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阅读引语

定位，就是使品牌实现区隔

过去数十年间，美国商业发生的最大变化，要数各类商品的极度繁荣。

据统计，美国现有的商品高达1百万个库存单位（SKU），平均每个超级市场有4万个。而一个家庭80%到85%的需求，只要150个库存单位就可以满足。也就是说，每个商场里另外的39，850样东西，很有可能会被人们忽略。

今天的消费者面临太多选择，经营者要么想办法做到差异化定位，要么就要定一个很低很低的价钱，才能生存下去。其中关键之处，在于能否使品牌形成自己的区隔，在某一方面占据主导地位。

举例来说，我们曾为一个银行做定位战略，发现他们的小宗经营贷款业务，是业界的领先者，大部分的贷款都用于新移民的美国创业，实现人们的美国成功之梦。我们建议这家银行的区隔概念是“美国梦开始的地方”，以建立起自己品牌的定位。

有趣的是，他们将这个概念交由一家广告公司来执行，最后变成了“我们仰赖你的梦想。完全看不出定位的影子”。

为了防止这种情况发生，我确信企业一定要切实地理清自己的区隔，并按照这四个步骤来建立定位。

第一步：分析行业环境

你不能在真空中建立区隔，周围的竞争者们都有着各自的概念，你得切合行业环境才行。

首先，你得从市场上竞争者叫出的声音开始，弄清他们可能存在于消费者心智中的大概位置，以及他们的优势和弱点。我喜欢的一种调查模式，是就某个品类的基本属性，让消费者从1到10给竞争品牌们打分，这样可以弄清不同品牌在人们心智中的位置，也就是建立区隔的行业环境。

同时考虑的，是市场上正在发生的情况，以判断推出区隔概念的时机是否合适。

Nordstorm当年提出“更佳服务”的区隔概念，时机就把握得很好，那时整个百货业为节省成本，都忙于裁员和降低服务标准。我们协助莲花（Lotus）第一个推出网络使用的“群组软件（Groupwares of tware）”Notes时，全美国的企业正在赶赴电脑联网的热潮（译者注：此案例曾使濒临倒闭的莲花公司起死回生，并卖出35亿美元）。

就象是冲浪，太早或太迟，你都可能身葬大海。把握住最佳时机，你才有可能得到一个好的区隔。

第二步：寻找区隔概念

分析行业环境之后，你要寻找一个概念，使自己与竞争者区别开来。

想想一匹马，它有种类可分，所以很快就可以得到区隔：赛马、跳马、牧马、野马，等等。而跑马中，又可以从品种、表现、马厩、驯马员等方面去区分。

再来看看一座大学，它如何得到区隔的概念。美国有3600间大学，比世界上任何地方都要多，但他们在很多方面都很相似，尤其是愿意接受政府援助作为奖学金和贷学金。位居底特律西90英里的休西岱洱学院（Hillsdale College），就此向保守的支持者们提出了一个区隔概念：拒绝政府资金，甚至包括联邦背景的贷款。几乎没有竞争者敢这样做。

休西岱洱的口号是“我们脱离政府影响”，将学校定位为“保守思想的乐园”，使自己的区隔概念深入人心。正如一位集资者所说，“我们把这个产品（学校）卖了出去。”

第三步：找到支持点

有了区隔概念，你还要找到支持点，让它真实可信。

当我建议IBM的区隔概念为“集成电脑”的时候（译者注：曾经负债累累的IBM，凭着为顾客提“集成电脑”服务而成功实施战略转型），一切似乎显得过于简单，那是因为IBM的规模和多领域技术优势，是它天然的支持点。

任何一个区隔概念，都必须有据可依。比如一辆“宽轮距”的庞帝克（Pontiac），轮距就应该比其他汽车更宽；英国航空（BritishAir）作为“世界上最受欢迎的航空公司”，乘客自然要比其他航空公司为多；可口可乐说“正宗的可乐”，是因为它就是可乐的发明者；当你声称“赫兹(Hertz)非寻常”时，你就得提供一些别人所没有的服务。

区隔不是空中楼阁，消费者需要你证明给他看，你必须能支撑起自己的概念。

第四步：传播与应用

并不是说有了区隔概念，就可以等着顾客上门。最终，企业要靠传播才能将概念植入消费者心智，并在应用中建立起自己的定位。

企业要在每一方面的传播活动--广告、手册、网站、销售演示中，都尽力体现出区隔的概念。我们有一位快餐业客户，他们的CEO甚至亲自过问圣诞节寄给特许经营商的贺卡，一定要在节日的问候里，捎带上自己“区隔”。

