Comments on: The Art of Product Positioning – Do you know the right position?

By: Social Media and Product Positioning | Socialight Media Kenya

Social Media and Product Positioning | Socialight Media Kenya — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:21:53 +0000

[...] have just read an incredible article on product positioning where the all important question in product positioning is posed: Can I communicate it without [...]

By: Imtiaz K

Imtiaz K — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:09:22 +0000

Hey Mayank,

Wonderful article.
Each word you have said is so true… I can’t agree more.

It often happens that in the excitement (in a customer acquisition process)we tend to get carried away and over talk. I think we (marketing guys) should downplay our offerings during this excitement and hold our horses. We should not talk what more we are going to give (if a customer agrees sign up) apart from what is there on the SLA.

I tend to explain our future plans and future features of our products to increase the excitement of the customer. Actually that reduces the excitement of the customer over the time, as they start waiting to see the new features that I had promised and loose their focus from what is there on the system as features.

But, when I down played my product and started surprising my customers with new add ons and features… the customers were delighted to see surprises. This approach actually helped me gain better traction.

We tend to over sell or hype the product when we actually don’t need to. I think it happens involuntarily. (At least with me it does.) I wonder if it happens with others also…

Under talking over performing, actually positions our products much better than shouting on the commercials about what we are. This is an actual example of what you have said in your article.

Thanks,
Imtiaz K.

By: Lijo Isac

Lijo Isac — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:23:12 +0000

Good Work Mayank. One of the books that gives lot of examples of positioning in an Indian context is Brand Repositioning by Subroto Sen Gupta aith amazing examples like the positioning trouble of Maggi and all.:).However you have really simplified the concept and made it easy to understand for everyone.

By: Mayank

Mayank — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:56:55 +0000

Hey Lalit.
Thanks for the kind words.

You’ve got a very valid point that I missed out on in the article. That’s very true. A management’s vision plays a very important role in creating that gene and that gene is the key catalyst for the behavior of employees. That’s why it’s so important for the management to have the correct thought process with respect to product and their core competency.

By: Lalit

Lalit — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:25:09 +0000

Great read, Mayank. It’s quite ‘Guy Kawasaki’ like article even if you did not claim it that way ..(See I can brand blog posts too ..:-D)

I must congratulate you on this great read ! thanks a lot for such a refreshing article.

BTW I personally feel that another important part of the brand’s positioning is the company ‘gene’. ‘What does the management team talk about the most’ or how well they communicate it down the ranks usually ends up being the positioning of the company. Examples coming to mind are “stable” Nokia phones, “cool” Apple Mac / iPhone , “smart”/”do no evil” attitude of Google towards solving problems.