how he was positioned. After all, Washington’s busy commuters aren’t rushing to the metro station to stop and look at an out-of-place stranger in regular clothes playing a violin. In fact, most of them thought he was just ‘some guy trying to make a buck’.
Positioning is about putting a product in context. It helps your customers understand in the blink of an eye why your product exists, how it serves them, and who its competitors are.
Where things go awry
It is easy to get carried away with the ‘how are you better than your competitor’ question when positioning your product. Instead of quickly communicating your product’s strengths, you tend to focus more on competitor-comparison and stop-gap marketing campaigns.
This robs your buyers of a chance to see your USP and throws a spanner in the works of your positioning, complicating it beyond your prospect’s understanding.
If your product doesn’t feel as awesome as it can as immediately as it can, your positioning is weak. It doesn’t give your product a place for itself in the market: it could be anything the customer wants it to be.
The fix
Relax: weak positioning is not an insurmountable problem. All it takes to fix is clarity. And you can have clarity once you identify where exactly the chinks in your armour are.
As the founder of ambient strategy and a globally acclaimed marketing consultant and positioning expert, April Dunford has worked with both startups and large organizations alike to help them position better. Here is a template she recommends for testing your positioning strategy for weakness:
Usually, weak positioning, like how it is shown in the template above, stems from two broad scenarios. Our upcoming post will help you understand what they are and how you can combat them.
Usually, weak positioning, like how it is shown in the template above, stems from two broad scenarios. Our upcoming post will help you understand what they are and how you can combat them.
In the meantime, if you suspect there is a chink in your positioning and want it looked at, feel free to reachus@deepredink.com.