Best practice case: powerful positioning Siemens through storytelling

A genuine story is many times more powerful than the hot air that forms the basis of marketing for many companies. Like a gorilla, they stand tall and try to impress the market with a lot of chest-beating, while nowadays everyone sees right through it. One company that has taken this to heart is Siemens. On both the Dutch and international sites, this multinational shares stories in which they are not central but only play an (important) supporting role. In this article, we discuss the positioning of Siemens and why their story-focused website greatly strengthens their positioning.

Siemens positions itself in the market as a pioneer. The company states that profound global changes demand a new standard. Siemens, as a pioneer, wants to define this standard. The sustainability of growth, not profitability, is therefore listed first in the strategy. Looking at the marketing, we see that it is fully aligned with the vision and strategy. Stories are central in all communication, stories that look at contemporary challenges and solutions to which Siemens has been able to contribute. Only at the end of the story do they explicitly mention what Siemens has to do with it.

Take, for example, the story of the Palm Dome featured on Siemens’ international website. It is the story of an artist from the United Arab Emirates who created an installation symbolizing unity and the shared culture of the Sheikh. Only at the end of the story does it become clear what Siemens contributes: they supplied the climate system for the mosque where the artwork is located. The same communication style is used locally as well. The Dutch site, for example, features stories about shipping, water management, and Diergaarde Blijdorp.

Siemens positioning translated into marketing and communication

Siemens reinforces its social positioning – that of a world-improving pioneer – through very progressive marketing and communication. Siemens simply offers stakeholders stories and lets them decide if they feel at home with them. By being clear about the why behind these stories, it is also easier for viewers to share or talk about them. All in all, we consider Siemens a “best practice” example of how a company consistently translates its vision and strategy into behavior and messaging in marketing and communication. This leads to a stronger brand that contributes to the organization’s distinctiveness in the market, and who doesn’t want that?

Want to learn more about positioning and how to get started yourself? Read our page positioning and find, besides in-depth articles, dozens of examples and models for every possible positioning challenge.