Succinct Positioning

Five words or less. Use consumer language, not "clientese." Follow the 4D rule. These are a few of my guidelines for writing positioning statements that are compelling and executable.

• Five words or less. See if you can write your own tagline that clearly captures the essence of your brand. And don't whine and say that's a copywriter's job... if you can't boil down the brand essence into a short, memorable phrase, chances are a copywriter can't either. It's not a quick and easy process, but it pays off. 
• Use consumer language. Too many times I've worked with clients who've insisted that we use certain phrases in the positioning that make sense internally but not to customers, or they're so focused on features that they forget that customers care more about benefits. To get yourself in a customer state of mind, write your positioning statements from a customer's point of view. For example, "If I choose x instead of  (alternative), I will (get what benefit) because (primary reason to believe)"
• The 4D positioning rule is desirable by customers, distinctive from the competition, deliverable by the company, and durable over time. A good brand position will sit at the intersection of these four requirements.

Some companies live and breathe their brand positions, and they're articulated perfectly in rarely changed tag lines.  Apple's Think Different and Nike's Just Do It are so powerful that they are the "north star" for those brands.  I can think of other great companies like Southwest Airlines that change tag lines often but never waiver from their brand essence.

If you're not an Apple or SWA, it's important to follow the three rules above to determine your future state (where you want to be) and work your way forward using internal alignment, operational improvements and marketing tactics that -- over time -- coalesce into a coherent, memorable brand.

For a few related posts on positioning, see Positioning Debate and More On Positioning.   

Client/agency relationships

I read in the WSJ a couple days ago that agency/client relationships are becoming harder to sustain… not surprising as marketers are under increasing pressure to drive results. In the good old days, clients were happy with increases on brand awareness and preference metrics. But given that the average tenure of CMOs at top-branded companies is only 23 months, there’s an intense pressure to demonstrate results – fast – and often at the expense of the brand and its customers. 

Many times, a new CMO sends the current advertising agency into an unproductive frenzy when they, upon joining a new company, immediately question their predecessor’s strategy. If the agency isn’t immediately fired (which often happens), an incredible amount of time is spent on the re-education of the new CMO — oftentimes as much as three months. Also, because advertising campaigns are tangible, new CMOs have a tendency to quickly look to the creative for a change in direction. Clearly, these knee-jerk course corrections, designed to demonstrate that the CMO is making an impact, are not only expensive propositions, but, more importantly, force the consumer to accept yet another brand positioning.

Ad agencies have to shift their thinking from pure creative to advertising that moves products. If agencies don’t have senior staff that can speak C-level lingo and understand how to tie creative execution to business results, we’ll see more and more of agency/client relationships go sour. On the other hand, clients often fallaciously think that advertising is (or could be) a magic bullet. They no longer have the patience to stick with a campaign (or an agency) for the long haul. And lastly, most aren’t empowered to make the kind of customer-experience decisions that would actually move the revenue needle. So they lump all these expectations onto their agencies and expect them to work a short-term miracle. Clients and agencies both can take steps towards improving their partnerships to be more win-win.