Consider the opposite strategy
When stating your product strategy or your key functionality, you want to ensure that your message resonates instead of sounding just like everyone else. One technique for evaluating strategic messages is to see if the reverse is a sound strategy.
“We have a growth strategy.”
(Doesn’t everyone?)
“We offer 24/7 support.” (Doesn’t everyone?)
“We put the power of the internet at your finger tips.” (Doesn’t everyone?)
“We don’t plan to grow.”
“We don’t offer support.”
“We don’t leverage the internet.”
Sounds kinda silly, doesn’t it?
What do you do that is uniquely yours? That’s what you should emphasize in your messaging.
“Designed for the special needs of community colleges” makes sense, assuming other vendors offer solutions for all universities, or perhaps focus on high-end colleges.
New products and new vendors should go for a niche strategy, to focus on something that no one else is targeting. Repositioning your competition as “good for that but not for this.”
Look again at your strategic vision and your positioning. Would anyone choose the opposite as a sound strategy?
This type of vision statement helps drive your product teams and is a key tool in your product playbook.
About Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com
In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com