A positioning and messaging framework is the key initial activity to put in place when embarking on new content, collateral or website refresh. It helps an organization put the right foundation in place so that the messaging used across the marketing and sales tools is consistent and compelling. Most importantly the framework solidifies opinions that various company leaders may have in terms of target audience, unique value proposition and key benefits.
While a positioning and messaging framework is not magical, it does require the organization to identify a few critical elements. First step is determining who is the target customer. This customer is not only the organizations that your company sells to but specifically within that company who is the key influencers and buyers. The more specific you can get, the better. If you find you have two or more distinct customers or influencers, you may need to repeat this positioning framework several times. For example, if you sell to large corporations and small businesses but they purchase your product for different reasons, then it is worthwhile to separate out the positioning into two distinct frameworks.
After the audience has been selected, the next step is to identify what “pain points” are these individuals experiencing. What makes their job hard? What would they like to improve upon? Pain points are often the motivator that causes a buyer to try something new. For example if I am buyer for a large manufacturing company and I have been manually recording my purchases but this is getting cumbersome and error prone. That would be a pain point that would cause me to look at procurement software.
Now it is time to focus internally on the product or service that your company is attempting to position. First step is to identify the attributes that you want associated with your product or brand. What feelings and qualities should come to the customer’s mind when they think about you? Then craft a unique value proposition. What sets your product apart from the competition? What 2-3 sentence summation succinctly captures how your offering addresses the pain points of your target customers? The unique value proposition leads into 2-4 key benefits of the product that should be highlighted and finally, crisp yet tangible proof points backing up those key benefits.
Once all these elements are assembled into a document and distributed among the team and the agencies; content, collateral and sales tools can be developed with a consistent message and targeted customer approach. At Muddy Gecko we specialize in assisting organizations large and small with this positioning exercise. We have found that this powerful tool is truly the cornerstone for helping organizations all get on the same page in terms of their marketing messages.