The One Thing

Tuesday April 05, 2005

by Karen Albritton

In City Slickers, grizzled cowboy Jack Palance asks soul-searching Billy Crystal, "Do you know what the secret to life is?"

"No, what?" says Billy.

"One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean sh__."

"That's great, but what's the one thing?"

"That's what you've got to figure out."

Similarly, in marketing, if you don't figure out your one thing, nothing else matters.

So, what is that one thing? Marketers use a lot of buzzwords to describe it - branding, brand DNA, unique selling proposition.

Capstrat has put together an approach to help clients identify their one thing. We refer to it as brand positioning - how a company differentiates itself in the marketplace.

Brand positioning is critical to a company's marketing. If you cannot clearly say what makes your brand special, then you will be hard-pressed to convince a prospect to choose your brand over the competition.

In addition, to do their best work, your employees need clarity about what differentiates your business. A strong brand positioning has enabled companies like Southwest Airlines, UPS and Nordstrom to transform their employee base into ambassadors.

Positioning is also important to current customers. If they know the one thing that makes you special, it will reinforce their original decision, encourage repeat business and inspire them to refer other customers. The best word-of-mouth marketing results from being clear with customers about what makes you special.

A well-defined brand positioning makes your marketing efforts more productive. Said another way, you'll spend less money on marketing if your message is clear and compelling. When companies keep pouring more dollars into marketing, it's often because they have not distinguished their product or service.

In our work with companies, we focus on making sure we arrive at a brand positioning that is powerful, relevant, distinct and, most importantly, true. Here are the three critical questions to consider.

• What is your competitive set? Many business failures occur because companies do not accurately define their competition.
• What is the one thing about your company, product or service that is truly different from your competition?
• Which customers and prospects care most about this one differentiating point?

Here is a real-world example of how positioning works.

In 2002, NDL, a developer of 3D graphics technology for interactive games wanted to capitalize on the next generation of its software. The single biggest competition came from developers who created their own technology instead of buying an off-the-shelf product.

To succeed, NDL had to appeal to these developers - typically 30-ish, male, ego-driven and skeptical. Capstrat's positioning focused on the flexibility of NDL's product that gave developers the freedom to create great games.

This positioning led to a new product name, Gamebryo. And it fueled the marketing launch at a major industry tradeshow. NDL's booth was swamped, product evaluations spiked and sales increased.

The secret of life? Maybe not. But for NDL, brand positioning was the secret to a successful product launch. And it is the secret to marketing success for any organization.