In the bustling world of business and marketing, it's easy for even the most exceptional products to get lost in the noise. April Dunford's "Obviously Awesome" offers a comprehensive roadmap to ensure your product doesn't suffer this fate. This insightful book delves into the art and science of product positioning, providing a step-by-step guide to make your offering stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Introduction: The Power of Context
Imagine a world-class violinist playing in a subway station. Despite his extraordinary talent, most commuters pass by without a second glance. This real-life scenario perfectly illustrates the book's central theme: context is everything. Even the most remarkable products can go unnoticed if presented in the wrong setting. That's where positioning comes in.
Positioning is the strategic process of placing your product in the right context to ensure it's perceived and valued correctly by your target audience. It's not just about what your product does, but where it stands in people's minds. Dunford breaks down this complex concept into 10 methodical steps, guiding readers through the process of identifying their product's unique value, understanding their competition, and effectively communicating this to their target market.
Unraveling the Mystery of Positioning
At its core, positioning is about framing a product within a specific context to highlight its unique value. In a world saturated with options, mastering this concept is crucial, especially for entrepreneurs aiming to improve market fit.
Dunford emphasizes that positioning is more than just a buzzword; it's a strategic framework that shapes how potential customers perceive and value your product. Poor positioning forces customers to work hard to see the value in your product, while effective positioning makes it instantly obvious.
The author stresses the importance of a deliberate, systematic approach to positioning that moves away from assumptions. Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of sticking to their original idea, even when their product evolves or the market shifts. However, positioning isn't static; it's a dynamic process that needs to reflect changes in both your product and the environment.
The Five Critical Components of Positioning
Problem Identification: Understand the specific problems your product solves and recognize the alternative solutions your customers might currently use.
Unique Differences: Highlight your product's unique attributes that differentiate it from competitors.
Target Customer Definition: Identify the characteristics of your ideal customers – those who'll find the most value in your product's unique features.
Market Context: Determine the optimal market environment that enhances your product's strengths and aligns with your target customers' expectations.
Flexibility: Be prepared to reassess and realign your positioning as your product and market evolve.
Setting the Stage: Understanding Your Audience and Aligning Your Team
Step 1: Identify Your Best Customers
The first crucial step in product positioning is to truly understand the customers who deeply connect with your product. These are your ardent supporters – the ones who instantly found your product compelling, made quick buying decisions, and transformed into vocal advocates.
By examining this group, you can uncover patterns in their preferences and needs, which in turn sheds light on your product's unique value, your ideal customer profile, and the competitive landscape.
If you're at an early stage without a loyal customer base, maintain a broad approach in positioning and test your product with a range of potential customers. Observe which segments engage most actively with your product to identify your core audience.
Step 2: Form a Positioning Team
Effective positioning is a collaborative effort. Dunford recommends forming a team that pools insights from various company functions – sales, marketing, product development, and customer success, to name a few.
Each department offers a unique perspective on the product's attributes, its value proposition, and the target customer profile. This collective effort helps align assumptions and develop a new positioning that the entire company understands and endorses.
Step 3: Create a New Positioning Vocabulary
This step involves ensuring the team has a shared understanding of positioning concepts, components, and the influence of market factors. It's crucial to let go of any existing biases or baggage embedded in your current positioning, which might be based on the product's history or initial market reception.
Dunford encourages readers to keep an open mind and consider new ideas and perspectives. This fresh approach sets the stage for a more effective positioning strategy.
Mapping the Landscape: Sharpening Your Edge
Step 4: Understand the Competition
To refine your product's positioning strategy, you need to dive deep into the competitive landscape. Dunford advises listing out all your true competitors, not just direct product competitors. Your competition could include manual processes, alternative solutions, or even the possibility of customers choosing to do nothing.
This approach shifts the perspective from a product-centric view to a customer-centric one, giving you a clear picture of what your target customers would turn to if your product didn't exist.
