The Power of Positioning

 
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” That famous 1967 movie cut is from Cool Hand Luke.  Little did we know when the Wardon (played by Strother Martin) made that statement about Luke…that 30 years later we would be living in the world’s first over-communicated society. Each year it seems we send more and more and receive less.
 
The per-capita consumption of advertising is about $200 per year.  With only 6% of the world’s population America consumes 57% of the world’s advertising.  In the USA $3,000 of a car’s cost is allocated for advertising. 
 
Harry Nilsson sang a song for a 1969 movie titled Midnight Cowboy. “Everybody’s talkin at me. I can’t hear a word they’re saying.” Today as consumers we are inundated with advertising which makes breaking through the clutter very difficult. Depending on the research you read we see and hear between 3,000 and 5,000 advertising messages per day. Most of us average 50 to 60 advertising pieces in our mail box per week. How can we expect to get our message across?
 
Here is the basic premise:
No one can hear when everyone is talking.
  • So don’t talk when everyone else is. 
  • Try to advertise and promote when competitors are not.
  • Don’t talk where everyone else does.  Possibilize, find unique ways to reach your audience.
  • Make a single point – and make it clear.
  • Speak visually – we notice appealing images, even when we can’t hear words. And when you use words…make them count – give them value. Say something different.

Remember, we live in an abbreviated world of sound bites…and clients like it that way.

Try to add new importance to actions & images. When words are losing their value - turn to actions and images. You have always heard actions speak louder than words – well it is more important than ever.

Your actions are your message.  Ask your team: “how must we act to convey our message, whether it is: caring; client-centered; clinical excellence; or operational efficiency.

If you couldn’t use words:
  • What images would you use?
  • How would you dress?
  • How would you act?
Twenty years ago Al Ries and Jack Trout introduced the concept of positioning. It was designed to come to grips with the problem of how to be heard: their answer, as just discussed,
  • The over simplified message.
  • Once again - less is more.
 Positioning:
  • Concentrates on the perceptions in the mind of the client or potential client.
  • It has been clearly proven that: perceptions create our expectations and our expectations influence our experiences. As dentists and dental team members you face this every day.
Social scientists have taught us the
Expectancy theory:
  • People experience what they expect to experience, and see what they expect to see.
The role of professional marketing is:
  • To shape, and sometimes reshape, client expectations.
  • You should review everyone and everything in your office environment.
  • Do you create the expectation that you will be caring, safe, reliable…trustworthy?
  • How about your logo, stationary, brochure, web site? Your marketing materials should match your positioning.

How you position your practice is the one thing you want people to remember about you.  There are all sorts of standard positions: convenient; affordable; friendly; or the old stand by...caring.  Search deeper.  If your a second or third generation dentist in the community, how about "a family tradition of excellence.

 

Dr. Harold A. Pollack, a friend of mine from Millburn N.J.,  re-positioned his practice a few years ago.

 
The positioning: beautiful smiles.
 
After almost 60 years at this same location ( between Harold & his dad) this was a tremendous undertaking. It took a lot of courage.
 
The interior design was upgrated to match the positioning. The front desk staff’s wardrobe became more business like and all new collateral marketing materials were developed. Including a new logo: beautiful smiles by Dr. Harold Pollack.  The results have been excellent, especially due to the efforts of his dedicated team.
 
Positioning asserts that you strive to own “a single word or a short phrase” in the client’s mind.
If I said:
  • Volvo (you would say) Safety
  • 7-up – The uncola
  • Avis – We try harder
  • Fedex – Overnight
  • Crest – Cavities...and today as you are eliminating cavities, they’re re-focusing to                           Whitening.
Ries & trout emphasized finding and owning that single position in the client’s mind. They also felt, if you were first you had a better chance for success. You know the theory: What is the name of the highest mountain peak in the world? Everset, in the Himalayas. What is the second?
 
In closing, you’ve all heard that “first impressions arelasting”– well, I’ve encountered some interesting research that shows they may be eternal.
 
Dr. Nalini Ambady, internationally known scholar in non-verbal social psychology at Harvard University, performed a unique experiment to discover the power of brief encounters.
 
In the experiment - I’ll summarize - she asked students to come to a classroom where she showed them short videos - 10 seconds long - no sound - of teachers they had never met. Then the students were asked to rate the teachers in a variety of categories.
 
She next compared the results with those of students who took a course from the same professors for a full semester. 
 
The results were startling. Students who saw the professors for 10 seconds gave the exact same ratings as students who knew them for months.
 
Dr. Ambady then shortened the clip to 2 seconds. Same results. Quick lasting judgments.
 
Additionally, she broke students into 2 groups. Using the same professor’s clips she told group 1- that he was a statistics professor. Group 2 - she told that he was a professor of humanistic psychology.
 
Same professor, same clip, different title.
 
Group 1 - the statistician - said he was cold, rigid, tense and remote.
 
Group 2 - the humanist – said he was warm, helpful and deeply concerned. 
 
A great lesson in stereotypes!
 
 
 
 

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