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Positioning:
Positioning is one of the more misunderstood concepts in business-to-business (B2B) software marketing. Confusing matters further, there are two proper usages of the "positioning:"
  1. How your company is situated relative to its competitors;
  2. How your products and services are situated in the minds of customers and target audiences.
We help our clients with No. 2. Messages that Matter defines positioning as a mental space that you can "own" with an idea that has compelling meaning to the recipient. It's in this mental space where the product's most important benefit and the customer's most important need meet, and hopefully stick.
What is the goal when you initiate a positioning process?
An effective positioning strategy helps your target buyers associate a benefit with your product or company that makes them want to buy. With some effort, time and money, you can claim a position by consistently executing an idea that has meaning to the target audience in all your marketing communications. Unfortunately, technology companies have had a particularly hard time establishing solid positioning.
Are positioning problems new?
It's been more than 20 years since Al Reis and Jack Trout, said, in their marketing classic, Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind: "Too many companies embark on marketing and advertising as if the competitor's position did not exist. They advertise their products in a vacuum and are disappointed when their messages fail to get through."

Failure to differentiate creates market confusion which in turn inevitably leads to longer sales cycles, a familiar problem for many B2B software companies. You probably know the symptoms, and most likely blame the buyer for the long sales cycle. But what about "me-too" marketing? Differentiation is what B2B software companies covet the most. Yet few companies successfully differentiate, generally because they don't have a positioning process in place that insures you have a thorough understanding of the 3C's of successful positioning.
What are the 3Cs of successful positioning?
Messages that Matter teaches a positioning methodology that emphasizes the importance of having a thorough understanding of your
  • Competitors
  • Customers
  • Channel (whether you sell direct, indirect or both).
What's the first step?

Before you can start developing a compelling positioning strategy, you need to be able to answer these important questions:
  1. What pressing problem does your product solve for your prospective customer?
  2. How is your prospect solving that problem today?
  3. What specific benefit does your product deliver?
  4. Why is your product better than the current solution and competitive alternatives?
  5. What makes your product unique in a way that is relevant to your prospect?
  6. Can you communicate this difference in a way that sets your product apart from the competition?
When you can answer these questions with confidence, you're on your way to successful positioning of your B2B software product or service.

Let us teach you how to position your B2B software product or service
Messages that Matter helps software companies develop positioning strategies that build awareness and drive demand for their products and services. We give marketing professionals the knowledge and tools they need to develop powerful message strategies that differentiate their products and services from those of the competition.
We use a formal, systematic methodology to insure your positioning strategy is unique, believable and can adapt to all your marketing communications. These include brochures, Web sites, sales presentations and advertisements. We teach methodology during our one-day workshop, "Effective Positioning - How to talk so the market will listen." Our goal is to transfer our knowledge and methodologies so client teams can take responsibility for message strategy development. We strive to make our clients self-sufficient. The benefits of effective positioning include:
  • Increased sales, share and profit
  • Stronger preference for your company's brands
  • Higher competitive barriers
  • Committed, lifetime customers
  • Marketing efficiencies
  • Greater shareholder reward
A positioning strategy makes it easier to deliver the same message across all marketing media including Web sites, brochures, advertisements and presentations to investors, industry analysts and prospects. Repetition is one of the most important factors in claiming a position and giving it staying power. Remember, you'll get tired of your message strategy long before your target audience is tired of it - and sometimes even before all your audiences have heard your positioning for the first time. Give it a chance to work.

How we help with positioning:
  1. We'll teach you a proven process
  2. Learn how to make a unique claim
  3. Learn the importance of the 3 Cs in positioning
  4. Provide standard materials and reference guide
  5. Transfer knowledge to you
  6. Share experiences and insight
  7. Learn to set competitive traps
  8. Provide a tool to create your competitive map
Let's Get Started
Contact Lawson Abinanti. It's your first step toward better positioning, one that clearly differentiates you from your competitors, and creates awareness and demand. Lawson can be reached at (425) 688-0104 or Email. Also, we offer workshops on-site or at training facilities throughout the West. Sign up today for our free newsletter. Call us at (425) 688-0104 or email us to discuss how we can assist. We offer workshops at your company’s location or at our offices in Seattle and San Diego. We also offer a free newsletter – sign up today.