In 1982, programmer John Walker decided to make a big bet. His friend Michael Riddle had a computer-aided design (CAD) program that he struggled to sell. But Walker believed in the idea. Designers who worked on complex projects —like engineers and architects— needed precise measurements. And doing that on paper was painful. You had to…
Category: Positioning
3C Analysis (Competition): How To Find Your Unique Positioning In Crowded Markets
We’ve talked about the 3C’s that drive a brand’s positioning in our Profit-Led Branding Framework: Company, Competition, and Customer. In this article, we’ll look into the second C: Competition. Now let’s see how a rental company with seven cars became a global giant, how to find gaps in crowded markets, and how to discover your…
How Sacrifices Grow Brands (And Three Sacrifices You Can Make)
Have you ever bought avocados? They are tricky. One day they are too firm to eat. So you wait for them to get a bit ripe. But right when you are excited about the avocado toast you are going to make, you realize they got bad. All the avocados you bought go to the trash.…
3C Analysis (Company): How To Analyze Your Firm To Find The Winning Positioning
In our Profit-Led Branding Framework, three elements drive a brand’s new positioning: Company, Customer, and Competition. Only the right insights from these 3C’s can make the new positioning obvious. In this article, we’ll dive into the first C: Company analysis. – In 2003, the iconic toy brand LEGO was in trouble. They had a negative…
How Positioning Shapes Everything About Your Business
Positioning shapes everything about your business. How? Let’s make a simple thought experiment. Imagine you have a new business. You want to sell a service — sales training. One way to position it could be “training for sales teams in B2B software companies.” And that would define your: This is clear. Now, another way to…
Perceived Value: How To Create More Customer Value (Without Changing The Product)
How can a business create value for customers? And how can you increase it without changing much about the product or service? Let’s think together. 1. Benefits Functional benefits are always a factor. You buy a watch to know the time. And maybe you dive a lot. So water resistance up to a certain pressure…
Value Innovation: How To Win In Crowded Markets By Ignoring Competitors
In the 1960s, commercial aviation was booming. And aircraft engine manufacturers wanted to take advantage of this new industry. They had expertise and large production capacity coming from the Second World War. Rolls-Royce was one of them. But they were small compared with American giants like General Electric. And how do you grow in this…
Scissors-Rock-Paper: How To Turn Your Company’s Size Into a Competitive Advantage
In 1982, two employees at Xerox —John Warnock and Charles Geschke— decided to quit and start their own business. They were excited about developments in tech. So they wanted to ride the wave. Their idea was simple. As more people used computers, the world needed better ways to work with digital files. So they created…
Counter-Positioning: Why Your Brand Needs An Enemy To Grow Faster (And How To Choose One)
In the 1970s, BMW was an unpopular brand in the US. The other German brands already captured a place in American drivers’ minds. Mercedes meant comfort. Porsche meant sporty luxury. And Volkswagen meant practicality. But BMW? It had no identity. Some people didn’t even know that it was German — they thought BMW stood for…
Anchoring Beyond Pricing: How To Increase Your Brand’s Perceived Value
In the mid-1940s, the diamond cartel De Beers had a challenge probably no other company ever had. They controlled almost all the diamond mines in the world. And they had an excessive supply after the discoveries of huge mines a few decades earlier. But they had a dilemma. If they reduced the price and made…
