“Positioning is like finding a seat on a crowded bus”
Most brands sleepwalk onto the bus and sit on top of one another.
The smart brands look left, right, find an empty row, paint their logo on it and sing sweetly like the Sirens.
I spent the last few weeks thinking about how brands differentiate themselves
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“Positioning is like finding a seat on a crowded bus”
Most brands sleepwalk onto the bus and sit on top of one another.
The smart brands look left, right, find an empty row, paint their logo on it and sing sweetly like the Sirens.
*Your goal is to own a space in the customer’s mind. You do this by differentiating yourself.*
Differentiation is not a dark art. It's something you can learn. Here’s the different ways to achieve it:
Point at the status quo and pit yourself against it. Contrast burns your brand into the customer's mind.
• Hey pit themselves against mainstream email
• Lemonde pit themselves against insurance stereotypes
• “I'm a Mac” pit themselves against the PC
Think Patagonia and the environment, Ben and Jerry's and social justice, Black Rifle Coffee and gun rights.
Some will hate it. Others will rally behind you. And that's the point. Fence sitters don't buy.
When Drift launched in 2016 they were just another startup in the mushy bucket of live chat software.
How to stand out?
Well, they reframed live chat as “conversational marketing” and made it their mission to own this new category.
Turn yourself into the product and no one can compete with you.
Think Kanye’s shoes, Nigella's cookbook, Wicks’s workout.
Instead of trying to be everything for everyone go all-in on one niche or one feature.
Limitation makes you easy to sum up. Being easy to sum up makes you memorable.
• Contrast - Marketing content was fluffy. My goal was no fluff
• Personality - Well, I write them all
• Limitation - Just examples. No agency, jobs board, etc...
Positioning isn't something you make up on a whim.
Behind great positioning is a story. Positioning is the TLDR. The story makes it memorable.
Look at Drift. Conversational marketing isn't plucked out the sky. It's the final bullet point in their story.
If you learnt something you might like my weekly newsletter. More short, sweet and practical case studies :)
Over and out — Harry
https://t.co/7gnJQydfDz
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big louis winthorpe III energy
i almost feel bad for the guy, because someone this absolutely clueless about how he sounds really shouldn't be allowed to post under his own name.
he seems like someone who *genuinely* means well most of the time, but it extremely easy to excite and wind up, and who is just profoundly dense about the wisdom of getting wound up the way he does in public.
on the other hand, the tara reade business was indefensible, exploitative, and gross. if there is ever a writer who desperately needs an editor to save him from himself, it's nathan robinson.
i had a few friends in high school who were well-meaning, wealthier than they realized, and in drama class, and most of them grew out of their nathan robinson stage because, well, it was oklahoma. there's almost something a little charming about the fact that he didn't.
they're the cheapest classic car on the market https://t.co/imorvNSZcI
— Zoomcock Archivist \U0001f30b (@canderaid) December 17, 2020
i almost feel bad for the guy, because someone this absolutely clueless about how he sounds really shouldn't be allowed to post under his own name.
he seems like someone who *genuinely* means well most of the time, but it extremely easy to excite and wind up, and who is just profoundly dense about the wisdom of getting wound up the way he does in public.
on the other hand, the tara reade business was indefensible, exploitative, and gross. if there is ever a writer who desperately needs an editor to save him from himself, it's nathan robinson.
i had a few friends in high school who were well-meaning, wealthier than they realized, and in drama class, and most of them grew out of their nathan robinson stage because, well, it was oklahoma. there's almost something a little charming about the fact that he didn't.
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