Before launching a new product or service, it’s important to develop a positioning statement, which forms the basis for the marketing plan.
The positioning statement is one of the most important elements in a marketing plan because it identifies your market, explains the unique benefit of your product or service, and gives facts that support that benefit.
Put another way, your positioning statement “positions” your product or service in relation to its competition, and describes what you want your market to think about your product or service.
A typical format for a positioning statement is: “For (insert market), (insert company or product name) is the (insert explanation of how your product or service meets a need better than its competition). We do this by (insert two or three proof points that back up the benefit statement).”
Let’s assume a fictional company, GrowFast, GrowTall, has developed an orange tree that can be grown indoors. Apartment dwellers are a major target market.
The company’s positioning statement could be: GrowFast, GrowTall’s orange tree lets apartment dwellers enjoy the satisfaction of growing their own oranges indoors. Our orange trees can be grown inside because they require little sunlight, grow to only about five feet tall, and thrive in containers, both clay and plastic.
Positioning statements are for your internal use and form the basis for your messages, which I’ll explain in my next post.
