Lawson Abinanti

The positioning framework I use was developed by my partner and co-founder when he was at Microsoft in the mid-80s. After he became a consultant I engaged him extensively over a two-year period during which we positioned more than 15 B2B software products, fine-tuned the framework and continued to do so once we founded Messages that Matter in early 2001. The framework is simple, logical and helps you create the ideal positioning statement for your B2B product. All you do is answer seven questions outlined below, and test options using a set of criteria to determine the positioning statement that best makes your product stand out from the competition. A positioning statement is a short, declarative sentence that expresses a benefit that solves a pressing target audience problem. It becomes the theme for all your marketing communications so getting it right is critical. Here are positioning statement examples: · Microsoft® Forecaster is the fast, affordable way for you to gain control of budgeting and planning. · Kit Software helps maximize the value of your commodity trading operations. · Messages that Matter works with you to create a position that makes it easier for buyers to buy. You’ll be able to answer the seven questions with confidence by doing your research. You’re ready to get started once you know your target audience’s most pressing problems, how your competitors are positioned and challenges in the sales cycle. START BY ANSWERING FOUR FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS The process begins by analyzing how prospects might respond to your offering. The answers to four fundamental questions provide this analysis. 1. Who is the target buyer? You’ll answer the rest of the questions from the perspective of the No. 1 target buyer you’ve selected. Remember a tie for the No. 1 spot will muddle the rest of your positioning effort. 2. What problem does our offering solve? You can’t successfully position your offering unless you know the answer to this basic question: “What is my target prospect’s most pressing problem?” Notice that this question asks about THE problem, not problems. Although it may be tempting to think of your offering as a Swiss Army Knife, don’t, because it’s doomed to fail. 3. How do prospects solve that problem today? If your offering solves a bona fide problem, then customers already have a solution. You need to know how they currently solve the problem. 4. Why is our offering a better solution to that problem? Your goal is to position your offering as a better solution to an existing problem. Remember that cutting edge technology often fails to provide a better solution for more than a small fraction of a target market. Admitting to this requires honesty. THE THREE “WHAT” QUESTIONS Using your knowledge of the prospect’s key problem and your product’s ability to respond to that problem, you can categorize your offering. Categorization enables potential buyers to quickly understand how they might benefit from your offering. The following “what” questions help you converge on a potential positioning statement: 5. What is your product? (Product category) B2B prospects need to recognize your product category, otherwise confusion reigns. Ideally, you can place your product into an existing category or one that represents a natural evolution. 6. What does your product do? (Product description) A short description of your product’s functionality can help prospects imagine how people in their organizations might use the product. But a description alone won’t get to the heart of the matter. 7. What does it deliver? (a benefit and our product position) Marketers frequently make a critical error by confusing what a product or solution does with what it delivers. Naturally, prospects need to know the advantages of your offering. But they won’t purchase until they can understand the benefits. Why make prospects figure it out for themselves? Make it short, simple and sweet — by telling them in your positioning statement. THE FOUR CRITERIA After working through the framework described above, you will have developed several potential positioning statements. At this stage, four criteria can help you assess the viability of the various statements. For each statement, ask if it is: 1. Important 2. Believable 3. Unique 4. Useable This assessment helps you identify the positioning statement that will best stimulate market awareness and demand. Let’s consider these criteria in more detail. Important A positioning statement must respond to a prospect’s primary problem. By doing so, the statement creates confidence in your ability to offer a desirable solution, as well as a sense of urgency in the prospect’s mind. You can test the importance of a potential positioning statement by asking a simple question “So what?” If the answer produces a higher-level benefit statement, you haven’t yet found the most important benefit. If you continue asking “so what?” you will ultimately arrive at one of three benefits. For business-to-business offerings, these are volume, share and profit. Since these benefits may not be believable, drop back to the answer to the previous “So what?” question. Believable An effective positioning statement recognizes prospects' inherent skepticism by avoiding exaggerated or meaningless claims. Effective communications “ring true” by referencing existing market conditions; they support your company’s brand identity and signal that you understand the prospect’s concerns. Unique Positioning always occurs in a competitive environment. Therefore, a positioning statement must state a benefit made by no other competitor. When you make a unique claim, two results occur. First, you raise a significant barrier to competition. Second, you increase the desirability of your offering. These two outcomes can significantly impact sales volume, market share, and profitability. Usable A positioning statement provides a foundation for changing market behavior through marketing communications (e.g., advertising, website, public relations and direct marketing). Therefore you need to be able to use it in all types of marketing communications and sales presentations. You can create sample marketing materials (press releases, e-mail blasts, website content, etc.) to test for usability. Summary: Once you have answered the seven questions, and come up with several positioning statement options, use the four criteria to decide the best option. The winner is a positioning statement that is unique, useable, believable and important – it expresses a benefit that solves one of the target buyer’s most pressing problems.

