Positioning; relevance, awesomeness, or both?

“Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning, so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It” was recommended by a colleague on our climate-KIC programme. A book about positioning. On the climate-KIC programme alone, I have worked with hundreds of companies, and yes, positioning is an issue, as is the definition of the value proposition. Invariably, they go hand in hand.

Positioning is hard

Positioning is how you want to be perceived by the marketplace. Paul Hayes of Beach Hut PR talks about the five words you want to be associated with. For some companies, it is the memory hook. For others is the framing. Sometimes it is the pitch itself (Aliens was pitched as “Jaws on a spaceship”). It is very simple and, at the same time, very hard.

Different dimensions

Because not only are you positioning at the client level, you are also positioning at the investor level, you are positioning at the PR and media level, you are positioning at the recruitment level, you are positioning at the stakeholder level, and all these positions are different. For example, investors are investing in what your company will be in the future; customers are buying a solution to a problem they have right now.

Be different, be relevant