The Importance of “Positioning”

The online would have enough and more dope on Brand Positioning; So, I'd not go into the detailing of what is positioning, and how it can be achieved? I will also not talk about the Importance of Positioning but would try and give some examples of some brand names you are familiar with and interact on day to day basis in the online space.

Couple of days back, I was talking to a brand manager who was mentioning how the online platforms are only best suited for tactical purposes. He went onto mention that maybe in future "positioning" would not be a marketing focus, and "being tactical" would be the marketing strategy of the day. I argued, on the importance of positioning, and had taken couple of examples from the Internet space and said if online companies are focusing on positioning, then 'positioning' is and will be crucial aspect of marketing.

While there is a grain of truth in saying that in future "being tactical" would be important…since new changes and innovations would happen overnight, there would be instant stars, etc..that a long term strategic approach would be so flexible, that any unforeseen eventuality would need to be addressed by a quick-fix tactic

However, the importance of Positioning cannot be discounted…. For example:

What would have happened if Blogger.com, Typepad or Wordpress had come with a feature on their blogging platform where-in they tell the users that their blog update can be only fewer than 140 characters…The up-side is they can update their blog by SMS too. Would there be any takers?? I guess not. As a product, I have a platform where I can write in unlimited words/characters, upload visuals and drive home the point with extensive note… then why would I want to blog with a limited character space…that too 140 characters and only text!!! Ridiculous…. Then comes a company who does just that…..with a single value proposition – tell others "What are you doing" … They positioned themselves as a "Micro-Blogging Platform" – which in truth is nothing but a Lite version of a blog…where in you can't express yourself properly with the character limit constraint. But today, Who Cares! You have a new set of vocabulary that has come up – thanks to Tweet-o-mania

Another similar example would be the Groups and message boards that I'd first experienced in the Yahoo! website. In my initial days of Internet exploring… I was a biiiiggg fan of Yahoo! It was one of the few sites which had a search facility. I could also go and place a request for my web-page to be indexed by Yahoo!. Then of course there was the Yahoo! Email service. But the best things which I liked and used to use the most frequent were the Chat rooms, message boards, groups… All in one site…. You could actually live your entire Internet life without stepping out of Yahoo!... I could connect with friends, real time (Chat/IM) and delayed (over mail, groups), share with them (online briefcase, photos), reach to like-minded people (message boards, chat-rooms)….I'm sure with a single website offering all these utility…no one would have looked any further. Right? Wrong. There comes a company who positions themselves as a 'social utility that connects people and friends around them'… What it had was all the utility tools which already existed… but packaged and positioned differently. Today it becomes a part of our 'social' life….and the utilities that Yahoo! had, all but forgotten

Imagine a portal like Monster.com…. One fine day if they decide to let everyone view your CV. Would you like it? No. I guess not. One of the biggest USP of Monster.com was that you as a candidate could have privacy control on who could view your profile and who could not. You were confident that your CV was secure and would not be shared with anyone else. Job market made a living by providing confidentiality. No-one would ever want to be made public that they are looking for a career change (especially with the current employer getting to know)… Then comes a company that asks you to post your CV and make it public, but positions itself as a professional network platform that will help you build connections. But the underlying truth is that it is used for career opportunities – both by the prospective employer and employee. By positioning itself as a professional network tool… it has made job hunting open and cool under the garb – Relationship Matters

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – all these online giants have understood the power of Positioning – by tweaking, packaging and marketing existing products differently

I wonder why that brand manager felt differently


 

Santosh


 


 


 


 

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