Erich Flynn, CEO, TreeHouse Interactive

You have spent weeks researching your markets, building competitive taxonomies and calling together disparate company stakeholders to get your positioning statement complete. Now what? This is a really good question.

Just to refresh, the objective of positioning is to find a perception you want to create in your target customer’s mind—one that addresses customer issues and enables you to focus on the highly desired and highly competitive features of your product relative to your competitors products in your target market (see How to Create Positioning that Works - A 5-Part Methodology). Once you find the perception you want to create, you need to take steps to make it happen.

It is important to know what a positioning statement is, and what it isn’t. It is not a tagline, advertising slogan, marketing copy for websites and datasheets, or company mission statement. A positioning statement is a perception you want to create in your target customer's mind. It sets the competitive agenda, focuses on your solution's most compelling attributes and much more, literally touching every aspect of your company.

If your positioning is truly competitive, your sales teams should be almost unbeatable when properly trained and provided with the sales tools needed to win business. The positioning statement won’t likely be the message, but it will greatly influence the messages, strategies and tactics to create the desired perception in the target customer’s mind.

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