In clear terms, it defines your company’s direction… and actually acts as a compass through growth opportunities and changing market conditions. It is the critical platform for all communications. Without direction or focus, the brand goes…. absolutely everywhere… and not in a good way!
It seems very easy to create… A few words that speak volumes. How difficult can it be? More to the matter, how significant is a positioning statement? Positioning Statements, or in the case of Consumer Packaged Brands, slogans, have been at the heart of advertising sell copy since the inception of mass selling.
It is an important component of your marketing initiative… if not the most important. Positioning is not just a fluffy marketing word… it defines and identifies your Brand/Business. A brand positioning statement eloquently states your brand’s “stake in the sand”. Moreover, it expresses “This is who I am, this is what I do, this is what and how I deliver”. In basic marketing practice, the easiest way to describe a positioning statement is that it announces to the world what makes your brand stand out above the rest and how you do that in a very succinct message.
Keep your brand/business on track with a powerful positioning statement. So how do you go about developing one?
A good marketing exercise to do prior to attempting to create your own positioning statement is to look at the brands that have successful taglines and try to identify the key messages that the tagline promotes. Ask yourself if the statement is relevant to what the brand promises, or the product delivers….or if it speaks to the service the business provides. View the positioning statement in rewind. You’ll find that the good positioning statements easily reflect the market, the target and the benefit of each brand or business. Here are some to get you started: McCain “It’s all good TM”campaign, “i’m lovin’ it”, an international branding campaign by McDonald’s Corporation (they incorporated it with their logo), and Scotiabank “You’re richer than you think”.
In this new world of do-it-yourself marketing and branding, many start-up companies go at developing a brand positioning statement on their own. Often those positioning statements end up being descriptors of the brand. Like the warning copy on an Evil Knievel daredevil act, I urge you not try this at home… and alone!
Here are the must haves of a positioning statement, in no particular order:
1) The Promise: Must state what we offer.
2) The Benefit: Must clearly identify what’s in it for them.
3) Personality: Must reflect the culture and brand voice.
4) Originality/Uniqueness: Must be a thing of beauty and joy.
5) Simplicity: Must be so succinct as to inspire a “wow”.
6) Longevity…. it must be there for the long haul.
What better way to demonstrate the importance of clearly stating the benefit simply within a positioning statement than with the Muppets! Watch this video clip from the Muppets Take Manhattan movie, for Ocean Breeze Soap. The message is bang on!
Once you achieve the Positioning Statement…. you must, and this is so very important: Use it consistently and frequently on all communication pieces. On business cards, web sites, apps, trade booths, ppt presentations, print ads, radio ads, digital ads, TV ads, leave behinds, etc, etc, etc.
This positioning statement will drive your message home to consumers, just like a GPS and will definitely build the foundation for brand recognition. Check out our ebook “Branding Understood” to get your gears turning!
Does your positioning statement have what it takes to direct your brand’s destiny?
Creativity is not a gift possessed by few. I can just hear the combined outcry from all CPs (Creative Professionals)! According to Jonah Lehrer, in his book “How Creativity Works“, creativity is a thought process that we all can learn. I tend to agree with Lehrer . I have seen this in action where a “non-creative” professional has stated something within a brainstorming session that has inspired a great idea. In the pursuit of the next great idea, innovation or concept, “creative” individuals gather around to catch that ever elusive WOW moment.
Our 3H brainstorming sessions are relaxed and informal, usually accompanied by popcorn (cause who doesn’t like popcorn?), a big (HUGE) notebook, a black Sharpie pen, armed with briefs, background information, research, market trends, etc… Just when you think that’s it, there’s more controversy from Lehrer’s book… and let me say this from the get go… I don’t necessarily agree with. Lehrer is of the belief that group brainstorming sessions don’t work. Group brainstorming sessionshave worked for us.
However, some say group brainstorming sessions don’t work because we cannot demand creativity, that ideas usually come more freely when we are doing things like brushing our teeth or driving to work. As in most group dynamics, those with the biggest egos get heard, leaving the rest quiet, forgetting their idea while they wait for their turn to speak, or worse, neither able nor motivated to contribute to the conversation. In a large group, it is often easy for one to ride the coattails of the more vocal in the group, focusing on other people’s ideas, consequently not generating their own original thoughts.
In our agency, we brainstorm to find solutions to solve a problem, remove an obstacle or rise up to a challenge. Our group is not small nor big… and we often build on each others ideas, successfully! In our group we all think differently. Our different backgrounds and experiences have provided us with a unique dynamic in achieving creative results. Everyone acknowledges that individually we have something valuable to offer. When you work as a team like this, everyone can take ownership for the resulting solution, and feel passion and enthusiasm for the end result. In a group dynamic, it is important that everyone is encouraged to participate, to allow the freedom to speak out loud… there are no bad ideas, thoughts or words: each suggestion or idea builds on the next. We follow our Brand Kinetix process. In broad strokes, here is how we work it:
In a comfortable, relaxed environment, we discuss and agree on the objective, based on a client brief.
