Brand Understanding: Developing a Great Positioning Statement. - Issue: 2004 Qtr 2
A friend of mine, Fred, owns a manufacturing company. It’s pretty successful, but could be doing better in the profitability department. Lately, he’s been getting a lot of price pressure, and he’s trying to figure out a way to get paid for the value he provides.
So I asked Fred, “When someone asks what your company does, what do you say?”
Fred answered, “We’re an injection molding company.”
“That’s true,” I said. “Injection molding is something that you do, but is there more?” As we talked, Fred mentioned that over 80% of his business was molding plastic parts used in hospital operating rooms.
“I guess you could say that I’m in the medical device business,” he ventured.
So we kept talking, and Fred mentioned that the products he made were used in operating rooms all across the country to make sure that sedated patients could breathe easily without the danger of obstructions.
“So, I think, maybe, what we really do is help medical teams successfully complete lifesaving surgery thousands of times a day all across this country,” Fred said.
Right.
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The point of the story, of course, is that how you describe your company is more important than it seems. During the conversation, Fred was able to see his product from an external perspective. It’s not about what you do. It’s about why you do it. It’s about what fulfills people’s needs and expectations.
Now, if Fred can focus his company around the position of “helping medical teams and patients breathe easier in the operating room,” he should be in a better position to increase the value perception of his products, align business processes with everyone in his organization, and improve his profitability.
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