• builds two-way communication with your customers
• creates a persona that’s three dimensional vs. one dimensional
• an otherwise stilted brand can become approachable
• it’s arguably the most personal form of communication  
• gives your company a voice
• creates transparency and builds trust
• more real time than traditional communication  
• triggers a conversation that builds community over time
• imparts authenticity
• yada yada yada

Before explaining how blogging plays a central role in generating sales leads, I emphasized the need to get search engine optimization (SEO) right. That’s where the journey should begin. SEO and blogging go together; they're buddies. Once the SEO foundation is laid, a company can move forward with blogging which is one of the best ways to create pages that are keyword dense and optimized.

Remember that blogging isn’t an occasional thing; you need to do it often enough to build an authentic voice and aura of authority. That typically means daily or at least weekly. Nothing looks worse than a withering blog without a post for weeks or months. 

I was in a meeting the other day and a CMO kept confusing “strategic” with “tactical.” It reminded me of all the times I’ve encountered this in my career.

1. Identify a specific outcome you want to achieve
2. Conduct research (market, competitive, attitudinal) to establish a realistic “baseline” starting point that takes into consideration internal and external realities
3. Put together a proactive plan that leverages the research findings, anticipates issues, looks at the big picture and incorporates specific strategic objectives and end results 
4. Engage in consensus building with appropriate groups and individuals; get key people on board to support the strategy 

1. Understand the strategic goals
2. Create plans focused on specific activities mapped into specific timeframes with specific outcomes
3. Make sure the tactical activities are carried out well
4. Measure their impact and help tie tactics back to the strategic plan

A company can never know its customers too well; that’s why an increasing number are creating fictional – yet amazingly accurate - personas to guide their sales and marketing efforts.
 
Companies are developing personas because they understand customers can’t be reduced to broad demographics – e.g., average age, education, ethnicity, family status – nor statistics. They intuitively understand the value of visualizing their audience better to sell and serve them. But rather than trying to know each and every customer (an impossible task for most), companies get to know the handful of proxies who represent them.

1. Convene a group of employees who interact with your customers and prospects, e.g., customer service, support, salespeople, channel partners and senior executives – those on the front lines. Gather their perspective but be wary of internal bias or myopia.
2. Conduct customer/prospect research including in-person meetings as well as phone-based interviews and online surveys. Tag along on in-person sales calls. Look for consistent patterns; common needs, expectations, frustrations, opinions and psychological motivators.
3. Reconvene and propose a few archetypal personas. How many personas do you need? There’s no single number of personas that works best. Go with whatever number accurately captures the major categories of customers; keep the total number as manageable as possible. Four to six are typical for most B2B companies.
   
4. Describe the category of company each works for; characteristics could potentially include: industry, size, vertical market, competitive environment, type of employer, and corporate culture.
5. Describe the person at the workplace to get a full, rounded picture of who this person represents. This should include demographic data; job title and focus; challenges they face; how the person fits within their organization; their role in the buying cycle; key questions they’d ask you; trigger words that would invoke a helpful reaction; skillset/competency levels; key job objectives and responsibilities; attitudes; key behaviors; what would make their job more effective; how their time is typically spent, etc. 

   Image credit: Image credit: L + E (Logic + Emotion) http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/

6. Describe the person outside the workplace – how they dress; what food they like; hobbies; habits; type of car; education; interests; and psychological attributes.
7. Find the areas of commonality and bring these all together under one persona. Create personas for each major customer grouping. Reach consensus agreement.
8. Describe them; find a photo; name the customer; give him/her an age, title.
9. Frame marketing messages, think about the marketing resources this persona might tap to learn more about your type of offerings/services/products, e.g. white papers, articles, Web sites, news releases, speakers, online communities, events, Twitter, etc. 
10. Think about the way each persona will guide different functional areas within your company. Engage key players so they embed this unifying view of the customer in their own decision making and day-to-day activities in sales, marketing, HR, communications, finance, etc.
    
    
11. Update and modifypersonas as real-world insight unfolds.

One of the things I learned from Geoffrey Moore’s seminar is the notion of unique differentiation. He said a true “position” isn’t the one you’d like your company to have, but rather the position it actually occupies within a system you didn’t create.
 
In other words, positioning and differentiation isn’t an exercise in myopic navel gazing. It’s got to be externally driven and take into account the strengths and weaknesses of your real competition while also focusing on customer value. Understand what’s out there – and what’s needed - to set your organization apart.  

