March 29, 2024

Sales and Marketing Advice

How to create a powerful 'strategic positioning statement' (and why you need it)

Ron Stein | 9/17/2018

The goal of every business is to capture the target buyer’s attention with a compelling message that leads to revenue. The "cha ching!" of the cash register or the buzz of your smartphone with an online payment confirmation are sweet sounds indeed.

Sounds simple -- all you need is a differentiated and persuasive message to the grab market’s attention. Well, if it’s that simple, then why have you struggled to construct the perfect message that never seems to resonate with the people that count?

Fret no longer! Instead of pulling out your hair out, take a small step back before leaping forward with a unproven message.

The secret is to first create a strategic messaging foundation that firmly anchors your company’s exceptional position in the market. Your message will fall out of that and then you can use it to tactically deliver that message as you need it -- in sales pitches, on websites and in brochures, social marketing and online ads, to investors and industry analysts -- consistently in everything you do, online and offline.

The challenge for most of us is knowing where to start.

A unique value positioning statement will take a little time, yet it doesn’t have to be hard. The best part is that a unique value positioning statement is for internal consumption and will never be used in customer-facing activities. Well, not in its entirety anyway. So, it won’t have to be pretty. Just effective.

All you must do is list how your features make the buyer’s life better and what’s unique about the way your company does that. Identify the core qualities that make your business and offering special to breakout from the pack in a crowded market.

Creating a powerful strategic positioning statement is easy. Here’s the recipe and its ingredients for a crafting fabulous brand and product positioning that’s unique to your business.

Target Customer / Market: This is the largest group of suspects, prospects and customers who share a similar set of needs and values. This is not an invitation to list every possible market segment you can think of! For example, mid-sized North American call center companies specializing in technical support services.

Statement of Need / Opportunity: What is the target buyer’s pain and / or opportunity that they are hoping to pursue and achieve? Get into the specifics, making sure that your offering will solve the stated problem.

Market / Product / Service Category (AKA Frame of Reference): The way your brand, product, or service is classified with competitive brands as a frame of reference for consideration by the target audience. Don’t fall into the trap that you’ve created a brand-new market category. Humans need a set of criteria or stated values in relation to which measurements or judgments can be made.

Brand / Service / Product Name: The name of your company, institution, product, or service.

Primary Differentiation Factor (AKA Brand Promise): The one claim can you make about your brand that offers the advantage of being the only, first, or best choice. It is the most compelling (emotional / rational) benefit to your target customers that your brand can own relative to your competition.

Statement of Key Benefit based on Selection Criteria: The most important factor used by the target audience to evaluate their decision to choose your brand based on the one big benefit they are looking for and your brand, product, or service can provide.

Competing Alternative: A brand, product, or service cannot be positioned in isolation; it must be in relation to one or more competitors. You can name them by company or simply say, “unlike labor-intensive data entry software applications requiring intense training to learn.”

Reason to Believe: The credible rationale you’ll provide that the target audience should or will believe. This is the “proof” you can deliver results. For example, enables as much as 65% more prospects to be tracked and evaluated in half the time.

You're invited:

Ron Stein is giving a talk at USF in Tampa on the topic of "How to Get People to Buy From You Instead of Your Competition"

WHEN: Thursday, September 20, 2018 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM

WHERE: USF CONNECT (Oak View Room), 3802 Spectrum Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33620

COST: Free

More information, and to RSVP, click here.

The exact format can be flexible. Cover the above key components in a few sentences or a chart with these elements and you’re good to go. Remember, you won’t use this statement in your marketing and promotion, so don’t obsess with good grammar and lengthy sentences.

The unique value positioning statement has two purposes. One is to get people inside your company on the same page and excited about why your product or service is special, helping people attain something they want. The other is to perfect your messaging and sound bites to use in your marketing and promotion.

A unique value positioning statement is not about what you do, it is about shaping how your target audience perceives your brand or product. Specifically, the major difference your brand offers, that is both valuable and believable compared to competitive offerings.

Now go out and grab your market’s attention!

 

Ron Stein is founder of More Customers Academy, helping business leaders build strategic messaging and positioning that cuts through the competitive noise to grow revenue. Ron has developed his own highly successful 5-step Stand Out & Sell More approach to winning new customers as a result of his twenty-five years of business development, marketing, and selling experiences. He works with a range of businesses, from startups to large corporations across industries including technology and healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services and banking. Ron conducts workshops, leads company meetings, offers keynote talks, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or by email.

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