You’ve created a solution that you just know your target audience will love. But there’s a yawning gap between developing a great product or service and convincing people to purchase it — especially if you’re working in a space already saturated by other solutions. And that’s when product positioning comes into play.
Context: What is Product Positioning?
Product positioning (also sometimes called market positioning or brand positioning in marketing) is about defining where your solution fits in the market and how it’s different (and better) than other options. Effective product positioning clearly demonstrates to your audience why your offering — and not your competitors’ — is worth investing in.
Recipe: Building a Product Positioning Strategy
Follow these simple steps to develop a market positioning strategy or find an agency that will get the job done right.
Ingredients (What You’ll Need)
Whether you’re preparing for a market positioning consultation or building a strategy in-house, here’s what you’ll need.
- A thorough understanding of your target audience (This usually comes in the form of buyer personas and ideal customer personas. If you haven’t developed these yet, start there first.)
- Knowledge of the market you’re entering, including your competitors (Use the market research you’ve already completed.)
- A complete, unbiased understanding of your solution, including features, benefits, price point, and limitations
Instructions (How To Do It)
As I mentioned above, you should already have resources like market and competitor research, buyer personas, and ICPs completed and ready to go at this stage. These are the building blocks on which you’ll develop your product positioning strategy. If you don’t have them, focus on them first. Do not pass go; do not collect $200.
1. Solution: What You’ve Got
Describe your product or service in the most basic terms possible — this is not the time for technical jargon or marketing buzzwords. Avoid discussing benefits or audiences. We’ll get to that. This step is entirely about the specifics of what your solution is and what it does.
2. Audience: Who It’s For
Using your ideal customer profiles and buyer personas, create a clear picture of your target audience. Who are they? What are their goals? Their challenges? What motivates them? What problems are they trying to solve in their current job role?
3. Benefits: What Your Solution Offers
With a clear vision of what your solution is and does and who you’re targeting, now you can start listing benefits. What do buyers gain from choosing your offering? How can they measure those gains? Why would they be willing to pay for your solution?
Pro Tip: A good rule of thumb for this step is to tie the value you offer to customer pains. Features that don’t solve a problem for your audience aren’t benefits, they’re just extras.
4. Competitors: What Else is Out There
Using the market research you’ve already completed, dig into the details of your competitors’ solutions using the same guidelines as in step 1 — no jargon or marketing speak, just what they offer and what it does.
5. Differentiators: Why You’re Better
Now we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of market positioning strategy. Line up your solution against the alternative on the market and list out what makes yours different. Does your product have features or benefits that others don’t? Is your price lower? Do you offer a better guarantee or customer support system? What is your customer promise?
6. Proof Points: Backing Up Your Case
It’s time to put your money where your mouth is — this is a stage of product positioning that too many marketers neglect. It’s great to say that your product is bigger, better, faster, or stronger, but if you can’t back that up with data, it’s all empty words.
Ready for a Market Positioning Consultation?
At TPM, we eat, sleep, and breathe product positioning — it’s what we were built on. If you need help developing a market positioning strategy, TPM is the agency for you. Contact us today to discuss your needs.
