Differentiation: The beating heart of strong positioning
How to stand out, be relevant and authentic while staying true to your essence.
There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he’s sane. I know I’m mad. —Salvador Dali
After I started first impression, my inner critic became rather loud. “What do you have to say about positioning that others, experts like Andy Cunningham or April Dunford, haven’t already said?” I did not have a good answer. Or at least an answer that was convincing to my inner critic.
What I was looking for was my difference. As humans, we are hardwired to notice differences. Our eyes are drawn to what stands out. My work is to help startups stand out in a crowded space, and it was no small irony that I was trying to pin down my own differentiation.
Finding my essence
Essence: The intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, that determines its character. —Oxford Dictionary
To arrive at my difference, I had to go back in time and notice when my essence revealed itself.
I grew up in a tiny flat in a large middle-class family in India…
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