Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

by Al Ries

The third approach is the one that should have been used first. It’s to look into the mind of the prospect to see what mental images already exist. And then select one you can tie Jamaica into.

you spend, regardless of how technologically interesting your service is, to get inside the prospect’s mind, you have to relate to what’s already there. You can’t walk away from your existing position in the prospect’s mind.

More often than not, however, it can be exceedingly helpful to map the prospect’s mind by means of formal positioning research. Helpful not only in developing a strategy, but in selling the strategy to top management. (The chief executive who has spent 30 years with one company will obviously see that company differently than a prospect whose total exposure over the same 30 years can be measured in minutes or even seconds.) “Mapping the prospect’s mind” is normally done with a research technique called “semantic differential.” This was the procedure used to develop a positioning program for the Long Island Trust Company. In semantic differential research, the prospect is given a set of attributes and then asked to rank each competitor on a scale, generally from 1 to 10. For example, price might be one of the attributes. In automobiles, it’s obvious that Cadillac would be ranked at the high end and Chevette at the low end.

Key to the business justification for the suggested approach to positioning

What approach should Long Island Trust take? Conventional wisdom says you accept your strengths and work on improving your weaknesses. In other words, run ads telling the prospects about the great service, friendly tellers, etc. Conventional wisdom is not positioning thinking. Positioning theory says you must start with what the prospect is already willing to give you.

the best positioning ideas are so simple and obvious that most people overlook them.

One thing that United Jersey has in common with Long Island Trust is its marketing environment. Both operate in the shadows of Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical, Manufacturers Hanover, and the other big New York City banks. That’s at the north end of the territory. In the south, United Jersey operates in the shadows of the big Philadelphia banks (Mellon, First Pennsylvania). The problem of finding a viable banking position is complicated by the fact that the services offered by United Jersey are similar to those of its competitors. Federal and state regulations see to that. The only approach that will work is the Tylenol approach. You don’t find the answer to the problem of positioning the bank by studying the bank. You find it by studying the competition, as Tylenol did by studying the problems of aspirin.

Positioning is always a question of dealing with what’s in the mind.

The disadvantage of large size is slow service.

The essence of a good positioning strategy is that it transcends every aspect of a company. You know you have a winner when you run it up the corporate flagpole and everybody salutes.