Quotes About Positioning

Porter defines the value proposition as the answer to three fundamental questions (see figure 4-1): Which customers are you going to serve? Which needs are you going to meet? What relative price will provide acceptable value for customers and acceptable profitability for the company?

Instead of competing to be the best, companies can—and should—compete to be unique. This concept is all about value.

Price competition, Porter warns, is the most damaging form of rivalry. The more rivalry is based on price, the more you are engaged in competing to be the best.

Industry structure is dynamic, not static, a point that Porter has to repeat often because there has been a remarkably persistent misconception that industry structure and positioning are static, and therefore irrelevant in a fast-changing world.

Customer segmentation is typically part of any good industry analysis, and choosing the customer(s) you will serve can be an important anchor in your positioning vis-à-vis the five forces. In the examples that follow, note how each reflects a different basis for segmentation: Walmart's segmentation was based on geography, Progressive's on demographics, and Edward Jones's on psychographics.

True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will.

Everyone knows that I like to play centrally, where I can drift around. I like coming in off the right flank and having more freedom. I don't mind playing on the left, although I prefer playing centrally or on the right.

The essence of strategy is finding out what your unique advantage is. ~ MICHAEL PORTER

Before you make a move, remember to take the whole position into account. In poker, your position includes everything you know: about your hand, about the players at the table, the chip counts, the situation - anything that can provide a clue about how the people you're facing will behave.

Preparation may not guarantee a win, but it sure puts you in position for one.

How do I fit in my area or department? • How do all the departments fit into the organization? • Where does our organization fit in the market? • How is our market related to other industries and the economy?

It's not about having luck; it's about putting yourself in a position of luck.

Marketing is everything.

If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.

Without knowing it, the subconscious is always categorizing and organizing information, and when we talk publicly about our company's random backstory or internal goals, we're positioning ourselves as the chairs, not the exits.

Many companies confuse branding with marketing, and this confusion is costing them millions.

The fatal mistake some brands make, especially young brands who believe they need to prove themselves, is they position themselves as the hero in the story instead of the guide. As I've already mentioned, a brand that positions itself as the hero is destined to lose.

The two things a brand must communicate to position themselves as the guide are Empathy Authority

when we talk publicly about our company's random backstory or internal goals, we're positioning ourselves as the chairs, not the exits.

If we've positioned ourselves as the guide, our customers are already in a relationship with us. But making a purchase isn't a characteristic of a casual relationship; it's a characteristic of a commitment.

brand that positions itself as the hero is destined to lose.

Brands that position themselves as heroes unknowingly compete with their potential customers. Every human being wakes up each morning and sees the world through the lens of a protagonist. The world revolves around us, regardless

Honesty is a suitor with piercing vision who isn't swayed by pretending and positioning.

When a company owns one precise thought in the consumer's mind, it sets the context for everything and there should be no distinction between brand, product, service and experience.