Positioning: How It Should Be? By Adina Brunetti

Good positioning is designed to inspire and motivate to action (if you are, of course, not a rabbit, which is going to be eaten by coyote). It is highly restricted to build your positioning strategy around money, market share and your personal ego.

Positioning should be:

- Positive. Entrepreneurship is not a war so no need to talk about the company's military terms. The purpose of your firm is not to knock out the other firm from the market. Consumers are not interested in your showdown with rivals. They wonder what benefits they gain by becoming a customer of your company.

- Customer-centric. Positioning must show what you are willing to do for the customer, not what you want for yourself. Stating making your company a "market leader", you seem

self-centered, and not customer- centric. Moreover, it is incorrect - how would you prove that you are a leader? And if some other company will announce itself as a leader - can you argue?

- Inspire. Your employees need to believe in the company's activities to improve the world. For example, eBay employees believe that their work is to help people achieve financial success. This belief motivates them to try to climb out of their way - and enjoy it.

A good example of a winning positioning is Toyota Prius. This car runs 55 miles (88.5 kilometers), burning 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of gasoline due to the work of it’s hybrid electric motor and gasoline engine. It is not really fast, fashionable or prestigious. But it is inexpensive and economical in operation - the emphasis made on these qualities and positions the car as a practical and unique.

In addition to the conquest of a winning position, good positioning leads to a number of real - tactical and strategic - goals and is close to customers, suppliers, employees, journalists and partners. A good positioning must therefore also be:

- Self-evident. Positioning should be clearly focuses on the purposes such as saving money and increasing income as well as a more exalted - peace of mind, enlightenment and joy.

- Concrete. Good positioning is aimed at a specific group of consumers. It should show whether you are entering into this target group or not. For example, "improve the security of Web sites" sounds much more general and vague than "reduce the risk of fraud in the implementation of online transactions on the websites of commercial banks."

- Profile. Proper positioning should be focuses on the core business of your company, not the additional products or services. For example, Apple Computer has positioned itself primarily as an inventor of new, innovative devices. It can not boast of special achievements in the field of IT- consulting - and does not do it.

- Relevance. Core competencies of the company must clearly meet the key needs of the target consumer. If this correspondence will not exist, the brand will not attract attention to positioning clients. - LP. If IBM began it’s career under the motto "to ensure stores cash registers," it would be extremely unfortunate positioning. Even the worst solution would be to call the company National Cash Register. - Originality. Your positioning should be different from competitors. Which is obvious.