Step 5: Isolate Your Unique Attributes
This step involves identifying what makes your product different and better than the competition. Focus on the specific capabilities and features that set your product apart. Whether it's a high-megapixel camera in a smartphone, one-click installation software, or robust metal construction in machinery – each unique feature counts.
Dunford emphasizes that different is good. She also recommends validating these differentiators through facts, third-party endorsements, or customer testimonials to add credibility to your positioning.
Step 6: Map Attributes to Customer Value
Here, you're transitioning from defining your product's features to their benefits. For example, a camera's high megapixel count translates into sharper images – which means printable, zoomable photos for the customer.
Dunford points out that each feature has the potential to fulfill multiple value points. The goal is to identify key value clusters centered around customer goals, which spotlights your product's most critical differentiators.
Completing the Journey: Finalizing and Communicating Your Strategy
Step 7: Connect with Your Best Customer Segments
With a firm grasp of your product and its competitive landscape, it's time to connect with the most appreciative segments of your customer base. This isn't just about demographics like age or gender. Dunford emphasizes understanding their behaviors, investments, and specific needs.
Your ideal customers are those who quickly grasped your value proposition, made swift purchasing decisions, and became enthusiastic advocates of your product. Targeting your positioning toward these best-fit customers paves the way for efficiency in sales and retention.
Dunford advises starting with a narrow focus and broadening your target audience as your business grows. She reminds readers that positioning is an evolving process.
Step 8: Choose the Right Market Frame of Reference
This step involves selecting the market context that best highlights your product's strengths and makes its value crystal clear. Dunford presents a few approaches:
- Position yourself head-to-head against established market leaders
- Focus on a niche segment where you can be a big fish in a small pond
- Create an entirely new market category
The chosen market frame should put your product's strengths at the center and make its value indisputable to your target customers.
Step 9: Leverage Market Trends (Optional)
Dunford notes that this step isn't always essential but can be powerful if executed correctly. If a current trend intersects well with your product and market context, it can make you appear more current and relevant.
For instance, if you have a product in the retail sales associate tools market that allows people to access data across various platforms and devices, this could easily capitalize on the trend of mobility.
However, Dunford cautions against chasing trends for the sake of relevance. The goal is to enhance a product's appeal when there's a natural fit, not to overshadow your positioning.
Step 10: Capture and Communicate Your Positioning
The final step involves creating a detailed document outlining each component of your positioning – from your competitive alternatives to your target market. This document serves as a blueprint for crafting a sales story, developing consistent messaging for marketing materials, and guiding product development and pricing strategies.
Dunford stresses the importance of regularly revisiting and potentially revising this positioning. Markets are dynamic, and factors like new competitors, regulatory changes, economic shifts, technological advances, and evolving customer preferences can impact your positioning.
Final Thoughts: The Power of Effective Positioning
"Obviously Awesome" provides a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to product positioning that can transform how your offering is perceived in the market. By following Dunford's 10-step process, you can ensure that every facet of your business aligns with and reinforces the unique value your product offers.
The book emphasizes that effective positioning is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. It begins with understanding your target audience and their needs, extends to identifying competitors and isolating your product's unique attributes, and culminates in creating tangible value and communicating your vision.
Dunford's approach encourages businesses to move beyond assumptions and adopt a dynamic, customer-centric view of positioning. By doing so, companies can enhance their product's market presence, ensure it connects deeply with customers, and pave the way for sustained success.
In a world where even the most innovative products can struggle to gain traction, "Obviously Awesome" provides the tools and insights needed to make your product stand out. It's a must-read for entrepreneurs, marketers, and business leaders looking to maximize their product's impact and appeal in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
By mastering the art of positioning as outlined in this book, you can transform your product from being just another option in a crowded market to becoming the obvious choice for your target customers. Remember, in the end, it's not just about having a great product – it's about ensuring that greatness is obvious to the right people in the right context.