Totally unremarkable, 5 classic mistakes in positioning

Positioning is difficult, precisely because the best positionings are incredibly simple and obvious. The best positionings are so ‘logical’ that most people completely overlook them. Positioning dates back to the 1970s, and earlier we wrote about the 6 lessons from the book where it all began: Positioning, how to be seen and heard in the overcrowded marketplace. Because the do’s naturally cannot exist without the don’ts, we are happy to also share the 5 classic mistakes in positioning as we read them in the book.

1. We are better than the competition!
The prospect asks themselves only one question with such positioning: ‘Oh, then why aren’t you the market leader?’ In fact, you place the fault with the prospect, who doesn’t have that image of you at all, and whose fault is that really?

2. By trying to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one.
The well-known neither fish nor fowl, by not taking a clear position in the market it is impossible for customers to choose you. And in this age of social media and word-of-mouth, an even more painful consequence is: the customers you already have cannot possibly recommend you to their contacts.

3. Complex and confusing
Advertising is not a debate. It’s seduction. We are flooded with messages and ads, thousands per day, so tell people clearly what makes you unique.

4. Your people are not a USP
It sounds very good, ‘we are proud of the people who make our products’ or ‘people are our most important asset’. But the reality is that everyone expects the best people to work at the biggest, most successful companies. If you rank high on their ladder, people already assume your people are the best and find it strange that you have to say it. If they think less of you, how do you think they will react to this message?

5. Diversification is not a USP
A broad product line can be very profitable, but a positioning is never built on a broad product offering. Write down 10 major B2B brands and see what they are known for.

A good positioning requires the right balance between two things: How unique can we make the positioning, while there is still enough demand for our products or services? This differs per company, per product, per market, and often even per region, making positioning an enormously inspiring field. We gladly share a quote from marketing giant Philip Kotler from the foreword of the book:

“Marketing is not a static discipline. Marketing is a constantly changing discipline and positioning is one of those revolutionary changes that keeps the marketing field alive, interesting, exciting and fascinating.”

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