Strategic Planning Analogy #556: Position Vs. Proof

THE STORY
Imagine this conversation with an entertainment promoter. We’ll call him Bob.

Bob: I’m so excited! I just booked a night to use the stage at Carnegie Hall. This is such a great venue to perform in. Some of the greatest performers in the world have had some of their greatest performances at Carnegie Hall. This is the place where winners perform. Success is mine.

Me: So who will you have performing at Carnegie Hall? What will they perform?

Bob: I have no idea. That’s just a minor detail. The important thing is that whatever it is, it will be on that successful stage.

Me: If you don’t know what the act is, how do you plan to sell tickets?

Bob: I’ll just say that great stuff happens at Carnegie Hall. Come see the greatness.

Somehow, I don’t think Bob has this thing fully figured out.

 

THE ANALOGY
In my long line of strategy blogs, one of my favorite topics to talk about is positioning. Dozens of times, I have talked about the necessity for businesses to choose a position if they want to succeed. They need to find a place where they can win.

Perhaps I have focused so much on the importance of positioning that people think that strategy is little more than choosing a position. But strategy is far more than just finding a position in the marketplace. In fact, if all you have is a position, you are likely to fail.

Consider the story above. Bob the promoter found the ideal position—a place where he could win. That place was Carnegie Hall. A lot of performers have won at that position.

But just because Bob had found the ideal place to play does not mean he would automatically succeed. To succeed, he needs to sell tickets. And to do that, Bob needs to figure out what to perform and how to convince people to pay to see it. Owning an empty stage will not draw crowds. Just saying “come see the greatness” won’t work.

In the same way, businesses only succeed if they convert their positioning into preference—a proposition that causes consumers to actually give their money to you (rather than someone else). Being on the right stage only matters if people pay to see it. Therefore, strategy needs to not only find they place where you can win, but a reason for customers to choose to support it.

  

THE PRINCIPLE
The principle here is that positioning is mostly an internal strategy. It tells a company where to play. It talks about the solution it will own and how to structure the company to achieve it. A second strategy, which we will call “the compelling reason”, is needed to get customers as excited about the position as the company is—enough to spend their money with the company. That is the external strategy. Both are needed to win, just as Bob needed both the stage (the position of Carnegie Hall) and the compelling performance for that stage (a reason to come to Carnegie Hall).
   

It is easy to get confused and think that the position and the compelling reason are the same. After all, a position must be desirable to a consumer if it is to be successful, right? Yes, but in reality, what it takes to win internally is not the same as what it takes to win externally.

Trust Issue

Positions tend to rest on owning some idealized superiority, such as highest quality, most luxurious, easiest to use, coolest, cheapest, “ultimate driving machine”, and so on. This type of positioning is what Les Wexner of LBrands refers to as answering the question “What are you Best At?”

Yes, customers like things that are the best. The problem is that customers are jaded. They’ve been hearing claims of superiority their whole lives. After all, how many brands try to claim a position of mediocrity? No, everyone shouts about their superiority. They can’t all be best. Hence, there is a trust issue. You cannot just claim a position of superiority. Nobody will believe it merely because you claim it. No, you have to prove it in order to overcome their lack of trust.

There’s a reason why user and expert opinions/ratings are so sought after on the internet. It’s because consumers don’t blindly trust claims made by the brand. They want them verified by others. They want proof.

So “positioning” determines the claim to be made (what am I best at) and “the compelling reason” determines how to prove to the customer that the claim is true. The two are not the same.

Two Components of Proof

There are two components to the compelling reason. Without them, there is not enough proof to make the claim of the position believable.

The first component is difference. You have to prove that you are different from the alternatives. The logic is simple: If are seen as doing the same thing as others, then you cannot be seen as superior…only the same. You must do something different in order to be perceive as different from the others.

And to make the difference believable, it needs to be easily understood and verifiable.

The second component to the compelling reason is linkage. You need a way to link the difference to the position of superiority. Just saying we’re different because we wear green shirts won’t work, because there is no linkage between wearing green shirts and producing a superior product. The difference needs a direct link to the superiority—proof that the difference causes the superiority.

For example, Dove soap has the position of being “the best beauty soap.” Their point of difference is in saying that their soap is one-fourth moisturizing lotion (and the others aren’t). The linkage is that moisturizing lotion is associated with beauty, so soap with moisturizing lotion can be the superior beauty soap.

Back when Oxydol was the #1 laundry detergent, the position claimed was superiority in cleaning. The difference was putting little green crystals inside the detergent (which others didn’t do). The linkage was that the little green crystals supposedly added bleach to the detergent. And customers could believe that combining bleach to detergent would cause superior cleaning.   

Linkedin’s position is to be the best place for professionals to connect. The difference is that they have far more active professional people in their network than anyone else. The linkage is that you are more likely to make the professional connections you need in the place where the most connections with professionals are possible.

Uber’s position is to provide transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone. Their point of difference is that their business model abandons all of the conventions of taxis and public transportation. All the rules have been reinvented, including the mobile interface. The linkage is that these changes have dramatically increased the numbers of people providing transportation and improved the interaction with them, making transportation more reliable and more everywhere.

Two Messages

So, as you can see, the positioning message and the compelling reason messages are not the same. In fact, they move in different directions. The positioning message moves towards the broader, more generalized, more universal concepts and solutions. The compelling reason is more specific to a particular company and the “unique ingredients” in its offering.

The position lets you know if the company is relevant to your needs. The compelling reason lets you know if this particular brand is the best alternative in that space (compared to others claiming the same relevancy).

Positioning is about ideals. The compelling reason is about proof.

Both messages are essential. Both need to be a part of the strategy process.

SUMMARY
Although positioning is a key component of strategy, it is not the only key component of strategy. Another key component is the compelling reason. A position is merely a claim that is made concerning where you have chosen to play to win. A compelling reason is the proof as to why customers should believe your claim. Although they are similar concepts, they are not identical. Therefore, if you have only created the position, you are not yet finished with the strategy process.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The problem with claiming a stage like Carnegie Hall is that it is not the only stage. Consumers have other alternatives. So even if Carnegie Hall is the best stage, consumers will go to another stage it they think they will enjoy a better performance. Therefore, you need to work on two fronts: finding your platform/stage AND making sure you are perceived as having the preferred performance.