7 Signs It’s Time to Reposition
(and the Questions You May Be Asking)
By Ellie Victor & Nick Copping, Co-CEOs
In sports and business, winners figure out how to compete on their terms. As the playing field shifts and competitors innovate, how and when do you respond to optimize your advantage?
Over the past 25 years, we've seen what works and why it works first-hand. Often, it simply comes down to timing. Most brand marketers recommend revisiting your positioning strategy every 24 months or so.
But is two years too long to wait? Not long enough? Is there a magic moment to press that reposition button?
We don't think there is a deadline or a magic formula, but there are triggers that indicate it's time to make a change. It's important to take action early in those shifts to stay relevant in your market and to take advantage of new opportunities.
Questions You May Ask About Repositioning
Whenever clients come to see us about brand repositioning, they typically open the meeting with questions like:
How do we position ourselves to optimize for a new round of funding or an IPO?
How do we redefine our space with the latest tech, such as AI or ChatGPT?
How do we tell our story in light of an acquisition?
How do we align our team for massive growth?
How do we stand out when everyone in our industry says the same thing?
These questions represent opportunities to tell the story you want about your brand as the market shifts.
Adaptation is pivotal, especially in the tech space where things change fast, and a new competitor or technology is always just around the corner. While they are very different, every successful repositioning strategy is predicated on asking the right people the right questions at the right time then arriving at breakthrough answers.
Key Triggers For Repositioning
So, what triggers do you need to spot when it comes to repositioning? In some cases, you'll know when you know. But there are also signals that it's time to at least consider revamping your brand position to reflect the new reality:
1. A change in leadership
A change in the CEO is the most obvious opportunity to update your positioning strategy because the eyes of customers, prospects, investors, and employees are firmly fixed on the new leader and curious about what that change in leadership means for them. New leaders have a fantastic opportunity to share their unique lens with which they view the company as well as the chance to set new milestones for delivering on their vision.
Entrepreneur and CEO Tod Neilsen told us he considers brand positioning the first step in his new CEO playbook because it allows the company to examine the brand from different perspectives, including that of the customer, the investor, the employee and any partners in the business. When joining Nutanix, CMO Mandy Dhaliwal used the same tactic as soon as she accepted the role. Brand positioning allowed Mandy to speed up the company’s learning curve, establish leadership and build trust with the board and entire team.
2. When the team isn’t aligned
If you ask everyone on your leadership team what the company positioning is, what will they say? And how many different answers will you get? (It’s a great exercise, try it sometime!)
When different teams within a company have a conflicting understanding or interpretation of the brand and the positioning, it can lead to internal confusion and disjointed efforts. If everyone in the boat is rowing in a different direction, it isn't going to move forward. A lack of alignment is a surefire trigger to engage everyone in a guided conversation about where the company is and where it’s headed.
Board member Rob Meinhardt tests his companies by bringing a stack of 3x5 cards to meetings, asking the executives to write down on those cards the following:
1) What do we do
2) What is our most important differentiator?
Then he reads the divergent answers and the point is made. If the leadership team isn't on the same page, how can we expect everyone in the company, and then customers and prospects to get the message? In our experience there’s nothing more powerful than sales selling what marketing markets and engineering delivers.
3. When you’re making an acquisition
An acquisition is a great opportunity to showcase the synergy and strength of the combined companies, but it doesn’t happen organically. Not everyone will integrate seamlessly and naturally start working towards a common vision, frankly often it’s quite the opposite. Mapping out a new narrative will help the entire team understand their new goals, market position and strategy.
Under the leadership of CMO TJ Waldorf, 1WorldSync embarked on a transformative journey to evolve their story after a series of strategic acquisitions. Recognizing the need to speak the language of their newly diverse customer base. 1WorldSync CEO Steve Sivitter shared: "The data and insights ZOOM Marketing garnered from customer and prospect conversations have been an invaluable asset to the work we've done together in shaping 1WorldSync's go-forward plan.”
4. When you need to disrupt and avoid being disrupted
During our time in the tech industry, we've witnessed the rise of e-Commerce, the proliferation of smartphones, ubiquitous Wi-Fi, the advent of cloud technology, and recently, the AI large language model boom, such as ChatGPT and Bard. Each innovation invites a strategic response.
Recently, many of our clients have come to us to figure out how to fold generative AI into their offering. The Board of Directors is driving the imperative for companies to define how ChatGPT or generative AI fits into their strategy. No one wants to be left behind in this technology breakthrough, considered to have a bigger impact than the previous innovations combined.
If your products have evolved or undergone significant changes, or if the market is changing around you, this is an opportunity for you to lead the industry and define new technology’s role in your industry. Retailer Harry & David was proactive in defining AI’s role in their business. They recognized that ChatGPT could be leveraged to help people express themselves with AI-generated songs, poems and even jokes, personalized to a loved one.
A new technology shift is an opportunity to remind customers about the value of your brand and how it fits with the new technology trend. And could prevent them from heading straight to competitors who have positioned themselves more effectively.
5. When you’re seeking growth funding
Positioning during times of growth can propel the entire company forward by providing direction and inspiration.
Big growth funding gives companies permission to tell a bigger story. It justifies a more ambitious vision and product category. Case in point: Databricks was positioning for growth and validated their big bet on the Lakehouse vision. One year after establishing the new category, Databricks raised $2.6B in two rounds, reaching a $38B valuation, becoming the fourth largest private U.S. company.
If you're known for one thing or are seen in one way, validating your new vision with the market will help you make a case to investors for the new category. The step can easily be overlooked during times of explosive growth, but when companies connect the dots from today to the future, their new and compelling story can support and amplify their bold new trajectory.
6. When you’re losing market share
Losing ground in the market is a wake-up call to reposition. The first step is to identify if the issue: is your solution or your message inferior?
In one instance, Qlik was losing market share (and voice) to an industry "darling" who copied their messaging. In this case, we identified a way to describe Qlik’s unique advantage by talking to their customers. With their new positioning based on customer feedback about what sets them apart, Qlik built out over 100 customer cases to bring home their unique business value.
By identifying genuine, measurable differentiators, your company can reclaim its competitive leadership position and regain lost market share.
7. During times of economic downturn
Many companies cut their marketing budgets during tough economic times, which puts emphasis on getting more bang for your marketing buck. It’s important that the tip of the arrow is focused on the same message across all customer touchpoints.
We positioned Snowflake from startup to a $45 billion market cap. Recently CMO Denise Persson shared her thoughts: "If your positioning isn’t very clear, it'll cost you more to get across the messages you want the market to hear. Getting employees, partners, and customers to describe you the same way is key to scaling.”
She went on to share that getting employees, partners and customers to describe the company in the same way is key to scaling. The more consistent you are, the more impactful your marketing will be.
A recession or downturn in the market is also an opportunity to align your team. It gives you an unusual opportunity to make sure you have a breakthrough story. When you are competing for spending power, it becomes even more essential to regroup leadership around strategy and positioning. Also, it gives the team a positive place to focus energies.
When COVID-19 hit, many companies repositioned because their offering was built around the “old normal” of people gathering in person. Our clients found a surprise benefit to this exercise. They discovered newfound energy and inspiration by working on their positioning strategy that brought the team together during an uncertain time.
Key Takeaway
Leadership changes, changes in the market or innovation, or shifts in dynamics within the company, provide a great opportunity to clarify or redefine who you are and why you matter. The right positioning strategy can be a transformative force that aligns your team, and catches the hearts, minds and wallets of the market.
Need to convince your leadership team it’s time to reposition?
Download our free guide to help you make the case.