Page 70 - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - PDFDrive.com

Why do people in services fear positioning so much? Because they fear that
standing for one thing will limit their appeal. But it doesn’t work that way, for
one important reason: People associate.

We tend to think, for example, that attractive people are smarter, friendlier,
more honest, and more reliable than less attractive people. We associate one
positive thing—attractiveness—with many other good things.

We assume that poor people lack initiative and intelligence, are less
trustworthy, and are less concerned with cleanliness and appearance, when few if
any of these characteristics are displayed by one poor person we may see. We
associate; we automatically link one negative thing—poverty—with many other
negative things.

It’s how people are programmed. It’s how your prospects think.
The interesting case of Long Island Bank and Trust, cited in Positioning,
demonstrates the Halo Effect in marketing a service.
Bank personnel tested people’s perceptions of the bank, then ran several ads
stressing that Long Island was the local bank for Long Island. The ads did not
mention assets, range of services, or quality of services. After running the ads,
the bank tested people’s perceptions of the bank again—and discovered
something remarkable.
People now had stronger perceptions of everything about the bank: its
number of branches, range of services, quality of services, and capital.
So the next time you say, “But we have to say this, and this, and this, and
this; it’s all important,” remember Long Island Bank and Trust—and the power
of the Halo Effect.
S ay one positive thing, and you will become associated with many.

No Two Services Are the Same

In a positioning exercise, if you ask a principal of a service company, “What
makes your service different?” you often get a disappointing response.

“Honestly, nothing. We’re all pretty much the same.” He’s wrong. Every
service is different, and creating and communicating differences is central to
effective marketing.

History shows that everything can be made different. For years, catsups,
flour, pickles, and sugar—to name only four products—came in large tubs and
were sold as commodities in corner stores. Then Heinz, Gold Medal, and C&H
came along, turned these apparently indistinguishable commodities into