One of my personal “aha!” moments about the importance of having a clear product positioning statement came about during my tenure as a PR manager with HP’s Test & Measurement group (prior to the Agilent spinoff). One of the divisions had just developed a next-generation signal generator and was eager to introduce it. The engineering team quickly drafted a press release with the following headline:
HP Introduces High-performance Signal Generator with New Low Price
Upon first glance, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable headline. Yet, my “spider-sense” always tingled (and still does) when I see primary benefits linked to pricing. I wanted to be doubly sure that I understood exactly what this meant. So, I pulled the engineering team together to talk about their draft.
Their first reaction was something like, “oh great, you’re one of those guys” — meaning that I was an outsider with a sole purpose of upsetting their applecart by asking a lot of nonsense questions. With great diplomacy, I admitted that it was my job to work with them in order to confirm and communicate the product’s truest value related to the claims they wanted to make.
The Positioning Statement Template
I asked if they had produced a positioning statement for the product. They handed me a 5 page datasheet. Not to be put off, I suggested we take 30 minutes to build a positioning statement for the product. I explained that this would help us confirm the primary benefit and focus our messaging.
In the course of our 30 minute discussion, we filled out the positioning statement template, and we learned a few key things, especially when we dug into the primary benefit and the differentiator:
- This new signal generator was actually more expensive than competitive alternatives! However . . .
- This one box could perform multiple tests without the need of additional pieces of expensive equipment.
- The upshot: this was really a total cost of ownership (TCO) story, not a component box story.
We quickly wrote a new headline based on this positioning statement:
HP’s New High-performance Signal Generator Reduces Test Costs
So what?
Did this exercise really matter? You bet! Had we proceeded with the original headline, editors (not to mention customers) would have quickly cried “foul!” HP’s reputation would have been hurt by this misleading claim.
Instead, this clarified positioning wove its way through the press release, print advertising, collatoral, and other customer pieces. The resulting press echoed the positioing statement and this product found huge success with new and current customers alike.
And all it took was 30 minutes!
For more information on the positioning statement, read The “Aha!” Factor: Positioning So Your Audience “gets it”