I was speaking with a potential Fractional CMO client last week and it occurred to me that not everyone – especially not everyone engaged in starting a business – understands the critically important role that brand positioning and differentiation play in the success of a brand, regardless of whether it’s a product or service.
I thought it might help to explain things in overly-simplistic terms. Not because it’s difficult to understand – on the contrary, because it really is a simple concept. Of course, like many concepts, executing it is the hard part. But we’ll get to that later. So, without further ado, here is the simplified, easy-to-understand, nothing rocket-science-about-it guide to brand positioning and differentiation.
1. There are people in the world.
Told you this was going to be simplistic.
In the US alone, there are more than 348 million of us.
Moms over 50, divorced dads with three kids and two mortgages, business owners looking to hand over the reins, and fast-food clerks looking for a better way to get by.
As they say, it takes all kinds.
2. All People Have Problems.
Whether it’s lack of time, health issues, a broken A/C unit, or a lawn that needs mowing, we all have challenges in life.
They’re not all big huge things. But they’re things nevertheless, and they’re problems that need solving. Even if solving it is mowing the damn lawn yourself.
3. Products and Services Solve Those Problems.
Doctors, HVAC technicians, delivery services, divorce lawyers, mortgage brokers and landscapers exist as solutions to some of life’s problems.
Whatever business you’re in, it doesn’t just solve a problem. It solves many of them.
Do you know what problems your business solves? Maybe it’s not as simple as it first seems.
- A dating site solves loneliness.
- A coffee shop solves home internet outages.
- A lawn service solves the embarrassment of having an injured back and a bumper crop of dandelions.
4. Some Products and Services Solve Certain Problems Better than Others.
Podiatrists solve foot issues, surgeons perform knee replacements, and arborists trim your trees.
But when you’ve got plantar fasciitis, you don’t just want any podiatrist. You want one who specializes in your condition. One who solves your problem better than the other podiatrists in your area. So you start searching for plantar fasciitis specialists. Lo and behold, you find a podiatrist in your area who mentions your unique condition on her homepage, and has written many articles about her unique approach.
By specializing in your particular condition, or at least positioning herself that way, the podiatrist has positioned herself differently in your mind (as a specialist, not a generic podiatrist).
She didn’t focus on solving the generic problem, she solved a specific one better than her peers.
5. The Most Successful Products and Services Solve Problems in Meaningfully Different Ways.
The afore-mentioned Podiatrist solves your problem in a meaningfully different way.
The knee surgeon has all five-star reviews and is in your insurance network.
The arborist specializes in organic treatments that don’t leech into your well.
These professionals have all found ways to uniquely position themselves in ways that are both different and, importantly, meaningful. If you care about your kids not drinking poisoned well water, that arborist is meaningfully better than the others.
6. You Want to Be One of those Successful Products and Services.
If you’ve read this far, you should now appreciate the importance of solving problems in meaningfully different ways.
You want to be the de facto choice.
You want to be the specialist.
You want to answer someone’s problem better than anyone else in your field.
Maybe it’s your special technology.
Maybe it’s your commitment to service.
Or perhaps it’s your world-famous chicken fried steak recipe (hit me up if so!).
7. Differentiation and Positioning are How You Accomplish That Goal.
Differentiation is the active process of finding and promoting meaningfully different ways to build and deliver your product or service.
Positioning is the manner in which you “get credit” for that differentiation. Positioning is also a way to manufacture a meaningful difference in the mind of the consumer, in the absence of a real point of difference. You may have seen some Mad Men episodes talking about pre-empting (“toasted tobacco”) a commodity (a product with no point of difference from its competitors other than price).
Side note: Have you ever noticed how colas, perfumes, and fashion ads offer nothing of substance? Turns out if you have no meaningful differentiation or positioning, you’re stuck just trying to look cool. Now that’s an expensive strategy.
