Stage 2
Strategically position yourself
Now that you understand your customers, you need to position yourself to better resonate with them.
How they “see” you will have a large impact on how they receive your message.
What role are you taking? Which category do you want them to see you in? Which one do you want to avoid? What is your stance?
Don’t leave these to chance.
Build your brand personality and your company persona.
Under what light do you want them to see you?
Step 1 – What is your value proposition?
How do you help your customers?
Often, companies define their “product” too narrowly. It is the “thing”, product or service, that they deliver. Actually, you deliver more value than that, through the overall customer experience.
We make explicit the full range of value that you deliver, from functionalities directly targeting the accomplishment of the main objective, to features designed to relieve specific pains or to create delight for your customers.
Step 2 – Where are you going?
We are working on solidifying your positioning.
But not just today’s.
Your ideal position for the future.
Imagine, in five years, your company makes the cover of a magazine. Which one are you hoping it will be, and what is the story that will deserve that showcase?
Let’s build your positioning to help you become that company.
Step 3 – Category Design
Customers love categories. It makes it easy to compare offers and make a decision.
But if your customers put you in the wrong category, it shows they do not understand your value and any comparison will not be to your advantage.
It is up to you to define the category in which you want your customers to see you. Even better, creating a new category will increase your power.
Understand your default category
How do your customers see you?
Define a powerful new category
Choose how your customers see you and to what they compare you
Define your vocabulary carefully
Words are important. By naming and claiming a category, you own it in the minds of your customers.
Sell the category, not the product
By selling your new category, your standpoint, your vision, you reinforce your ownership of this new category.
Your customer’s language
Now, it’s time to find the particular language that resonates with your prospects.
Your reader is skimming through your content, jumping around, like an animal foraging for food. They are not concentrated on understanding, they are waiting for something to match their mental model.
That match can mean an increase of 10 fold of your conversion rate.
We will explore options and set up the process for you to rapidly test them.
Step 4 – Archetypes
Archetypes are the main characters in human interaction. They are part of our shared history. They encapsulate a persona, a recognizable posture.
Understanding, or, even better, choosing, your company’s core archetype gives you a strong foundation for your communication. It helps define your tone, your commercial relationships, and even your choice of target customers.
Explore the universe of archetypes
Get a feeling for the different personas brands can embody
Which archetypes match?
Play with the archetypes, group and rank the ones that fit your company, your offer, your customers, your vibe.
Validation
We go through your offer, your marketing, your customers to get a feeling if your main archetypes hold up in the real world.
How does it change things going forward?
Step 5 – Brand personality
To complement your main archetypes, we explore brand characteristics to enrich your company self-image.
Explore a set of values and personalities
Sort them in Yes, No, Maybe categories
Narrow down
Play with the characteristics, group and rank the ones that fit your company, your offer, your customers, your vibe.
Position yourself
Choose and embrace your main traits.
Step 6 – Company Persona
We have created one or more customer personas.
A persona for your company is equally useful. It clarifies who you help, your relationship with them, how you communicate.
With the insights from the previous exercises, we craft your company persona.
Benefit
Positioning yourself purposefully has a compelling impact on how your audience perceives you and therefore how they will respond.
Establishing your credibility, choosing to what they will compare you, and setting the tone, are like superpowers.
You will set the frame in which they will receive your communication.
Format
One or two half-day interactive workshops with management, marketing/communications staff, and customer-facing team members.
In real life, in a workshop room, with whiteboards, and post-its. In your offices or in a rented space.
Online collaborative Zoom sessions with virtual whiteboard & post-its.
Up next
Methodically construct the story
Now that you understand your audience, and have positioned yourself to better resonate with them, it’s time to actually construct the story.
Stories follow tried and proven formulas. Just watch any movie.
Here is a powerful framework. You will pull your audience through the emotional ups and downs that will engage them and bring them to the action you are looking to entice.
