Positioning: Why Most Brands Fail (And How to Win)
You know that feeling when you explain what your product does, and people just stare at you blankly? I faced this exact problem at a startup where we built a great product but couldn't explain why anyone should care. Issue here? We were all over on positioning.
On that topic, recently I was watching a video on YouTube about positioning and it struck a cord with how I often run into discussions and of issues about this.
There’s a multi-million euro / dollar mistake a lot of companies make. What it is? They think great products sell themselves. I've seen this delusion cost fortunes at giants. You have to know the uncomfortable truth about positioning - and why it matters more than your actual product.
The Positioning Crisis
Marketing departments love throwing around the term "positioning." But after 20 years in the field, working with brands from Heineken to Ray-Ban, I can tell you most get it catastrophically wrong and I’ve struggled with it at times as well.
Think you have your positioning figured out? Let me challenge that assumption.
That BIG Mistake
When I was a junior working in Fintech, the company launched what was thought to be a revolutionary product. Packaging, shipping for webshops, with on site pickup. Affordable, no entry fees, low barrier of entry in terms of contracts, etc. Tech presented in way that pretty much anyone would know how to work with. Months of R&D, partner explorations, etc. The works. Positioned it as "eSend fulfilment" The result? Absolute disaster.
Why? Because "eSend fulfilment" means absolutely nothing to entrepreneurs drowning in marketing blabla.
The Better Definition of Positioning
Positioning isn't about your product. It’s about finding out where it should live in your customer’s mind and how it will be affected by or profiting from the vicinity of competitors and alternatives in the area. Or another definition that has some solid truth in it:
"Positioning is an input. If everything we do in marketing and sales is the house, positioning is the foundation upon which the house is built."
- April Dunford -
The Psychology Behind Successful Positioning
Your customers' brains are battlefields. Every brand is fighting for attention. Most lose. The winners? They claim specific, valuable territory and defend it ruthlessly. Take Apple. They don't position themselves as "a technology company making quality products." They own "creative innovation that just works." And I experienced a similar thing we tested out in real life at Heineken. We know good positioning changes everything. Take The SUB, Heineken's home draft system. When we stopped talking about "beer experiences", and “volume” etc, anything really that compared it to beer you would buy for drinking at home (mostly from the store of course) and focused on "fresh-draft-quality beer at home," (so comparing it to drinking a beer in the pub) sales jumped. People got it. They wanted it.
The Three Fatal Positioning Mistakes
Of course you need to look at what competitors are doing, what they’re saying, how they’re priced, etc. What you should not do is try to take them as the example of what you also need to do. That can often leads to one or more of the following positioning mistakes:
1. The Everything Trap
Most brands try to be everything to everyone. Here's why that's suicide: When you try to mean everything, you end up meaning nothing.
2. The Me-Too Disease
"We're like [Successful Competitor] but better!" No. You're like everyone else who's failing to differentiate.
3. The Feature Fallacy
Listing features isn't positioning. Nobody cares about your AI-powered algorithms. They care about what it does for them.
The Positioning Framework That Actually Works
Map your competitors and you can easily find (multiple) options to position yourself.
After 15+ years and millions in revenue, here's what actually works if you ask me:
Step 1: Find Your Enemy
Every great position needs an enemy. Not necessarily a competitor - but a problem, belief, or status quo you're fighting against. Stay clear on what you’re solving. 1 thing.
Step 2: Claim Your Territory
Don't just be different. Be meaningfully different in a way that matters to a specific group of people. You can do so by mapping finding axes that are important to your customers. Axes like: speed, price, flavour, durability, whatever, and map all your competitors and possible substitutes to your offer on a chart representing those axes. Now find the white space in it.
Step 3: Prove It Simply
Can you explain your position in one sentence to a 12-year-old? If not, start over. Then add the vocab to frame it and adjust the positioning. Using the YouTube video as example here: CRM puts you in a competition with companies Salesforce. A tool to improve track leads does something else. A Cola, does something else than a Soft Drink,.. get the point? The terminology can be clear either way, but it moves you closer to or further away from certain possible competitors.
The Controversial Truth About Positioning
Here's what most consultants won't tell you: Great positioning often means alienating people. If you're not making some people angry, you're probably playing it too safe. In an AI-driven world, clear positioning becomes even more crucial. Generic brands will die. Specific, opinionated brands will thrive.
Positioning is never another marketing jargon term nor something you need to revisit with every campaign. It's the difference between being another forgettable brand and becoming a category leader. The question isn't whether you'll position your brand - it's whether you'll do it intentionally or let others do it for you.
FAQs
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Every major market shift or at least annually, but to make sure you still agree with it, not to switch it up yearly.
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Yes, but your core truth should remain consistent.
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Let them. Authentic positioning can't be copied effectively. Remember the Me Too brand in the article?
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Customer acquisition costs drop, conversion rates rise, and customers can articulate your value proposition back to you.
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It should evolve but not fundamentally change unless your market or offering dramatically shifts.
