Dunford: Market category selection sets automatic customer assumptions about products
April Dunford · April Dunford: The Marketing Expert · Aug 20, 2024 · at 10:47
Positioning expert April Dunford explains how category definitions establish default customer expectations.
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“That market category has set off a set of assumptions in the customer's mind about that product. If I do this well, it sets off a set of assumptions about that product that are true, and that's great. Now I've saved marketing and sales a whole lot of time, energy, effort. I don't have to tell you exactly who my competitors are. It's assumed. I don't have to list every single feature. A lot of that stuff is considered table stakes in the category. But it works the same way if I do a terrible job of it. So if I do a terrible job of it, I position my product in a market category such that it sets off a set of assumptions about my product that are not true. Now marketing and sales has their work cut out for them on doing this damage that your positioning has already done”
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