Welcome to The Lens, my newsletter on Product Management and related topics. I write about topics that you may find useful if you are a Product Manager or work with one. If you like what you read, please forward it to someone you think may get value. Thank you.
Positioning:
One of my favorite topics I studied in marketing in MBA is ‘positioning’. A biggest take-away was that positioning is how audience pictures or positions the brand. Brands and products can influence that positioning by the deliberate choices in various communication i.e marketing materials.
Look at this one of my favorite ads from Band Aid. What stands out? Many desirable properties of an adhesive bandage can be that it is very sticky, or waterproof, or has anti-septic coating. Of all the desirable characteristics of a tape, Band-Aid picked ‘flexible fabric’. An image that goes with will unmistakably impress upon the target audience that feature.
An expert in Positioning, April Dunford recently wrote a quick start guide to positioning on Lenny’s Newsletter. She used the jobs to be done to perfect her process of defining positioning for the products. A spoiler alert, the process has to start from competitive alternatives. Process and some of the traps are well explained in the post. Another recent example I came across that can be very relatable is similarities and differentiation between a muffin and a cake.
Positioning by differentiation:
Richard Montañez, who created among many other products, Hot Cheetos is known for his humble background as a janitor. I recently heard him speak and an another story from his childhood stuck with me. During his childhood, when he wanted to fit in the class by bringing in the same lunch as others. His mom reminded him to stand out and not fit in. That’s another classic example of positioning by differentiation. Here is his inspirational story.
Positioning by association:
I came across an image of KitKat ad’s pic on the internet ( forgot to note it, hence missing credit). It’s a good example of positioning by association. KitKat has branded itself to be associated with ‘break’. It is not as straight forward an example such as Band-aid, in that the positioning is not a feature of the product. However, it is for this reason it stands out from competitors who focus on ingredients ( Lindt or Hershey on Chocolate) or atmosphere (Ferrero Rocher). As an aside, great story on how KitKat tagline came into existence.
Takeaway for Product Manager of a new product: You get an opportunity to define the positioning of the product through the experience. The post I shared or April’s book ‘Obviously Awesome’ helps through the process of how to do it.
What can you do with this insight as a Product Manager of an existing product ? Use this information consciously while deciding on features and prioritizing them. It’s one step further to thinking about the customer, it is about what are we making them think about the product. There may not be many opportunities to change the positioning of an existing product, but it helps to use the current positioning while deciding on the enhancements of features.
I leave you with these thoughts. I appreciate if you have any feedback.