11.28.18
Fonzie Says Positioning is Cool
Let’s Talk Positioning
You know who’s good at positioning? You are. Everything about you—from your haircut, to what you wear, to the car you drive, the way you answer your phone, that obscure craft beer you rave about and the music you play when others are within listening distance—is positioning. It’s entirely intentional. It’s how you say: “This is who I am and how I wish to be known. I’m different than everybody else and I wanna make sure you recognize that immediately and remember it. This is how I want you to describe me to others.”
Nobody understood this better than my favorite kick-ass dominator of all time, Fonzie from “Happy Days”, the greatest bad TV show of all time. What’s the first thing we think of when we think of Fonzie? He was cool. And why do we think that? Because The Fonz was cool. He said he was cool, all the time, and never described himself any other way. Everything anyone ever saw him do — and told others about — was cool. The coolest. The leather jacket. The boots. The bike. The greased hair. The girls hanging on him. All cool. He owned this stuff. His positioning language and behavior were in perfect sync.
Anybody who tried to copy Fonzie paled in comparison, looked ridiculous and learned two simple lessons that have somehow failed to catch on in the corporate world:
- If you’re not positioned to dominate, you’re positioned to struggle, and;
- The world sees you for who you are.
Meaning: Your positioning language has to be distinct to your business and nobody else. And your daily behavior—that’s everything you do—has to reflect your positioning language. You’ve got to live it so others can see it, remember it and talk about it.
It’s time for some fun. Pull out a pencil. Now write down how you describe (or think about) yourself using only five syllables. You have just two minutes to do this, so you’ve gotta think fast. Please. Just. Do. This. Ready? Go!
That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, below your five-syllable self-description, write how others describe you. Only this time, you get seven syllables. Same two minute deadline. And…go.
Great job so far. Now the final challenge. Below those two lines, write how you wish others described you, using only five syllables again. Same two minutes. Go.
Your finished piece should look like this:
- 5 syllables—How I describe/think of myself
- 7 syllables—How others describe me
- 5 syllables—How I wish others described me
And here’s a completed, random sample:
Nice family man
Good guy. Tries hard. Works too much.
Hero to his kids.
You know immediately what this guy’s about, how others see him and and how we wants to be seen and described, right?
Your finished work, in three lines and 17 syllables, does this, too. It’s a wonderful glimpse of your current and desired positioning. If I’d given you more time and more syllables, you’d have thought too much and written a lot more, wouldn’t you? The limits I imposed meant you had to be concise and top-of-mind, with no confusing fluff. Your finished work is also—believe it or not—a haiku, a Japanese poem of suggestive comparisons (this explains the junior high flashback you just experienced). Can you think of a better way to reduce a lot of complex concepts and ideas into such a quick snapshot?
You know where this is going, don’t you? Now write a haiku, using the same time and syllable limits, for your business. How do we describe ourselves? How do others describe us? How do we want to be described? But there’s a hitch: No word on your third line can appear in your Competitive Noise Summary. If somebody else is saying it, you’re not. Your desired positioning has to be absolutely distinct to your business. That makes it a bit tougher, eh?
Do it. Then do it again. Don’t overthink it. Just write it down. And challenge your co-workers to do it, too. It’s fun, right? You’ll be amazed by what you see.
You’re thinking like a dominator now. This will become a habit. As an added bonus, you’ve also uncovered your hidden poetic talents. You’re a regular Longfellow. The Fonz would approve.
Stay tuned.