Positioning: Choosing to be the best

Positioning requires focus and focus requires making choices. Only when you make choices can you be the best at something. Think, for example, of Noma, the restaurant with chef René Redzepi at the helm. The restaurant that many consider the best restaurant in the world. Or Usain Bolt, the sprinter who has dominated the 100 and 200 meters for years and easily leaves the competition behind. It’s no coincidence he has been named IAAF Athlete of the Year five times! The best employer, the best oliebollen, and the best actress. We could go on like this for a long time.

Being the best pays off

The best restaurant is fully booked months, if not years, in advance, the best sprinter lands one lucrative contract after another, the best employer attracts the crème de la crème of available talent, and the seller of the best oliebollen faces long lines around New Year’s Eve. Being the best often pays off handsomely, but what do you have to do to become the best?

To be the best, you have to choose

Scandinavian top restaurant Noma chooses to serve only dishes with ingredients they can find “around the corner.” Fascinated by Japanese cuisine, they even decided to temporarily relocate the entire restaurant and nearly 80 staff members to Japan.

Usain Bolt was a promising cricketer in his youth. He enjoyed that more than running but ultimately chose the latter. Of course, to become the best at something, you have to be fully committed to the goal, put in many hours of practice, and have the necessary talent.

Positioning: What can we learn from these champions?

When developing a brand, you also have to make choices. What offer, which target group, which message? Not choosing often leads to a diffuse message, an incomprehensible offer, and a lack of (perceived) brand values. Clear choices also reduce distractions, as you no longer have to spend time on matters clearly outside your focus area.

But choosing is difficult!

True, when you choose, you immediately discard the rest. Positioning yourself in a certain way ensures that your desired target group understands you better, but everything outside that will feel less at home with your brand. Positioning is therefore exciting.

Yet, we can only think of positive examples. Examples where making a choice led to a stronger and more successful brand.

Think of IBM; around 2005, they dared to fully focus on the large corporate market. They sold their personal computer division to Lenovo, completely exiting the consumer market. They foresaw the fierce competition in the PC market, with brands like Compaq and Dell, and chose differently. Currently, IBM employs more than 350,000 people and is worth about 140 billion dollars. A bold choice, but it ensured IBM remains one of the most prominent IT companies in the world.

Brands that chose but were not successful?

Positioning is not easy, but if you really want to be very good at something, it proves necessary. Or do you know examples of brands that positioned themselves, focused on only one or a few product-market combinations, and were not successful? We’d love to hear them!