If you
have children like I do, there is a good chance you’ve seen Disney’s The
Incredibles 6,392 times, as I have. Confession: I quite enjoyed the movie… the first few times.
Even if
you don’t have children or haven’t seen the movie, there’s a short clip in the
film that teaches us, as marketers, a very important lesson about being, well,
incredible.
“Dash”,
the young boy in the film who has the superpower of speed, is frustrated by the
government’s order for the Superheroes to hide their powers. He implores his mother (“Elastigirl”) to let
him use even just a tiny amount of his power, and the exchange goes like this:
Dash: “But
Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of. Our powers made us special.”
Elastigirl: “Everyone’s special, Dash.”
Dash: “Which
is another way of saying no one is.”
In
that one simple sentence, he encapsulates one of the most complex challenges
marketers must embrace: being truly special.
In my
travels I have seen too many businesses that describe themselves (in one way or
another) as offering a great product that is competitively priced, with
exceptional customer service.
Congratulations,
you’re just like everyone else.
What
business that’s still in business can’t say the same thing?
And if everyone
is saying the same thing, that’s another way of saying no one is saying
anything (as Dash would surely point out to you).
As a
business, you need to be special in some way so that you stand out from the
crowd. As a marketer, you need to share
exactly what it is that makes you special to your audience in a way that
clearly differentiates you. Do that
well, and they’ll start listening.
By the
way, there’s another challenge with claiming that you offer a great product
that is competitively priced, with exceptional customer service: no one
will believe you.
Consumers
are smart enough to know that you can’t have a great product, priced well
with exceptional service. You can’t be all three at the same time. You have
to pick one. For example, if you’re
Rolex and you’re trying to sell a $30 watch, people won’t believe it’s a
Rolex. If you’re Walmart and you’re
selling $10,000 Rolexes, people will start wondering who made the mistake of
putting that product on a Walmart shelf.
BRAND
POSITIONING TO THE RESCUE
So, how
do you stand out from the crowd in a way that’s unique and believable? Effective brand positioning.
Your
brand is not your logo or your tagline or your spokesperson. Your brand is what people say about you when
you’re not in the room. It is the
collection of thoughts, impressions and opinions that people have about your
business that have built up over time based on their experience with you (as
well as the experience that other people have had with you, which they choose
to share with each other). And through
the power of social media and the prevalence of texting apps, those thoughts,
impressions and opinions are spreading fast. Your best hope is to craft a brand positioning statement that
people will hear and believe. And the
more meaningful it is to them, the greater impact it has on their thoughts,
impressions and opinions.
So what
is a brand positioning statement?
A brand
positioning statement is the concise answer to the following four questions:
- Who are you?
- What do you sell?
- Who buys it?
- Why should I buy it?
It’s
that fourth question that has the most impact. A good answer to that question creates value in the mind of the
customer, and you can’t sell anything to anyone without conveying its
value.
For
example, certain people buy Rolexes because they’re the finest quality
timepieces on the planet (or so their positioning statement claims). Certain people buy Honda automobiles because
they’re the most reliable vehicles on the planet (or so their positioning
statement claims). Certain people buy SodaStream
carbonated water appliances because they save the planet from plastic bottles
(or so their positioning statement claims).
The
theme that hopefully you’ve recognized by now is that to be valuable to your carefully
selected target audience, say something that is meaningful to them, simply,
then back it up with evidence and experience. Then, you have a compelling reason for your target audience to buy your
product.
THE
FINAL STEP: EVALUATION
Once you
have a brand positioning statement that concisely answers those four questions,
the final step is to determine if the statement is any good.
Evaluate
your brand positioning statement against the following traits:
- Simple: Can you make your claim in one short sentence?
- Compelling: Is what you’re claiming even important to your audience?
- Unique: If you’re claiming what other competitors are claiming, you lose the special-factor and it begins to lose meaning.
- Remarkable: Whatever you’re claiming, do it in a way that’s memorable. Make a claim that’s remarkable enough that people would want to talk about it. If your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, your claim has to be remarkable enough for people to want to share it in the first place.
If you
can give your positioning statement a high score against those criteria,
especially when comparing your statement to those of your competitors, you’re
well on your way to convincing your audience that you are a company that is
worthy of their time and consideration.
That you
are special.
That you
are incredible.