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Positioning

Clarity in marketing begins with consciously choosing where you stand in your market -- and your customer's mind.

Convenience. Price. Performance. Service. Customization. Globality. Technological excellence... These -- among other 'positions' that are available in nearly every market category -- are the foundation on which your growth, market share, share of mind, competitiveness, and overall success rests.

Determining what that position is -- if you don't already know it -- is a skillset Cowley brings to client relationship. Below are the key steps we will take to help you arrive at a strong, differentiated, and supportable position.
 

To begin, we start at the "center of the onion."

There's a good chance your management team, middle managers, sales force, distribution channels, and front line staff have a pretty good bead on your organization's "position." But since that's not always the case -- and since big problems can arise from not knowing for certain -- Cowley Associates recommends conducting a qualitative and quantitative study of your internal audiences to be 100% sure. The process may include:

  • executive interviews
  • online surveys of your employees, channel partners, and other stakeholders
  • interviews with industry experts familiar with you and your market (eg: trade editors, analysts, influencers)
  • focus groups
  • among other tactics

When complete, you'll have a clearer picture of what your own people think of your organization, its culture, value proposition, strengths, shortcomings, and opportunities. You'll also have the beginnings of a plausable position. 
 

Next, we study your competitors.

In today’s world, B2B customers and consumers have countless choices when making purchasing decisions for both goods and services, so it’s important to make your organization stand out from the rest. Accordingly, we'll take a hard look at your competitor set -- not to mimic what they're doing or automatically point in the opposite direction -- but to fully understand where you can best carve out, successfully defend, and then grow your own position on that highly competitive landscape.
 

Finally, we get a read on what your customers think.

Here again, we employ a range of proven research methodologies to determine how you are currently perceived. Pricey? Progressive? Old-fashioned? Overbearing? Stellar? Slow-to-respond? These truths -- honestly conveyed by the clients, customers, or consumers who pay your meal ticket -- invariably provide the confirming data points, fresh insights, and occassional epiphanies that fully inform your position. This information being established and weighed relative to our internal-audience and compeititve findings, it's time for BRANDING!

Client Work Samples

 
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