HOW
TO POSITION PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR SUCCESS
By Henry DeVries
If you haven’t already, read Positioning:
The Battle for Your Mind and Marketing
Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout. For a good summation
of positioning, we refer you to the classic text Contemporary
Advertising by Courtland Bovee and William Arens.
Positioning will always be a buzzword
in marketing and advertising circles. The authors demonstrate
the concept by asking a few simple questions. Who was the
first person to fly solo across the Atlantic? Charles Lindbergh,
of course. But who was the second? Not so easy? Who was the
first person to walk on the moon? Neil Armstrong made that
one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. But who
was the second man to walk on the moon? The first person
to occupy a position in the prospect's mind is going to be
hard to dislodge.
Ries and Trout compare the mind to a memory
bank, with slots and positions for every bit of information
to retain. But unlike a computer, which has to retain information
fed to it, the mind does not. As a defense mechanism, the
mind screens and rejects the flood of information. The mind
keeps what agrees with its prior experience and filters out
the rest.
To store the information, the mind ranks
products and brands. Visualize a series of ladders. Say computers,
and people think of IBM on the top rung. For electronics,
it’s Sony; for automobiles, it’s Mercedes.
For professional service marketing, it
is critical that you earn enough recognition to make it onto
the ladder for your category. The mind does not have the
room for things new and different, so you must relate them
to the old. This is where nichemanship comes in. As an architect,
you will be put on the architectural ladder. Frank Lloyd
Wright is probably on the top rung. But you can be known
as the architect who specializes in designing 2000s versions
of Victorian homes.
Let’s take law as an example. For
years the top rung probably belonged to Melvin Belli, the
attorney known as the “King of Torts.” In her book Expose
Yourself, former journalist turned public relations
consultant Melba Beals describes how she helped create this
positioning. But there is lots of room on the ladder. Describing
yourself as the Melvin Belli of sexual harassment cases is
not a bad strategy.
A good example of this is Dr. Joyce Rebhun,
a former IRS tax attorney who calls herself a tax therapist. “I
knew from studying marketing in college you have to differentiate
yourself,” says Rebhun. “There is already a glut
on the market of tax attorneys.” Rebhun decided her
target market would be those who have emergency tax problems
with the IRS. Because she only handles crisis cases, she
has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazine articles,
as well as on TV news shows. She runs ads in newspapers with
her photo and headlines that read “You Don’t Need
to Lose Your Job—Family—Sanity Because of the IRS.” He
phone number is 1-800-SOS-4TAX. She may be on the crowded
lawyer ladder, but she definitely has clearly defined her
own rung. Even in her promotion, she never forgets positioning.
She is starting a syndicated newspaper column called “Ask
Dr. Joyce,” which she describes as the “Dear Abby
of the tax world.”
Back
to Table of How-To Articles
Copyright© New Client Marketing Institute
2000 – 2003. You may reprint this article in any publication
or Web site as long as you credit Henry DeVries as the author
and include his Web site address, www.henrydevries.com.
|
