“Okay, I know what we are talking about. I get it.”
That’s the only response you want to your positioning statement, according to Gartner research analyst Hank Barnes, who has conducted more than 1500 positioning reviews in the last five years.
You don’t share your positioning statement? Neither had we. Neither do lots of companies. Positioning, as Hank points out, is not messaging. Positioning statements are supposed provide a framework for messaging, but they tend to be formulaic and not very interesting. The canonical structure is along these lines:
- Who the target customer is
- What they need
- What you offer
- Reason(s) to do business with you
- A competitive differentiator
It’s hard to turn this structure into enticing, snackable text. But it’s not so hard to do it with video.
Why would you want to make a video positioning statement?
You certainly wouldn’t be following the crowd. A Google search turns up lots of videos about writing positioning statements online, but no videos that communicate an actual positioning statement.
We created the positioning statement video here as part of our recent rebranding effort. Like many technology solution providers, we meet most of our customers online, not face to face. The straightforward information in a positioning statement seems like a good place to start. And a lively 30-second video that communicates that information seems like putting your best foot forward.
It makes it really easy for people feel sure they “get” what you’re talking about. Here are a few points worth considering:
- 59% of executives say that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video.
- The standard positioning statement structure makes it all but certain that the video won’t come across as a too-sales-y.
- It’s going to use a lot of text. Our positioning statement video uses “fast typography”-style motion graphics. This is good for sharing on social media — did you know that 85% of Facebook videos are viewed without sound?
I think our positioning statement video is simple and straightforward and does what it sets out to do. What do you think?