另一方面，一个真正的区隔概念，也应该是真正的行动指南。几年前，我们把联合泽西银行（United Jersey Banks）定位为“快速行动银行”，他们很快就参透了这种精神，争着比来自“大城市”的对手（戏称“昏睡国家银行”）做得更快，大大地提高了贷款审批和解决投诉的速度，业务同步增长。

美国企业到处充斥着“激励员工”的废话，但实际上，下属并不需要你告诉他“怎样发挥潜能”，他们只想知道一个问题的答案--什么使我们的公司与众不同？如果他对答案产生认同，就会和公司一起奋步前进。

当你的区隔概念被别人接受，而且在企业的销售、产品开发、设备工程，以及任何大家可以着力的地方都得到贯彻，你可以说，你为品牌建立了定位。

最后，别忘了钱

值得强调的一句是，在建立定位的过程中，仅有一个好的区隔概念远远不够，你必须要有足够的财力把概念植入消费者心智。今日营销是一场在心智展开的比赛，进入心智需要有钱，保住江山需要的还是钱。

史帝夫·乔布斯（Steve Jobs）和史帝夫·渥兹尼克(Steve Wozniak)拥有了一个伟大的概念--------个人电脑，但令苹果电脑成功的，却是麦克·马库拉（Mike Markkula）的9万1千美元。马库拉因此掌握了苹果1/3股份，而本来他应拥有超过一半。

为了保住品牌地位，宝洁和菲利浦·莫里斯每年要花掉20多亿美元广告费用，通用汽车也高达15个亿。

没有钱支撑的概念一文不值。如果你碰巧穷得只有概念，做好准备吧，为集资做出最大的让步。

Jack Trout, Co-Author of 'Positioning,' Dies at 82

www.adage.com

Jack Trout, who coined the term "positioning" and co-authored of one of the most influential marketing books ever, died Monday at his home in Greenwich, Conn., of intestinal cancer. He was 82.

"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind," co-written in 1981 with Trout's longtime agency and consulting partner Al Ries, was more than a decade in the making. Trout first used the word in a 1969 article, and the concept was the basis of a series of columns in Advertising Age in 1972.

"The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and different," as Trout put it, "but to manipulate what's already up there in the mind, to re-tie the connections that already exist." Positioning fundamentals include the importance of being first, inventing new categories, and having brand names that are strong, clear and understandable. Trout would go on to author or co-author 15 other books on positioning, lecture around the world and develop a global consulting practice.

Trout's Greenwich, Conn.-based firm has offices in 20 countries, according to its website, and has consulted with a wide range of marketers, including Apple, AT&T, IBM, Procter & Gamble Co. and General Mills. Trout & Partners carries on under Deng Delong as global president, appointed to the role by Trout when he became ill.

The original book has sold more than 2 million copies, more than 400,000 in China alone, said Ries, who split off to form his own consulting firm with his daughter, Laura, in 1994. China has become a major market for both Trout & Partners and Ries & Ries, he said, and if anything the books and "positioning" concept are better known outside the U.S. than inside today.

Trout was born in 1935 in Manhattan, the oldest of six children. He went to Iona College on an academic scholarship and after college joined the Navy as a flight navigator.

He began his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. A mutual friend recommended him to Ries to join his agency. Ries didn't have an opening at the time, so referred Trout to the advertising department of a client, Uniroyal. When a spot did soon become available, Trout joined Ries at what would become Trout & Ries, where they worked together for 26 years.

"We were different," Ries said, explaining the success of the partnership. "He was an extrovert. I was an introvert. One has the idea, and the other is a critic. It goes back and forth."

One of Ries' favorite stories about Trout comes from the early 1980s, when Jeffrey Campbell, former CEO of Burger King, then a unit of Pillsbury, asked Ries for an autographed copy of the book and noted it inspired the chain's "flame broiled, not fried" positioning. After hearing about the encounter, Trout told Nation's Restaurant News that "J. Walter Thompson gets the Burger King advertising, and we get the books to sign."

"Campbell called me and said, 'Did your partner say that?'" Ries said. "I nearly crawled under my desk, I was so embarrassed. But Campbell said, 'I think he has a point, and I would like to hire you as a consultant,' which they did."

Trout is survived by his wife of 60 years, Patricia Daley, and six children, Timothy Trout of New York City; Joanne Trout of Riverside, Conn.; Nancy Trout of Hartford, Conn.; Susan Trout of New York City; Christine Acton, of Annapolis, Md.; and Peter Trout of Larchmont, N.Y. He also had 15 grandchildren.

内容转自：datangbc

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