We eat popcorn. This is essential for our brainstorming sessions to achieve success.
We share ideas and suggestions, having agreed on a time limit, knowing that this may be the first in a series of brainstorming sessions.
One person manages ideas in whatever way works best for your group: sticky notes, big piece of paper, a bulletin board, etc.
Come up with a handful of good ideas, refine them, and then regroup to see if it stands the test of “the day after, the afternoon before”.
There are many other “organized” approaches towards brainstorming to keep things fresh and stimulating. Here are a few:
6-3-5 Brainwriting – according to Wikipedia:The technique involves 6 participants who sit in a group and are supervised by a moderator. Each participant thinks up 3 ideas every 5 minutes. Participants are encouraged to draw on others’ ideas for inspiration, thus stimulating the creative process. After 6 rounds in 30 minutes the group has thought up a total of 108 ideas.
The Stepladder Technique:This is a decision-making approach involving the creation of a two-person subgroup (the core) that begins initial discussion of the group task. After a predetermined time interval, another group member joins the core group and presents his or her ideas. The three-person group then discusses the task, and the process continues in steps until all members have systematically joined the core group. When this occurs, the group arrives at a final solution.
Round-Robin Brainstorming works like this: 1. Sit your group or team at a table. Each person gets a stack of index cards. 2. One person communicates the brief to the group. No one else speaks yet. 3. Each person quietly takes a card and writes down one idea. They then pass the card to the person on the right. 4. That person reads the card and uses it to generate a new idea. He or she then turns the first card upside down in a stack, and passes the new card to the right.
5. The process of writing new ideas and passing to the person on the right continues for a set amount of time, perhaps ten minutes. 6. At the end, the facilitator gathers the cards and reads each idea aloud. The cards are then arranged and grouped on a whiteboard or wall, with duplicates discarded. This is used to stimulate discussion or more ideas.
How do you feel about brainstorming as a group? Are you in agreement that “a-ha” creativity can’t be achieved in this context? Are there other approaches that you’ve utilized? I invite you to share them here.
I have reflected on the recent resignation of Steve Jobs and his legacy of what he taught the world. He has lead others by doing; not only in marketing, advertising, product development or the user experience, but in how a company can achieve greatness through people.
There is no need to reiterate the collection of apple products that are leading in each of their respective categories and I believe that has everything to do with the people responsible for the development of those products under driven and focused leadership. Steve Jobs understood that the character of each individual employee resonates on every project or task that they are involved with. Each person is essential to the advancement of the company so getting the right fit to hire is vital to a strong organization.
Company awareness is something that Steve Jobs has been noted for throughout his time at Apple. He believed that every person should understand the overall process of the business and that each employee, regardless of title or department, should educate others on how their part is a piece of the greater picture.
Involvement = Investment = Ownership
These are but a few of the lessons that can be gleaned from an inspiring individual who has earned his place in business history as one of the most influential leaders of our time.What have you learned from Steve Jobs over the years, or, what has impressed or annoyed you about his time at Apple?
When preparing for an advertising pitch, you have to be a perfectionist – if you are not a perfectionist, become one.
Even the smallest mistake can have major consequences.Think of going into a meeting, and finding that the headline to your conceptual ad has a typo. What is the company your presenting to supposed to think about your preparation – about your carelessness to detail that in could some way negatively impact the way their brand comes across. They are wary; you’ve lost the account. (more…)
There is a saying that is quite applicable in everyday life and it is hard to live by but can benefit everyone involved.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.- Abraham Lincoln
If you are too busy talking then you are not able to hear what is being said. What is being asked of you? What guidance is being provided? In a constant strive to make ME the most important word in the story…gear down. Set the cruise at a lower speed then you think you can handle, crank the guilty pleasure songs you admit to no one that you listen to and strive to be humble.
You do what you do because you know how to do it -all day – no doubt, you are a champion of all things you.
BUT
If your career is to extrapolate what others are trying to accomplish, then listening is not only vital but hyper listening is a mandatory requirement. You have to foresee the limitations of communication in all people. Bank on this. The client will always try with their best effort to convey the idea or tactic, it is up to you to use your intuitive interpretation and ensure all the obvious and not so apparent thoughts are captured and acted upon.
If you say nothing until they are finished and truly process what you heard – you will be much more effective in formulating a refined focused response which has been customized to their needs. This will make your guidance more sound and your vision a shared one.
