Why Your Product Isn't Selling (and How to Fix It with Product Positioning)
Recognize the warning signs and learn how to reposition for maximum impact.
Product positioning should not be an activity done when you launch a new product. It may well be the solution to your sales problem.
When you launch a new product, you want to make sure that there is a product-market fit. This means that there is a need or a problem in the market that your product solves. Your product fits that market segment.
You are now ready to position your product in a particular product category. This will help prospective customers to immediately understand what your product does.
If you are operating in a mature market and your product category is clear, it is easier. Customers will understand the product features and benefits very well.
You now have a well-positioned product. You can now focus on how your product is different from alternative solutions.
What if there is no Product Category?
If there is no clear product category, you will have to create a new product category. Simple as that.
This is much harder. You will have to educate the market about the value of this new product category. Customers will try to place your product into a product category that they know.
There will be no competition since you created this product category. The only alternative will be to do nothing.
So what is product positioning really?
From what I described so far, what can we say about product positioning?
Product positioning is a marketing strategy. It positions a product in a particular product category relative to competitors. We want to influence customers on how they view, think and feel about our product.
To do that we must give them a good reason why they should care about our product. They should be clear about the problem we solve and how our product is different.
When do I need to do product positioning?
Product positioning is not only necessary when you launch a product. There are other situations where it is important to do so. Here are a few that I can think of:
· Your product does not sell very well
· Your product does not scale
· Customers do not understand your product
· Your customers confuse the product with something else
· You have a few customers, but the product struggles to scale
· The sale cycle is long
· You need to educate the customers before you can sell
· Your product is in a mature product category with a few dominant players.
Why is it important to do product positioning
From the list above we can see that product positioning is critical for your sales effort.
If customers do not understand your product or misplace it, it will not sell very well. On top of that the sales cycle will be long. You need to position the product in the minds of the customers.
They must immediately understand and know what your product is about. Otherwise, you will have to educate them about why they should care. This only increases the cost of sales and slows down the sales cycle.
How to do product positioning in a market dominated by well-known brands?
If you are a new entrant in a market dominated by a few well-known brands, you have a mountain to climb.
The best strategy here is not to take on these competitors head-on. It will be time-consuming and costly.
Rather, position the product for a specific niche within the market. A niche could be a specific set of product features or a specific customer need. You can also consider a combination of these to come up with your unique value proposition.
In this way, you can nibble on the edges where the dominant players will ignore you.
This is how you increase performance in a competitive market. This is how you build a brand reputation with clear messaging.
Align your product development, sales, and marketing teams
It often happens that the internal teams are not aligned on the product market fit. That is, they do not agree on whose needs their products best serve. The clearest sign of this is when salespeople ignore the approved marketing messages. They figure out what works for them and what resonates with customers.
Product positioning solves this problem. This is when all teams collaborate to position the product in the best way. When they craft messaging that sells and builds the brand.
Conclusion
Product positioning is an effective marketing strategy to position your product customer’s minds. Customers will try to associate your product with existing product categories they know. Product positioning solves other sales and marketing problems like poor sales.
It is a must to do product positioning when you launch a new product. At times poor product positioning may be the reason sales are sluggish. It is also required when you want to align your marketing and salespeople. Find your best product category. Show how your product is different from the other alternatives.
Product positioning is foundational in that it directs the marketing strategies that follow. This includes value proposition, messaging, and branding.
Recognize the warning signs and learn how to reposition for maximum impact.
