Page 72 - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - PDFDrive.com

place where it always rains.
Unless the state of Oregon spends $15 million a year on television

advertising for the next fifteen years, that is the position it will occupy: the
Rainy State.

Given that, perhaps the most effective thing that Oregon could do to attract
tourism would be to begin with that Rain State position, and make it a benefit.
To wit, run ads showing a thundering rainstorm over Mount Hood, with the
voice-over solemnly announcing, “From Thanksgiving to Memorial Day every
year [crackling thunder], Oregonians endure all of this [pounding rain] . . .”

The screen then shifts to the view of a spectacular green forest, Portland’s
gorgeous Rose Garden, Oregon’s green-on-darker-green golf courses— the sheer
emerald beauty of Oregon—while the announcer, with a slight change in tone,
says “. . . so that all summer and fall, tourists here can endure all of this [birds
chirping, surfers laughing].”

Position is a passive noun: It’s something the market does to you. You can try
to influence your position. Or, like the state of Oregon in this example, you can
take your position and turn it to your benefit.

No marketer ever followed this principle, “Take your position and turn it to
your benefit,” as brilliantly as Avis Rent A Car. Lagging behind Hertz for years
in the 1960s and early 1970s, and saddled with its second-place position, the
company decided to make second best a more desirable position than first.

“We’re Number Two,” Avis ads repeated for years. “We try harder.”
People believed it. Sales soared.
The people at Avis did not try to position the company. They knew the
market had already done it for them. They simply made the absolute most of the
position they had.
Don’t start by positioning your service. Instead, leverage the position you
have.

Creating Your Positioning Statement

Before you create a positioning statement, one warning: Don’t confuse a position
with a positioning statement.

A position (or statement of position) is a cold-hearted, no-nonsense statement
of how you are perceived in the minds of prospects. It is your position.

A positioning statement, by contrast, states how you wish to be perceived. It
is the core message you want to deliver in every medium, including elevators