What is the Gap Between the Defacto and the Desired Positioning?

A lot of people don’t really understand positioning. They equate it with a “mission
statement” like, “We are the highest quality and the most caring company in the
food business, providing the best-tasting nutritious frozen meals and baby foods
throughout the world.”

Mission statements are what the management and the board of directors think of
themselves. Customers don’t care. Customers care what’s in it for them.

The positioning of a product or a company is what comes to people’s minds when
they hear its brand name. That’s called the de facto positioning. It’s also called
reality.

But what would management want people to say? That is their desired positioning.

Is there is a gap between the two? Then there’s an identity and a marketing
problem.

The first step is to find out: what is our standing right now? How do people place us
in their lives, versus other options? What are our assets and our baggage?

Then, what are we going to do about it? Think about your desired positioning.
Imagine that you are conducting groups of customers and prospects, two years from now.

Focus Group moderators might throw out this question:
“Think about this brand. What comes to mind?”


Put words in their mouths and thoughts in their minds. What words? If they are
different than today’s responses, what shall you do? Is it fixable? What must
change?