As marketers we are often challenged with promoting products that customers simply don't understand - or worse, products that bore the heck out of people. Do you wish you could trade in your ordinary offering for something really amazing? April will show you the way to transform your tame, tiresome products into standout superstars. April will also share a set of case studies where she took undifferentiated me-too products and turned them into leaders by changing their context, along with a framework for doing this yourself.

1. OBVIOUSLY AWESOME
APRIL DUNFORD @APRILDUNFORD APRILDUNFORD.COM

2. WHY CONTEXT MATTERS:
AN EXPERIMENT

3. Ball
Cap
This
Schlumpy
Action
Dirty Metro
Plaza
Garbage
BinsDid Not
Stop

4. STREET
PERFORMER!

5. Big
Camera!
Dope White
Bow Ties So. Much.
Wood.
Feeling It
Program
Says he
Won
Awards
‘n Stuff

6. GENIUS!

7. CONTEXT CAN KILL
EVEN A GREAT PRODUCT
VS

8. CUSTOMERS
OUR CONTEXT
COMPETITION
BRANDING &
PACKAGING
EXPECTED
FEATURES
CHANNELS PRICING

9. YET WE OFTEN IGNORE
CONTEXT COMPLETELY

10. EXAMPLE: WHAT IF I TOLD YOU
YOUR DATABASE IS NOT A DATABASE?

11. NEW IDEAS START WITH A DESIRE TO MAKE
AN EXISTING THING BETTER

12. BUT WE STRETCH
THAT DEFINITION
UNTIL IT BECOMES
SOMETHING ELSE

13. WE DON’T NOTICE THIS
GRADUAL TRANSFORMATION

14. BUT OUR
CUSTOMERS ARE
CONFUSED, AFRAID
(OR BORED)

15. BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCTS
REQUIRE
BREAKTHROUGH THINKING

16. EXAMPLE: CAKE INNOVATION

20. +

21. +

22. +

24. WHAT YOU SAID YOU BUILT

25. CAKE FUNDAMENTALLY
NOT CAKE
OLD THINKING GIVES CURRENT
PRODUCTS AN ADVANTAGE

28. LOLLIPOP CAKEPOP
NEW THINKING CAN CHANGE THE WAY
CUSTOMERS PERCEIVE US

29. EXAMPLE: ARE BOTH OF THESE
THINGS ROBOTS?

30. SYMPTOMS OF WEAK POSITIONING
Prospect Symptom Potential Causes
Don’t get what you do Positioned in the wrong market category
Think you are “not for them” Market category is too broad
Don’t understand your value
Positioned in the wrong market category
Value is weak
Don’t believe you Value is subjective or lacks proof
Think you are “me-too”
Positioned in the wrong market category
Differentiation is weak

31. WEAK POSITIONING IMPACTS YOUR
FUNNEL EVERYWHERE
EARLY FUNNEL MID FUNNEL
LATE
FUNNEL/CHURN
PROSPECT
CONFUSION
WRONG PROSPECTS
IN FUNNEL
EXPECTATION
≠ REALITY
LEAD GEN IS HARD
• Open rates suck
• CTR suck
• Form fills suck
• Events suck
• …..
SALES HATES YOU
• Low conversion rates
• Low lead quality
SALES IS FREAKING OUT
• Overall long sales cycles
• Price pressure,
Discounting
• High churn

32. STEP 1: LET GO OF THE PAST

33. STEP 2: ISOLATE
YOUR KEY
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

34. STEP 3: POSITION IN A MARKET WHERE YOUR
UNIQUE VALUE IS OBVIOUS

35. 3 STYLES OF POSITIONING

36. MARKET THE PROBLEM - content, experts, data, customers
Defend against FAST FOLLOWERS
PATIENCE – this could take years
STYLE 1: CREATE A NEW MARKET
YOUR CHALLENGE IN MARKETING
WHAT IS IT WHEN TO USE IT ADVANTAGES
Current markets don’t fit
Data PREDICTS it will
emerge
INVENT a new
market category
You design the
category to YOUR
STRENGTHS

37. Win quickly against WICKED COMPETITION
Need FAST & PERFECT execution (therefore, $$$) and be
ready to SCALE QUICKLY
STYLE 2: WIN AN EXISTING MARKET
YOUR CHALLENGE IN MARKETING
WHAT IS IT WHEN TO USE IT ADVANTAGES
Category exists but
NOT YET a clear
MARKET LEADER
Win in an
EXISTING
category
The PROBLEM is
UNDERSTOOD

38. STYLE 3: WIN PART OF A MARKET (AND EXPAND)
WHAT IS IT? WHEN TO USE IT
Sub-segment has
DISTINCT NEEDS that
are UNMET by the
current leader
Win a SUB-
SEGMENT of an
existing market
ADVANTAGES
Don’t have to
take the leaders
HEAD-ON
YOUR CHALLENGE IN MARKETING
Educate the sub-segment on why the leader isn’t for them
Need to have/create a defensible advantage vs. the leader

39. STYLE 2: BIG FISH, SMALLER POND

40. FIND YOUR STAGE

41. APRILDUNFORD.COM