Position your brand as category leader
Position your brand as category leader
Don’t go a step further until you undergo this little visual exercise: Try to place yourself in 1945 in the cold waters off Normandie, France. The Germans have ceased the beach head and been there for months, planning to defend their position against attack. Oh, and they are well-entrenched and well-armed with bunkers strategically placed along the cliffs with high-caliber cannons and machine-gun turrets pointed toward the sea.
As we know from history, the invading forces were successful in defeating the Germans. However, the victory required a monumental effort and the allies paid a huge price in lost lives and equipment.
This visualization provides an analogy for the difficulty you will face if you position your brand in direct competition against an established brand or brands within an existing product category. In some cases, though, it is inevitable, depending upon the differentiation that is inherent in your product/service.
However, in most cases it is highly recommended for you to avoid this scenario if at all possible. Before you determine which best describes your current situation, read the following.
We suggest you approach brand positioning in this way:
1. Identify the key differentiator/s of your product/service. This can be done by listing the characteristics of your product in order of market value, known and/or perceived, then conducting a comparison to existing products. The differentiators are the valuable characteristics that do not overlap the competition.
2. Research your marketplace. Determine market pressures or common needs that the differentiators in your product address. For example, let’s say your product is unique software that provides optimal delivery scenarios and costs for deliveries that must occur within required timeframes to customers of an OEM product. Your differentiator could be stated as follows: Differentiator 1 – Our software will optimize delivery solutions based on various required delivery times and budgets.
3. Name your newly created market category. In the above scenario, you might have called the new category OEM Delivery Optimization Technology. You’ve just created shelf space in the grocery store! But, before sales and marketing can begin promoting and selling, a few steps need to be taken...
4. Develop your positioning statement/s. In order to provide sales training and create effective marketing communications, you will want to start with some messages that will communicate the differentiation of your product and promote the key benefits. To explain this process would require an entire article. You might want to employ a marketing firm to walk you through this process.
5. Publicize and Promote. This is where marketing communication will develop your web site, public relations initiatives, marketing materials, videos, sales training materials, trade show booth/s, using the positioning statement as the basis for all messaging.
6. Sales Training. Many marketing communication practitioners stop too early. Our firm operates under the premise that the sales force is one of marketing’s key providers of market intelligence, especially in the case of a new product/service launch. (see our article entitled "Right-handed sales, left-handed marketing" at resources.danskincreative.com)
If you stick to these steps, you will avoid the common pitfall of predetermined followership and have an opportunity to take the high ground – to stake the claim on your very own category – spending your time defending it against competitors, rather than trying to cease it from them. It’s a much better approach.
Position your brand as category leader - To learn more about this author, visit Mick Danskin's Website.
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So you have a new product or service and you are diligently researching to find out who is your competition and how are they marketing themselves. Stop!
Don’t go a step further until you undergo this little visual exercise: Try to place yourself in 1945 in the cold waters off Normandie, France. The Germans have ceased the beach head and been there for months, planning to defend their position against attack. Oh, and they are well-entrenched and well-armed with bunkers strategically placed along the cliffs with high-caliber cannons and machine-gun turrets pointed toward the sea.
As we know from history, the invading forces were successful in defeating the Germans. However, the victory required a monumental effort and the allies paid a huge price in lost lives and equipment.
This visualization provides an analogy for the difficulty you will face if you position your brand in direct competition against an established brand or brands within an existing product category. In some cases, though, it is inevitable, depending upon the differentiation that is inherent in your product/service.
However, in most cases it is highly recommended for you to avoid this scenario if at all possible. Before you determine which best describes your current situation, read the following.
We suggest you approach brand positioning in this way:
1. Identify the key differentiator/s of your product/service. This can be done by listing the characteristics of your product in order of market value, known and/or perceived, then conducting a comparison to existing products. The differentiators are the valuable characteristics that do not overlap the competition.
2. Research your marketplace. Determine market pressures or common needs that the differentiators in your product address. For example, let’s say your product is unique software that provides optimal delivery scenarios and costs for deliveries that must occur within required timeframes to customers of an OEM product. Your differentiator could be stated as follows: Differentiator 1 – Our software will optimize delivery solutions based on various required delivery times and budgets.
3. Name your newly created market category. In the above scenario, you might have called the new category OEM Delivery Optimization Technology. You’ve just created shelf space in the grocery store! But, before sales and marketing can begin promoting and selling, a few steps need to be taken...
4. Develop your positioning statement/s. In order to provide sales training and create effective marketing communications, you will want to start with some messages that will communicate the differentiation of your product and promote the key benefits. To explain this process would require an entire article. You might want to employ a marketing firm to walk you through this process.
5. Publicize and Promote. This is where marketing communication will develop your web site, public relations initiatives, marketing materials, videos, sales training materials, trade show booth/s, using the positioning statement as the basis for all messaging.
6. Sales Training. Many marketing communication practitioners stop too early. Our firm operates under the premise that the sales force is one of marketing’s key providers of market intelligence, especially in the case of a new product/service launch. (see our article entitled "Right-handed sales, left-handed marketing" at resources.danskincreative.com)
If you stick to these steps, you will avoid the common pitfall of predetermined followership and have an opportunity to take the high ground – to stake the claim on your very own category – spending your time defending it against competitors, rather than trying to cease it from them. It’s a much better approach.
Position your brand as category leader - To learn more about this author, visit Mick Danskin's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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