As a Secret CEO™, one of the most important strategic decisions you’ll face in 2021 is this: do you want your company to appear larger or smaller than it actually is? No, it’s not magic—it’s marketing!
The broad banner of “marketing” includes many subtopics and a lot of acronyms (PR! SEO! CRO!) but perhaps none is more vital than strategic positioning. CFI (see, more acronyms!) defines market positioning as “the ability to influence consumer perception regarding a brand or product…so that consumers perceive it in a certain way.” In essence, it’s shaping how people see your stuff. And often, defining that perspective requires choosing between two completely different approaches.
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Marketing Up
“Marketing up” is the art of making your company appear larger than it actually is. Most of the ads you see on T.V. or online follow this approach. A Taco Bell commercial during the Super Bowl? Check. Sound clip during your favorite podcast? Probably. Annoying clips in your Insta stories? Yup, those too. Marketing up is all about building buzz and creating clout. Because of our innate perception of trust and authority for larger companies, it’s the safe and traditional way of advertising—and often very effective.
“Marketing up is all about building buzz and creating clout.”
Remember the Cronut, that ooey, gooey orb of fried goodness? Surprisingly, it’s the invention of one man, pastry chef Dominique Ansel, working from his tiny self-named bakery in N.Y.C. In a brilliant stroke of marketing up, he invited a famous food blogger to try the dessert the night before the public launch. After a glowing review, traffic to his website spiked 300%, and, eight days later, he trademarked the name Cronut®. After the dessert became a viral sensation (the good kind) online, it was named one of TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2013.” Soon, people around the world were clamoring to get one. And today, despite Dominique’s achievement and acclaim, he still bakes only 350 Cronuts each morning in the same small store in SoHo. A sweet success, indeed.
Marketing Down
“Marketing down” is the art of making your company appear smaller than it actually is. That might seem counterintuitive, but it’s a smart strategy for many successful businesses, particularly those in “high-touch” service industries. After all, people want to work with people—not companies. Rather than appear like a nameless, faceless corporation, sometimes it’s preferable to foster a sense of homespun, personalized service instead.
“People want to work with people—not companies.”
Ever seen a T.V. commercial for Empire Today flooring? You’d probably recognize the jingle: “eight hundred, five-eight-eight, two, three-hundred…Empire Today!” The low-budget, corny ads featuring the friendly “Empire Man” are so popular, they’ve hardly changed since premiering in 1977. It might look like a family-run, neighborhood shop, and that’s precisely the point. Most people assume the informal spokesperson must be the company’s owner or an employee. But the original character was actually performed by Lynn Hauldren, a hired Chicago ad exec. The homely ads run nationwide, and the corporation is owned by H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm with $40 billion of assets.
Your Decision
So, with two completely opposite approaches, which is right for your business? Only you’ll know for sure. But generally, marketing up is best for products, and marketing down is best for services. There’s intrinsic confidence in buying items from a big brand (“If the company grew so big, the product must pretty good,” we think). And the opposite is often true for services: it’s comforting to know who you’re dealing with, and to expect the same personal attention in return. In both cases, it’s about establishing trust with the consumer. Your customer’s expectations–not an overstuffed mission statement–should guide your approach to selling to them.
“Your customer’s expectations – not an overstuffed mission statement – should guide your approach to selling to them.”
Ultimately, mastering market positioning doesn’t require changing the physical product or altering the service to impact your bottom line. It does, however, begin by changing your customer’s perceptions of your brand. Through strategic positioning, the same company can be viewed in many different ways. Maybe there is a little bit of magic to smart, strategic marketing after all!
Read more in Greg’s upcoming book, The Entrepreneur in You →