Recently, my colleagues at Mirasys were discussing…OK, arguing over…what to name our new product and how to talk to our target customers. In looking for some support for my particular case, I picked up a copy of the marketing classic, Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

It turned out to be a refresher course in key concepts that, as product managers, we need to work with everyday. The challenge we face in our over stimulated society is how to convince people that our product is worthy of their time and mental energy. Positioning shows that in order to do this, we have to carve out a space in the minds of our prospects.

And we know that's not easy. Today the mind of our prospects are more fractured that ever - dozen of applications active on the desktop, countless web sites to view from a Google search, ceaseless cell phone calls, instant messages, and, of course, emails to answer. How can we possible carve out a place with all that noise?

That is where Positioning becomes central to your product and marketing strategy. The only way to get into the mind of your prospect is to leverage what is already there. In order to do this effectively, you must know your prospect intimately.

How well do you know your prospects?
Positioning reminded me of something that could be very important to product managers, the term-prospect-is the customer you don't have yet. And the person or people most important for you to increase sales of your product! It seems that product managers in Silicon Valley have a bad habit-and I know I'm guilty-of using the word "customer" to mean Customers and Prospects, where often the positioning of your product required is very different for the different audiences.

To help us with our positioning at Mirasys, we created profiles of the different people who buy and use our product. Once they became "real people," they took on a life of their own and it became easier to develop positioning statements that might get stuck in their minds.

What's in a name?
In Positioning, I found the chapter "The Power of the Name" to be the most helpful. Picking a product name is central to reinforcing your positioning strategy. As Ries and Trout stated, "the name is the hook that hangs the [product] in the prospect's mind. In the positioning era, the single most important decision you can make is what to name the product." So many technology products are named as a result of their engineering prowess with little regard to what that name might mean to a prospect. Positioning emphasizes the point that an effective product and company names must be two or three syllables.

So all this got me thinking:

What is the long term value of positioning?
Positioning is so strong that even Microsoft with all its market and technology might can't move Intuit from the top spot in personal finance, tax preparation, and small business accounting. Quicken, Turbo Tax, and Quickbooks, all excellent examples of positioning names, have been market leaders almost as soon as there were released.

Look at Google as another example: with their singular focus on the "search position," they have radically changed the way we all work. But notice that they don't make money directly from us with their search position. Google sells that position to someone else trying to find a way into our minds!

What is the role of technology in positioning?
Technology must support the position and continue to defend the position. A great example is how Salesforce.com is replacing the positioning of Siebel as the product of choice for salespeople. Salesforce.com starts its positioning with its name, then continues it by moving into the mind of salespeople (who tend to be less savvy when it comes to technology) as an easy to use web service as opposed to Siebel a complex software application.

How will you position your new product against Google, Outlook, or…?
The great thing about innovative technology, it continues to open new places in the mind of your prospect. Positioning is a great place to start your next strategic marketing initiative if you're wrestling with your colleagues over some of these issues. While some of the examples may seem dated or a little distant, Positioning remains an important tool for today's product manager.

Next Up on the Reading List

• Inside Intuit Suzanne Taylor and Kathy Schroeder
• The Art of the Start Guy Kawasaki
• The Innovator's Dilemma Clayton M. Christensen

What's on your shelf? Please feel free to share your reading list, camgeer@yahoo.com.

About the Author:
Cam Geer is an SVPMA member and Director of Product Management at Mirasys (www.mirasys.net). A product strategist with over 13 years experience, Cam has worked continually on the forefront of emerging technologies for companies that evolve into significant segments of the software industry including-digital video, e-learning, entertainment, and personal finance.

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