Differentiate or Die: When positioning expires
Key takeaways
- Good positioning lasts 12 to 18 months, then it evolves rather than being thrown out.
- Triggers: competitors copy you, buyers shift, new competitors emerge and your capabilities grow.
- Review sales cycles, competition, analyst perception and new IP, with the same cross-functional group that built the positioning.
You’ve made the investment to develop a differentiated positioning strategy and a powerful, compelling story that rises above the noise and separates you from the pack.
But that was a year ago….and you’re now asking yourself:
How long should good positioning last?
What happens when a competitor copies our positioning?
Should we restart from scratch or evolve based on what is (or isn’t) working?
Also available in this series, Symptoms you have a positioning problem, Positioning vs. Branding: Clearing up the confusion, B2B Positioning, CEO or CMO agenda?, Is your positioning winning or losing?, Stop the geek speak, Setting the foundation for successful positioning, and B2B Positioning with and agency or in-house.
Read the transcript
Bob McDonald: Hi, this is Bob McDonald. Welcome to another session of Differentiate or Die, the keys to creating powerful B2B tech positioning stories, with Bob Wright, founder of Firebrick Consulting. Our topic today: how long should good positioning last? Bob, what are your thoughts?
Bob Wright: Well, Robert, thank you. How long should good positioning last? I get that question all the time. Generally, good positioning should last a year — 12 months, maybe 18 months — and then it needs to be evolved and shifted.
Why positioning needs to evolve
Bob McDonald: When you say evolved and shifted, is that dramatic change or evolutionary change? Given the investment a company might make in a positioning process, 12 months doesn’t sound very long.
Bob Wright: To me it’s an evolution. It’s not throwing it out; it’s evolving the positioning. If you do positioning right, inevitably your competition will react and copy your positioning — which is actually good news, because now the buying criteria have shifted in your favor rather than theirs. But market conditions also change. If you’re in a new category, maybe you’ve moved from early adopters to fast followers, so it could be a different buyer type. New competitors may also have entered the market. So fundamentally, what’s required is an adjustment and evolution of the positioning to the new reality.
Bob McDonald: You may also find, as you roll out your positioning and engage in sales cycles, that one particular element of the positioning rises to the top, and within that 12-month period you decide to double down on it. The response to part of the story is so compelling that it should be enlarged.
Bob Wright: That’s correct. And inevitably, companies will come out with additional features, capabilities and IP, and all of that needs to be reflected and rolled into the positioning as well.
The evolution process
Bob McDonald: What does the evolutionary process look like? Say you’re at the 18-month point and it’s clear some evolution is needed. What do you do?
Bob Wright: Typically, I analyze the sales cycle. What objections are we running into in sales cycles right now? What’s slowing them down? Has our buyer shifted? I also look at the competitive landscape. Has the competition shifted its capabilities, or have new competitors entered the market? And I look at the market category: what’s our perception now with market analysts?
Bob McDonald: Versus a year and a half ago.
Bob Wright: That is correct. Based on those new perceptions, I may need to adapt and change the positioning. Then I look inward, at any new capabilities, new IP and new releases — perhaps a significant piece of technology that could elevate our positioning to a new level.
Bob McDonald: Does it make sense at that point to sponsor a process similar to the one you used to create the positioning originally?
Bob Wright: Completely. I believe positioning is not a marketing initiative but a corporate initiative, and if you do positioning right, it impacts all parts of the company.
Bob McDonald: So this evolutionary discussion needs to include all the stakeholders, just as you did when creating the new positioning.
Bob Wright: That’s correct. When I do a positioning review, we involve not only the marketing organization, but also sales, product and support — and, for an international company, all the various regions. You need to take all those viewpoints and the current reality into consideration and evolve the positioning from there.
Bob McDonald: So you don’t want to do the evolution by yourself. You really need to engage the group again.
Bob Wright: One of the old ways of doing positioning — and I have to say I was guilty of this — was to go into the corner office with the CEO, come out a couple of days later, and say, “Here’s the positioning, let’s go for it.”
Bob McDonald: And that holds true for the evolutionary step as well.
Bob Wright: That’s correct. That’s absolutely the wrong way to do it. It’s a collaborative process that requires buy-in and input across the entire company.
Bob McDonald: Bob, thanks for giving us some insight into how long good positioning should last. Join us for more sessions of Differentiate or Die.