Clue 23The Role of Positioning in the Age of Conversation

Giovanni RodriguezThe Conversation Group

“There’s a New Conversation”Palo Alto, CA

May 2008

“Companies attempting to ‘position’ themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about.”

The Cluetrain Manifesto (1998)

Then

“We believe the world would be a better place if brands realized their Big Ideals.”

Steve Hayden, Ogilvy (2007)

Now

“Corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The aim is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society."

Adrian Cadbury

Somewhere Near the Middle

“Can good be monetized?”

Tyrone Davis (2008)

It Begs the Question

Conversational media is:

*DIY

*Space binding

*Fungible

*Inclusive

*Time binding

Lowering the Costs of Transaction

Identity

Why We Position

Role

Why We Position

Valuation

Why We Position

Who you are, and what you do, determine your value in the market.

In summary ...

Conversational media is challenging our perspective on all three: our identity, our role, our method for growing valuation.

The Challenge

Who are we, and what is our role?

Who are they, and what is their role?

What’s our bargain with them?

What about the rest of the market?

What’s the big idea(l)?

Five Questions

We were a small group of people: C-level execs, marketing folk, and salespeople. And on the front lines -- the people who were sanctioned to engage with the market -- were an even smaller group people we called ... ahem ... spokespeople.

Who Are We? (Then)

Now anyone -- at least in theory -- is a spokesperson, and anyone has the ability if not permission to engage with the market. But note ... we are the market.

Who Are We? (Now)

We approached the market by connecting with various and sundry external “constituencies” -- investors, employees, customers, partners, media, etc. We then devised messages for them.

Who Are They? (Then)

Today, almost anyone can join a market, and the roles that traditional constituencies once played are collapsing.

Who Are They? (Now)

Our relationships with were based on professional engagements -- they were either paid by us, or by sponsoring organizations. We needed to do nothing more than participate in the existing system of rewards and incentives.

What is Our Contract With Them? (Then)

We now understand that many people who make up the market have no professional relationships with us. We must support a new complex of appropriate incentives.

What is Our Contract With Them? (Now)

In the day, the competition was perhaps the most important point of focus in positioning exercises. We defined who we were by defining what we are not.

What About the Competition (Then)?

Today, it is more effective to regard the competition -- just as we regard ourselves and our partners -- as part of the market. We define ourselves relative to the entire market, not to any of its constituents.

What About the Competition (Now)?

The “Big Idea” was a story about what a company will do to a market. It was a work of art that looks at a market from the outside.

What About the “Big Idea”? (Then)

Today, the Big Idea is a path for what a company will do for a market. It is a plan of action that looks at a market from the inside.

What About the “Big Idea”? (Now)

http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/

We used to look at social causes as activities that were extraneous to our business. We’ve come a long way in our thinking, but the consensus is still there.

What About the “Big Ideal”? (Then)

Again, it’s a matter of perspective. Conversational media is time binding, not just space binding -- enabling the market to look both forward and backward.

What About the “Big Ideal”? (Now)

There was a time when various sectors of the retail business -- particularly pharmacy -- served a distinct social need: the neighborhood store. For many reasons, the stores -- and the neighborhoods disappeared.

Looking Backward

Elephant Pharm is reimagining the neighborhood drugstore in an age when there are very few neighborhoods left. And by supporting a broad range of citizens dedicated to both community and wellness, Elephant is helping to serve an even large market in a cost-effective way.

Looking Forward

Who you are, and what you do, determine your value in the market.

Back to our premise ...

It used to be about a few people, at the top of the organizational ladder. Now it’s about everyone, on the edges of the organization.

Who you are

It used to be about competing in a market. Now it’s more about joining and serving that market.

What you do

It used to be about sizing the company according to its share of the market. Now it’s about how the company serves the whole market. We are remapping the reach of an organization by integrating ourselves into the market.

Creating value

Is there an opportunity for your company to right a wrong in your market.

Question