My favorite positioning quote is from Dolly Parton, who said, “Find out what you are and do it on purpose.” I think about this quote a lot (I used it in my book, Obviously Awesome, and I even made stickers). I think a great positioning exercise is a structured process that allows a team to get real clarity on exactly “what you are” so marketing and sales can “do it on purpose.”
When you say some teams “invent” (as in lie about) differentiated value in marketing, that’s absolutely harmful to customers and a business. On the other hand, crafting (not inventing) differentiated value is exactly what a marketing team should do. The framing, contextualizing, and articulating that the marketing team does is vital work. Now, the issue is that some non-marketer types don’t see the distinction. Moreover, they fail to see that marketing delivers real, tangible value in the form of content, customer education, and community—all of which augment the core product features and enhance the experience the customer has with the company as a whole.
When you say some teams “invent” (as in lie about) differentiated value in marketing, that’s absolutely harmful to customers and a business. On the other hand, crafting (not inventing) differentiated value is exactly what a marketing team should do. The framing, contextualizing, and articulating that the marketing team does is vital work. Now, the issue is that some non-marketer types don’t see the distinction. Moreover, they fail to see that marketing delivers real, tangible value in the form of content, customer education, and community—all of which augment the core product features and enhance the experience the customer has with the company as a whole.
I also like what Beyonce did there. Not a Beyonce expert, but by simply reading that line it's clear to me the category is "Beyonce", not "country".
A true monopoly-of-one.