The power of positioning
by Ivan Levison

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

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

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

The cheapest
The most feature-rich
The easiest to use
The choice of power users
The right choice for novices
The securest
And on and on . . .

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 a terrific book on the subject, check out "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Ries & Jack Trout. You can order a copy at: http://www.levison.com/books/

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 terrific, creative companies explore surprising, innovative new positionings that rake in money.

Let's take a look at just such an enterprise . . . 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 while ago was a unique advertising campaign featuring a brand new positioning and a pleasant young man named Jared Fogle.

Remember him? 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.

That's the point. If you can think in a fresh, new way about your product, 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.

Back

Need help with your copy writing?

Ivan Levison
Direct Response Copywriting
14 Los Cerros Drive
Greenbrae, CA 94904
Phone: (415) 461-0672 Fax: (415) 461-7738
E-mail: ivan@levison.com
Web Site: http://www.levison.com