{"id":638,"date":"2016-08-08T16:21:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T16:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/?p=638"},"modified":"2016-11-15T22:49:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T22:49:21","slug":"starting-positioning-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/08\/starting-positioning-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting with Positioning and Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Successful marketing starts with positioning and focus so says Al Ries and Jack Trout in their marketing classic, <em>Positioning<\/em>. Although the tactical side of marketing has changed and evolved in many different ways since this book was written, this single truth is still at the heart of any successful marketing effort.<\/p>\n<p>Many organizations try to accomplish too many things and their focus becomes muddled, resulting in a position of mediocracy, as opposed to one of leadership in a single facet.<\/p>\n<p>As a credentialing organization you are already one step ahead. \u00a0You\u2019ve already narrowed your focus to focus on just one thing \u2013 securing new and serving existing certificants. \u00a0By positioning your organization to be exceptional at that solitary focus, you stand to achieve a greater competitive advantage.<\/p>\n<p>Yet as you develop your organization around this singular focus, you still cannot determine your actual position within the marketplace. Everyone\u2019s ultimate goal is to position themselves as the leader in their industry. But in this case position is a noun, not a verb. No organization can position itself as anything. You can focus your efforts and your message to influence your position, but your position is controlled by the marketplace including your competitors and current and future clients.<\/p>\n<p>To help leverage your position, it is wise to create a positioning statement.\u00a0 As you start to do this don\u2019t confuse a position with a positioning statement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <em>position<\/em> is a black-and-white, no-nonsense state of how you are perceived in the minds of prospects. It is your position.<\/li>\n<li>A <em>positioning statement<\/em> states how you wish to be perceived. It is the core message you want to deliver in every medium to influence the perceptions of your service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The marketplace is becoming an increasingly bustling and noisy place with numerous companies blaring their position statements at customers, hoping people will latch on to their message. Make sure your statement is clear and concise so consumers know exactly what your service offers and why it delivers better than your competitors.<\/p>\n<p>You can establish your brand\u2019s position statement by answering these simple questions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Who are you?<\/li>\n<li>What business are you in?<\/li>\n<li>What people do you serve?<\/li>\n<li>What are the special needs of the people you serve?<\/li>\n<li>With whom are you competing?<\/li>\n<li>What makes you different from those competitors?<\/li>\n<li>What unique benefit does a client derive from your service?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If your position statement effectively conveys your brand\u2019s differentiating factor, then your position within the marketplace as a whole will take a favorable shift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Successful marketing starts with positioning and focus so says Al Ries and Jack Trout in their marketing classic, Positioning. Although the tactical side of marketing has changed and evolved in many different ways since this book was written, this single truth is still at the heart of any successful marketing effort. Many organizations try to&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/08\/starting-positioning-focus\/\">View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[56,50,55,57],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing","tag-focus","tag-marketing","tag-position","tag-position-statement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}