Positioning is a unique and valuable marketing technique that can differentiate your band and increase your sales. It is unfortunately misunderstood by many in the field.

I just finished reading an article by a marketing “pro” that said that the essence of positioning was to have a good image of your product.

No, no.

The essence of positioning is tying your product or service to something that is already in the mind of your public. But there is a preliminary step.

You do a survey. You find out that what your prospective buyers most like about your product or service is that you deliver quickly – you have fast service. Your prospects love how fast you can deliver.

Then you go back to your prospects and ask “What activity or object represents “speed” or “fast” or “fast service’ to you?

Say, the answer is a ceetah or a hot rod (dragster) or a rocket.

Rocket Mortgage got it 1/2 done. Surveys apparently showed that those seeking a mortgage wanted speedy service, words to that affect. So, they named the company “Rocket Mortgage.” Good call.

But their logo or an image on their website and promotional material should have shown a rocket ship or missile of some kind so that when one lands on their  website, the first thing they see is this zooming rocket.

No, there’s a picture of a guy standing in front of a home smiling. He’s just got a mortgage and bought a home or refinanced his home. Okay. Fine.

But there’s not an image or a single word on the entire page about speed or fast service.

They got the name right. Nicely done. But missed a big opportunity to position their service with, say, a rocket.

We did surveys for a company that manufactured and sold a unique multi-vitamin. We surveyed those that had purchased the product. Why did they buy it?

To get more energy.

Now, positioning survey. “What object or activity represents “More energy?”

Answer? People exercising.

(Note: that isn’t the actual picture they used, but it was Something similar).

Positioning ties your product or service to something already in the mind of your public. This makes for instant communication.

I experienced one of the most unique, unusual incidents of positioning as a banker some years ago. It is a story of positioning like no other.

In 1970 I went to work for a bank in the town of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco East Bay. The President of the bank – Security National Bank – was a man named Pete Stark.

Pete was a unique individual with cutting edge points of view for a bank President. In 1970, the age of the “hippy” was still in bloom and many of the bank officers at Security wore hair to their shoulders. This sounds like no big deal whatsoever today. But then, bankers with long hair… unheard of.

But the attire of the SNB bankers was not the most unusual thing about Security National. You see, the war in Vietnam was still raging. And Pete was very anti-war. Again, this doesn’t sound like a big deal now, but believe me, corporate America did not speak out against the war in 1970. The so-called anti-war movement was just beginning to move out of Haight Street in San Francisco and Oregon Senator Wayne Morse was only one of two Senators who voted against the infamous Gulf of Tonkin resolution giving President Johnson a free hand in the Vietnam War (which is a whole other story).

So, Senator Wayne Morse made a great deal of press speaking out against the war….and so did this banker in the San Franciso Bay Area, Pete Stark. Yes, Pete became “famous” or “infamous” for his out spoken stance against the war in Vietnam.

He certainly had a unique anti-war position for a bank President. He got a lot of press. But we are talking about an image communicating a position. I mean some ads with good positioning don’t even need copy, you just look at the ad and it sends a message.

But here’s my point, Pete Stark had certainly built a reputation as being anti-war, but then…

Security National built a beautiful 8 story building in Walnut Creek. The bank’s headquarters branch (there were others) was on the ground floor and bank management and headquarters were on the 8^th floor with other departments (real estate, collections, operations, etc). located throughout the building.

But on the outside of the 8^th floor, attached to the top floor of the building on the outside, was a beautiful 8-foot gold peace symbol. And the building was such that one could see the huge peace symbol from the very busy 580 freeway headed towards San Jose.

You could not drive by that bank and not know the bank’s position on the war in an instant. The position attacked a large number of customers (not all long-haired kids). I was the manager of the headquarter’s branch and I had a very large depositor base and had13 tellers to handle the walk in business (then again, this was before online banking).

You probably don’t have an 8-story building to promote your position, but with some sharp surveys we’ll create one for you. Just give me a call or send an email (see below).

In one of the strangest transactions I ever witnessed (which has nothing to do with positioning), Pete later sold the bank for millions, ran for and got elected to Congress and was reelected for many years.

What’s strange about that? He sold the bank to Adnan Khashoggi, one of the biggest arms dealers on the planet.

Best,

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@**********an.net

1-818-397-1401