The Importance of Product Positioning in Marketing
In this blog, we are going to discuss the importance of Product Positioning and how it matters the most if you want to come over the field of dreams fallacy.
I'm going to walk you through three products that you've heard of, except they are failed-successful products.
Bubble Wrap, Bubble Wrap was originally created to be wallpaper and no one wanted it.
Listerine, Listerine was created to address and fix gonorrhea.
And my favorite Viagra, Viagra was actually invented to lower blood pressure by increasing blood flow, but no one wanted it for that, people wanted it for something else, you know what.
Here's the thing.
All three of these products were invented for completely different problems, but they failed, and then they figured out how to actually reorient that product to a successful problem to solve. This is the magic of product positioning.
You may have incredible technology, but you've got it positioned toward the wrong thing. But if you can position your product effectively, then you could have massive success. And a lot of times founders, especially tech founders tend to be married to how we're positioning our product, we don't think about it broadly and it's to our detriment.
So in this article, I'm going to walk you through the three principles you need to follow to actually position your product effectively, to actually make sure that you're going after the best and highest use for your product.
The Importance of Product Positioning
HotJar is a website analytics tool that allows website owners to see how visitors interact with their websites. When the company first launched, it marketed its product as a website heatmap tool. However, they found that they weren't gaining traction in the market. They realized that their product was being compared to other website heatmap tools, which limited their appeal and didn't showcase the full capabilities of their software.
To address this issue, HotJar decided to change its product positioning. They shifted their focus from being a website heatmap tool to being an "all-in-one feedback and analytics tool for your website". They highlighted features such as visitor recordings, feedback polls, and form analysis. This new positioning helped to differentiate them from other website heatmap tools and showcased the full range of capabilities their software offered.
This change in positioning proved to be a turning point for HotJar. They began to see an increase in sign-ups, and their customer base began to grow. And that happened because they took the time to actually reposition the product, so it gets its best and highest use. The technology didn't change, it was the same technology, and the same features and they were selling the same thing, they just positioned it in a much more effective way, and that led to more growth.
And this is when I, as well, really learned the importance of properly positioning my products.
Principles of Effective Product Positioning
So, let's walk through the three principles you need to know so that you can start to think about positioning your product effectively.
Principle #1: What is the highest and best use of our technology?
This is the question you want to be asking yourself. You may have built an incredible product, but what is the highest and best use of your technology? There are different ways to answer this question. For example, you can ask your rabid users why they use the product and what the biggest benefit is. You can also consider if there is a core product loop that is way more valuable to you. The key is to think broadly about what is the real result that you're delivering for people and what are the other kinds of people that want the same kind of result.
The important thing to remember in a positioning exercise is that it's not about more features. Don't fall into the one more feature trap. It's much more about what is the best and highest use of the technology that we already have, that we've already created, and whether can we orient it in a better way?
Principle #2: Who has the most important and urgent problem?
When HotJar made the switch from just the Heatmap tool to the All-in-one feedback tool, They were saying, you know what? Heatmap tools are for no specific person, but Feedback tools can be used by Marketers, Data analysts, and UX designers to understand their users. They positioned it to the people for which the product made the most sense. They were able to hone in on that specific segment of the market, and they were able to hone in on specific roles that cared about the product the most.
So you wanna be asking yourself once you hone in on what is the highest and best use, think about who has the biggest, most important, and urgent need for this highest and best use solution.
Now I have a third principle, but before I go into that, let me just pause here for a second. Let me just pause like, are you starting to see the power of product positioning just from these two principles?
See, the tech founders and technologists and inventors, we fall in love with the solution, we fall in love with this incredible technology. What we forget about is this technology can be used in so many different ways. And my goal for this article is to get you to realize that technology can remain the same, but if you can position it in better ways, just even by following the two principles that I've covered already, you can actually massively shift the success of your product, the impact of your product.
I mean that's really what matters, right?
You wanna make sure your technology is being used for the right impact, that's what matters the most.
Principle #3: What is your unique value proposition?
Once you start to hone in on. We understand now how we can best use this technology, the highest and best use, and we know exactly who needs it, how do you set it apart, right?
When you think about Bubble Wrap and Listerine and Viagra, what was the thing that they did that set them apart and said, hey, we're actually the best for this? This is where your value proposition comes in. This is where you clearly craft what makes you different, how you actually deliver on it, who it's for, and why they need to take action now. So you'll have to develop your value proposition that matches principle one and principle two as well.
Bringing it all together for Product Positioning
Number one, you need to make sure with the technology you have, what is the highest and best use of our technology? It may not be what you think it is. It may, the market may tell you differently. Number two is who has the most important urgent problem that this highest and best use solves? Who can we actually meet with who can we serve in the biggest way using this technology that we've created? And number three is how do we communicate that? What sets us apart? How do we differentiate?
And when you do these three things, these three simple components, you start to develop your product positioning. When you do that, you end up rising above the competition, you end up going into the highest-value customers, and you end up growing faster.