Our Take on Positioning
The idea of positioning is a simple one: own a place in the mind of your customer. Fedex owns “overnight”. Uber owns “tap for a ride.” The trick, of course, is to try and own that idea against competitors who would like to own the same thing, or to find an idea that no one else can own.
Inspired by the work of Clayton Christiansen, specifically in his book Competing Against Luck, we think about positioning through the lens of the job the customer hires the brand to do. This perspective is particularly helpful in the healthcare space, where there are often several stakeholders involved in brand choice. What reason does the physician have to “hire” a pharmaceutical brand, or a medical device? How aligned is that reason with that of the patient? With the payer?
A good positioning statement for a healthcare brand takes into account the complexity of the adoption decision, and can be crystalized into a single-minded idea that reflects the value all of these audiences get from the product. Ratio uses tools to both develop that high level positioning idea, and express it in ways that help it connect with the specific needs of each audience.