I use and teach a positioning framework that was developed by my partner while he was at Microsoft. We have evolved and enhanced it over time, and I have taught the framework to more than 1,000 marketers and product marketers worldwide. The positioning framework addresses several problems commonly found in B2B software and technology marketing. Here are some of them: • Failure to differentiate; • Long sales cycles due to market confusion; i.e., copycat positioning; • Multiple benefit claims that compete against each other for prominence and effectiveness. • Claims that fail any reasonable test of credibility; • Marketing campaigns fail because the message does not matter to the target audience; • Spending hours debating what to say in the next marketing campaign; • The marketing team can’t keep up with demand for lead-generation programs and campaigns; • Lack of understanding about what will resonate with the target audience. You will find the well-documented framework to be simple, logical and easy to learn. The framework can be boiled down to simply answering seven questions below. You’re ready to answer them when you know your target audience’s most pressing problems, how your competitors are positioned and challenges in the sales cycle. Here are the questions: 1. Who is the target buyer? You’ll answer the rest of the questions from the perspective of the No. 1 target buyer you’ve selected. 2. What problem does our offering solve? You can’t successfully position your offering unless you know the answer to this basic question: “What is my target prospect’s most pressing problem?” 3. How do prospects solve that problem today? If your offering solves a bona fide problem, then customers already have a solution. You need to know how they currently solve the problem. 4. Why is our offering a better solution to that problem? Your goal is to position your offering as a better solution to an existing problem. 5. What is your product? (Product category) B2B prospects need to recognize your product category, otherwise confusion reigns. Ideally, you can place your product into an existing category or one that represents a natural evolution. 6. What does your product do? (product description) A short description of your product’s functionality can help prospects imagine how people in their organizations might use the product. 7. What does it deliver? (a benefit and your product position) Prospects won’t purchase until they can understand the main benefit. Why make them figure it out for themselves? Make it short, simple and sweet —tell them in your positioning statement. Now you need to test your positioning statement. Read my article to learn more about the seven questions and the four criteria you use to determine if your target market will respond favorably to your positioning statement: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/answer-seven-questions-converge-ideal-positioning-lawson-abinanti/

You differentiate by first creating a perceptual map that makes it easy to see how your competitors are positioned relative to each other. Use the perceptual map while creating positioning statement options. Eliminate those that fail to differentiate. The winning positioning statement is unique, believable and important - it expresses a benefit that solves one of the target buyer's most pressing problems.

I have created an on-line course that takes you through positioning and messaging – they go hand in hand – step-by-step. Here is a link to the sign-in page; it is free: https://messagesthatmatter.com/learn-positioning-online/ The framework covered in the course was created by my partner when he was at Microsoft, and has been enhanced over time. I have taught the framework to product marketing professionals throughout the world.

The mistake product marketers make is revising existing positioning and messaging when it's not necessary. You can't claim a position when you change it all the time. If your position differentiates and expresses a benefit that solves a pressing target problem why change it? The only reason to change a position is if customer problems change and they rarely do. For example "spreadsheet hell" has been a problem in the budgeting and planning market for more than 30 years, and guess what, it's still the most pressing problem in that market. To claim a position, you need to stick with it for at least 18 months and ideally much longer. Salesforce stuck with the same "success" position for more than 10 years.

The most important aspects of product positioning are to have a thorough understanding the customer and the competition. Your positioning statement expresses a benefit that solves a pressing customer problem, and needs to be unique – you are making a claim no other competitor is making. The most effective way to get the rest of the company aligned behind your positioning is to involve as many stakeholders as possible through the process. Start by creating a team of four to six key stakeholders who are tasked with creating new positioning. As team members brainstorm positioning options, they share their ideas with other stakeholders who need to buy into the final result. Once the team is confident that its work is supported throughout the company, get management approval to insure management team members use the proposed positioning.

If you are taking advantage of the power of consistency and repetition, you need not worry if your competitor copies your product messaging. Since your target audience will associate your company with anyone making the claims you own through extensive use, copycat competitors contribute to your awareness. Plus by sticking with the product messaging, it won't be long before the copycat competitor changes its product messaging. 

I have my clients create a team responsible for positioning a B2B product and seeking input and feedback throughout the process from key stakeholders - especially sales. Once the team is confident that key stakeholders have bought into the message strategy, the final step is to get management approval. By doing so, management team members are more likely to use the message strategy rather than winging it like they usually do.

Here are some of the common messaging mistakes I've encountered working with clients and monitoring the positioning strategies of companies in all the major B2B software markets: •Failure to differentiate; •Long sales cycles due to market confusion; i.e., copycat messaging; •Multiple benefit claims that compete against each other for prominence and effectiveness; •Claims that fail any reasonable test of credibility; •Marketing campaigns fail because the message does not matter to the target audience; •Spending hours debating what to say in the next marketing campaign; •The product marketing and marketing teams can’t keep up with the demand for lead generation programs and campaigns because it takes forever to launch a campaign; •Lack of understanding about what will resonate with the target audience.

I have a process rather than a "message house" that my clients use to get key stakeholders in their company telling the same story based on the approved product positioning and messaging. An inclusive approach to your message creation process is the best way to get buy-in and develop consensus for your positioning and messaging. It should include informal and formal input and feedback loops with key stakeholders in sales, marketing, analyst relations, public relations, consulting, product management, support and management. Start by making everyone aware of the process and let it be known that you are seeking input and feedback from start to finish. Involving sales early and often throughout the process is especially important for several reasons including it’s a step toward solving the alignment problem that plagues most B2B software and technology companies. Once you have created your initial high-level messaging, share it with key stakeholders and get their feedback and input. Use what they tell you to make changes and additions and then share the new work with them. It may take another feedback loop or two to develop buy-in and consensus, and when you do it’s time to get management approval. By doing so, you will overcome the biggest obstacle to successfully positioning your product – getting management team members to actually use your product positioning and messaging instead of their own special story about the product. The inclusive nature of your process should break down internal resistance some have to any work other than their own.