April, 2013

Smart marketers spend a lot of time deciding how to position their products or services in the consumer's mind. (Definition of "positioning")

And well they should. There are obviously a huge number of ways to position any product or service, and success depends on finding just the right one.

For example, if you're selling software, you can position your application as:

If you do choose the right positioning for your product or service and communicate it forcefully to your target audience, you can ultimately build a strong brand identity that can have enduring value.

NOTE: If you want to read the classic on the subject, check out "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" by Al Ries & Jack Trout.

As you are probably aware, a lot of the thinking about product positioning is by now well known. What's really interesting is to see how creative companies explore surprising, innovative new positionings that rake in money.

Let's take a look back in time at one of the most successful repositioning campaigns ever. The case of Subway, the fast-food sandwich company.

Sure, Subway goes to war with their competitors on the familiar fast-food battlefields: convenience, price/value, product excellence, etc. But what Subway came up with a decade ago was a unique advertising campaign featuring a bold new positioning and a pleasant young man named Jared Fogle.

As you probably know, Jared is the guy who lost 245 pounds by eating nothing but low-fat Subway sandwiches for almost a year. He and his grotesque baggy pants became proof that Subway is a great place to go for low-fat, healthy food.

Of course Subway kept plugging their foot-long, cholesterol-rich pastrami sandwiches and the like. But their new campaign, reflecting a new "eat low-fat" positioning, opened the door to a whole new market and a zillion new customers walked through the door and right up to the cash register.

The bottom line? Subway maintained their core base of customers but attracted brand NEW customers by presenting a new way of thinking about Subway.

And that's the point. If you can think in a fresh, new way about your product or service, and reinvent it through an innovative repositioning, the world will beat a path to your door.

It worked for Subway. It will work for you.

Feel free to get in touch any time if you want me to write a money-making email, home page, landing page, letter, or anything else for you. My fees are affordable and the results I get get speak for themselves. 

Let's go to work!