Positioning is the key to effective marketing of cars, beers, and politicians. The best marketing strategy has a clear differentiating position that distiguishes the product from the rest in a simple way that is deemed valuable by the consumers.

When you have a weak position, that is, nothing that differentiates you from the competition, or nothing compelling or interesting to say about your product, the marketing often engages in a trick known as ‘borrowed interest.’

You find something that does interest the consumer and then you ‘borrow their interest’ by associating with it regardless of its irrelevancy. It is not effective marketing. At its worst it is just a creative orgy creating a clever ad, leaving the product quickly forgotten.

So much of advertising is wasted because the thought is never put into developing or discovering your best marketing position. This is true of political campaigning as well.

tips to Phil Haynes for teaching me these principles over the years. Phil is the best marketing strategist in Middle Georgia. http://www.haynesmarketing.com/portfolio.jsp

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