Use Strategy to Stand Out from the Competition

In a crowded market, it’s sometimes necessary to up the ante to stand out. But according to Jack Trout, president of the marketing firm Trout & Partners, that doesn’t mean throwing a sucker punch. Instead, as he explains in his new book, REPOSITIONING: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis (McGraw-Hill, 2009), you should learn how to “hang a negative on your competitor as a way to set up a positive.”

Well-known brands have been doing this for years, says Trout. One of his favorite examples: when Denny’s hung “candy breakfast” on IHOP while talking about its own “real breakfast.” McDonald’s tried to pin a “snobby coffee” label on Starbucks, promising customers they wouldn’t “have to learn a second language” to order McDonald’s lattes. Apple called out PCs as “nerdy” while contrasting them with its own “cool” products.

The common denominator here is that each of these companies found a weakness in the leader’s strength and attacked that weakness. This is a subtle point, says Trout. He’s not telling sellers to “find the leader’s weakness,” because leaders often “have weak points that are just weak points and not an inherent part of their strength.”

Instead, hone in on your competitors’ strengths and look for weaknesses in those areas. For instance, Avis ads used to say, “Rent from Avis. The line at our counter is shorter.” Avis zeroed in on Hertz’s strength — its number one position in the market — and recognized that an inherent weakness in being the largest rental-car company was that more people were visiting its counters, which in turn would mean longer lines.

There are a couple keys to making this strategy work, says Trout. First, any negative about a competitor “must quickly make sense to your prospect,” he says. “When you’ve presented your idea, your prospect should agree almost instantly without further explanation or argument.” If that doesn’t happen, it’s not a good repositioning idea.

Second, steer clear of the word “expensive.” Price and differentiation don’t go well together. “When price becomes the focus of a message, you are beginning to undermine your chances of being perceived as unique,” says Trout.

Finally, remember that the point of a negative is to set up a positive about your own product or service. The weak spot you attack in your competitor’s strength should be a point of differentiation for you. In other words, the prospect’s mind should leap from understanding the competition’s weakness to perceiving your strength.

For instance, when BMW repositioned Mercedes as “the ultimate sitting machine” many years ago, it set itself up for its position as “the ultimate driving machine.” In short, a negative can’t be used effectively without a correlating positive in your brand.

To order a copy of Trout’s book, visit www.troutandpartners.com.