Competitive positioning


Positioning is not easy: updating the way in which the company can identify and define a space within 'actually existing' market terminology can easily oversell or mislead. Inaccurate or misleading positioning gets torn apart by analysts.

Lighthouse has added the idea of competitive differentiation to the traditional approach. Competitive differentiation is rooted in sales rather than marketing communications. It involves reverse-engineering the requirements of customers. By basing positions on how the company's solutions can better meet the needs of a particular group of customers, vendors can develop positioning that is unique to them and clearly meets the information needs of analysts and the wider market.

Lighthouse's approach is called "Differential Competitive Positioning". We call this positioning, rather than simply messaging: messaging is a media relations task that aims to identify a set of clear, concise and accurate messages aimed at journalists. The broader aim of positioning is to discover the place that the product should and can occupy in the audience's mind relative to competing products.

The DCP methodology has three phases:

• Discontinuity Auditing compares the company's perception of its competitive position and market landscape with perceptions in the wider market. It employs substantial original research and a seminar at the corporate headquarters.
  
  
• Scenario Profiling creates a coherent vision of customer scenarios and market opportunities that can unlock unexpected and unexplained benefits for the company and its customers. Lighthouse develops this vision in discussion with the company, industry leaders like Gartner and a major corporate workshop.
  
  
• Differential Positioning validates the scenarios through organisational 'buy in' and develops them into a platform of memorable expressions and diagrams. This includes the development of a Positioning Playbook. Finally, a planning session focused on internal communication delivers the new positioning to the organisation, and plans its roll-out into the market.
  
  

Taken together, these three intensive phases produce a valuable set of positions and messages with strong foundations.


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