7 reasons why your positioning is more important than ever

During tough times, companies often cut back on “non-essential” areas like marketing. This may have caused you to neglect an essential part of your business operations, your positioning. As a result, a clear thread in your activities is hard to find, and everyone tells a different (often undistinguished) story. It’s time for action!

2. Changing Customer Buying Process: The once clear buying process – “exploration at trade shows > initial conversations > shortlist > negotiation > sale” – is becoming outdated. The internet is now the primary source of information, and the role of trade shows and magazines is declining. Where do today’s customers get their information? What decision points are there? Chances are you’re only minimally present on these essential (often online) channels.

3. Differentiated Content Is More Important Than Ever: Being present on the right channels is important, but relevance is perhaps even more critical. What you say and how you say it constitute “content.” To answer these “what and how” questions, it’s essential to have a clear foundation in the form of positioning firmly in mind. When you think of a brand like Mercedes-Benz, what do you think of first? Probably brand values like quality and comfort. If that’s the case and the positioning emphasizes that, then in the content marketing strategy, it’s important to share content around those themes rather than, for example, sportiness. In short, a clear and distinctive positioning guides your content marketing and content strategy.

4. Your Competitor’s Positioning Is the Same! Take a look around in the market – how does your biggest competitor present itself? In the average market, there is often a homogenous group of companies that cite entrepreneurship, customer-centricity, and innovation as their primary sources of differentiation. When everyone tells the same story, how can the customer look beyond price? Positioning tells a remarkable and distinctive story about what truly sets your company apart. Do you know that story?

5. Average Colleagues Have No Feeling for Your Positioning: Ask a colleague from accounting, “Why are we unique in the market?” You’ll likely be a bit saddened by the answer, but whose fault is it really? The colleague would probably prefer to tell an interesting story at a party, but you need to help with that. Positioning is an engaging and, above all, human story that someone can recount the key parts of.

6. Customers Are Looking Ahead Again: Your customers, like the market, are on the move again, and what was “good enough” in recent years is no longer sufficient. There’s a good chance that your customers are now looking for a partner who fits their future (and not their past). Are you telling a story that makes it clear you can help them profit from this growth? An inspiring positioning that clearly states what you deliver builds trust with the customer.

7. Capitalizing on Growth: This last reason may be the most important. Now that markets and the economy are finally picking up, you need to prepare your organization or brand decisively for growth, starting with the basics: positioning. A future-proof positioning provides focus and motivation for you, colleagues, and customers alike, and it’s the first essential building block for future success.

What exactly positioning is, how it works, and how you can get started with it yourself, we explain in our comprehensive article on positioning. In that article, we provide a brief introduction to each topic and you can click through to detailed articles.

Do you know more reasons why positioning is more important than ever, or do you disagree with one of ours? Let us know through the comments, LinkedIn, Twitter, or contact us directly!