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How to Create Successful Marketing
In Part I of a three-part series, Erin Mills guides you through creating an effective positioning statement. The first three people who complete the exercise receive individual feedback!

August 2007

-By Erin Mills, Think Marketing (www.thinkmktg.com)

All successful marketing can be traced back to one important fundamental: positioning. Positioning is what tells your customers why they should do business with you instead of a competitor, and it should be behind everything you do.

To help you create positioning that can generate powerful marketing, I've included below a two-part worksheet for you to complete. Simply print out this newsletter or copy and paste this article into a Word document and fill it in as you go. The first three people to send a completed worksheet to the contact information at the bottom of the article will receive a free review and personalized feedback!

Part 1 - Write a flat statement about who you are
People first search for products and services and evaluate providers that offer what they're looking for, so you need to be able to quickly articulate what you do.

Write your company name below and fill in the rest as you read.

____________ (Your company name) is a _____________ (1. your relationship in the category) that provides ________________________ (2. overall customer segment) with _____________________ (3. category benefits).

You can use the fictional example below as a reference.

Example:
Sandy's Candy is a (1.) candy manufacturer that provides (2.) educational institutions with (3.) fundraising opportunities.

Think about the simplest, most accurate way to define your company from your customers' perspectives. If they see you as a manufacturer, put that in.

In the example of Sandy's Candy, here are a few other players in her "food chain." Use these examples to start brainstorming about your category.
- Candy raw materials provider
- Candy manufacturer
- Candy distributor
- Candy wholesaler
- Candy retailer

What is your target customer segment? Try to broadly define who you're going after. Are you selling to consumers? Nonprofits? Small businesses? Business-to-business-focused companies?

What high-level benefits does your segment (you and your competitors) bring to your customers? Returning to the example, Sandy's Candy and its competitors offer opportunities to raise outside funding for educational programs.

Check your flat statement. Does it articulate what you do in the simplest way possible? A stranger should be able to read it and understand what type of business you're in, who you serve, and what the benefits of doing business with you are.

Part 2 - Write a positioning statement that highlights your differentiators
OK, you're ready to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Fill in your company name below, then complete the rest as you read.

For _____________ (1. target customers) who ___________________ (2. target customer need), __________________ (your company name) provides/offers ______________________ (3. how your company and your products meet the need). Unlike other _____________________________ (4. key competition), _________(your company name) ________________________________ (5. your company's key differentiators).

Back to Sandy's Candy. You know that Sandy's Candy offers schools fundraising programs, but if you were a schoolteacher looking for this type of product, you'd need to understand why to choose Sandy's over some of the larger competitors. The real value that Sandy's Candy offers is that its small-scale fundraising programs enable individual schoolteachers to raise money for their own classes, rather than, say, the whole school raising money for a new gymnasium. Teachers can use prepackaged programs from Sandy's Candy that are just like the larger-scale programs.

Example:
For (1.) individual schoolteachers who (2.) want to bring in private funding for their own classrooms' educational programs, Sandy's Candy provides (3.) a variety of candy fundraising programs. Unlike (4.) other candy manufacturers that offer fundraising, Sandy's Candy (5.) combines world-class candy with small-scale prepackaged fundraising programs that make it easy to bring in supplemental funds.

Now it's your turn. Here are a few helpful hints:

(1.) In the flat statement, you focused on the overall customer segment. Now, think about the actual person who is going to purchase your items. If your products are designed for single moms with two or more children, or men over the age of 65 who fish, state that. If your target is small businesses, state who actually purchases your products - is it the owner? The bookkeeper? Some demographics to think about are: sex, marital status, age range, income brackets, lifestyle, etc.

If you're having a hard time, that's OK - your target audience might be a wide range of people that cannot be further defined from your flat statement. If that's the case, just use the same words you used there.

(2. & 3.) Think about the need that your customers have when they come to you. What problem do you solve for them?

(4.) Now fill in your competitors. Think about the ones you most directly compete against.

For example, Sandy's Candy could have chosen to fill in "candy resellers" or "candy wholesalers" and defined its differentiators against those segments in the market, but its strongest competition is from candy manufacturers that also focus on fundraising for schools.

(5.) Your differentiators will help prospects understand why they should select you over the competition. Here are some questions to help get you thinking:

• What do you do that your competition doesn't? Offer customized programs? Deliver the best quality for the price? Provide 24-7 customer service?
• What have current customers told you they like best about doing business with you? Response times? Professionalism?

Identify what makes you a clear leader over your competition and drop it into your Positioning Statement.

Next steps:
Now that you've completed these critical marketing exercises, it's important to check your efforts and get feedback from other people, including existing customers, employees, and business colleagues. In fact, you may even want to try running your positioning by a few people who don't know your business. After all, if a stranger can understand what you're trying to say about your business, you've accomplished your goal!

After you've created some solid positioning, start reevaluating your marketing communications to see if you're clearly conveying who you are and why customers should select you. Examine your web site home page. If it doesn't clearly state what you do and why you're different, use your new positioning to revise your copy so your site articulates your business more concisely. You'll be surprised how many web sites make it impossible to figure out what they offer and what makes them different, so make sure you stand out from the crowd!

*Please send worksheets to info@thinkmktg.com or by fax to 310-601-7123 and include your name, email and/or telephone contact information.

-Erin Mills, Think Marketing (www.thinkmktg.com)