To differentiate, go outside-in, and bottom-up:  

• Identify real people – Start by finding your organization’s real customers/consumers. Don’t focus on big picture targets (e.g. “this Fortune 500 company”), but rather specific individuals who may buy – and have bought –your products/services.
• Talk to them – Differentiation isn’t about “making up” your company’s difference, it’s finding what objectively sets it apart. Understand what people want and why. If a customer, uncover what their experiences have been. Use social media to query larger samples. Online discussions and chat rooms are an effective way to gather opinions. Capture enough perspective so you can make accurate interpretations.
• Understand customer value – Value is the difference between the benefits consumers realize minus the cost to buy, use and maintain your product or service. Differentiation is successful when the value perceived exceeds the cost of usage. For example, if someone buys a more expensive product with more features, but it takes longer to install and use it, then this competitive “uniqueness” may not be valued highly enough, thus eroding differentiation (and credibility).
• Analyze your competition –Read blogs, troll social nets, and read articles and industry analyst reports to determine which particular companies “own” various strengths and leadership attributes within your market category. Also analyze competitive Web sites to capture their strategic messaging, leadership claims and customer testimonial insight. If other companies claim superiority in an area you believe your company has greater uniqueness, then you’ll need to work harder to create stickiness.
• Evaluate core competencies – With external insight in hand, shift inward and identify core competencies. Most reliable? Easiest to use? Superior service? Higher quality? Remember, to successfully differentiate, a core competency has to be competitively unique but also be perceived by consumers as valued uniqueness. Matrix your core competencies into the external insight you acquired.
• Isolate “the one thing” – As you zero-in on a core differentiating competency, force your company to articulate this in a “one thing” manner. Stand for one distinctive thing and people will remember.
• Don’t forget longevity – Short-term differentiation isn’t ideal. Anticipate and discuss things like price erosion, imitation and competitive leaps. While you can’t plan against disruptive technologies, you can proactively assess what currently exists and try to factor-in competitive incrementalism in differentiation claims.

• Fine-tune – If necessary, fine-tune your “one thing” differentiation to make it more appealing. For example, if your solution is more expensive, can you find ways to reduce costs in areas that are unimportant to the buyer? This will improve profitability while reducing the likelihood of competitors gaining ground from a price position.

• Proof points – Claiming leadership and differentiation – by yourself for yourself - doesn’t cut it. You have to supplement this internal view with third-party perspective, viewed by the marketplace as credible and true. Consumers, customers and prospects are the best way to differentiate. So are objective (non-paid) direct comparisons. Get credible sources to step up to the plate and validate your differentiation. Also remember to identify any and all proof points that will credibly back-up your differentiation claims.
• Be bold – To differentiate, you can’t be a wallflower – you have to stand out. Express differentiation in a colorful way so people notice and remember it.

• Communicate – Once you’ve built your differentiation, work hard to integrate this messaging platform across all communication vehicles. Your Web site. SEO. Advertising. Web-news. Presentations. Great messaging is pervasive and consistent.

• Experience is everything – What you say has to be consistent with what you do. If a company claims “best service” but a customer is frustrated dealing with one of their people, then brand position erodes in the mind (and heart) of that consumer. Walk the walk at every touch point.  

They’ve been around a long time, are still in demand but the differences are often confusing. (I’m not talking about toothpaste.) Here’s what you need to know to make your own statement. 

Positioning statements
 
A positioning statement explains what a company is, does, and most important, how it’s different from competitors. It’s externally focused.

My favorite positioning statement template is from Geoffrey Moore. It goes like this:
For (target customers)
Who (have the following problem)
Our product is a (describe the product or solution)
That provides (cite the breakthrough capability)
Unlike (reference competition),
Our product/solution (describe the key point of competitive differentiation)

The template may look simple, but crafting a positioning statement is challenging: (1) the statement must place a company within context of the external marketplace framework it already occupies; (2) competition must be the reference point; (3) the statement has to be brief; and (4) every part must be realistic and defensible. 
 
If a company has a well-crafted positioning statement, it’s a good sign because it means it was able to reach consensus about how to talk about itself in a non-myopic way.
 
The toughest part of the template is the last sentence because you have to identify how the company is competitively differentiated. Here’s an example from Moore when SGI was at its peak:

For movie producers and others
Who depend heavily on post-production special effects,
Silicon Graphics provides computer workstations
That integrate digital fantasies with actual film footage.
Unlike any other vendor of computer workstations,
SGI has made a no-compromise commitment to meeting film makers' post-production needs.  

Mission statements
 
Mission statements are aspirational, intending to unify employees around a common set of goals and objectives. It’s a corporation’s mantra, its raison d’etre, describing the overall purpose of an organization. While it’s primarily internally focused, it frequently appears externally.
 
Mission statements don’t address the issue of competitive differentiation which is the heart and soul of a positioning statement. A mission statement includes a company’s value system.

Mission statement examples:
Timberland: Our mission is to equip people to make a difference in their world. We do this by creating outstanding products and by trying to make a difference in the communities where we live and work.

Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

Elevator statements
 
An elevator statement is externally-focused and the shortest possible explanation of “what a company does.” The term refers to a person’s ability to tell a stranger - in an elevator between a few floors - what their company does with brevity and catchiness. A classic elevator statement would take one minute to say. Positioning statements can be used to develop brief elevator statements.

Elevator statement example: Our company sells software that designs better products. For example, Toyota uses our software to design cars that are more energy efficient. Boeing uses our software to design airplanes including things like more comfortable passenger seating areas. Trek designs awesome bicycles with our software.

Vision statements
 
Unlike a positioning statement, a vision statement is externally focused and defines where the organization is headed. It defines the desired future.

Toyota: Continuing in the 21st century, we aim for stable long-term growth, while striving for harmony with people, society and the environment.

Cisco: To change the way the world works, lives, plays and learns.

Here's a forward-looking vision statement from WalMart circa (1990): Become a $125 billion company by the year 2000.