By Steven J. Slater, guest blogger on Pat Lovenhart’s blog

I gave a marketing presentation to Johns Hopkins University business graduate students this past summer, on how only the strong brands will survive rough economic times.  This was before the effects of the economy really hit.  I was not trying to be prophetic, just pragmatic and get the point across the importance of positioning.

Here’s the gist: Positioning could very well play a role in whether your company survives the long haul.  There are always upswings and downturns in industries.  In real estate I have found you can almost set your watch by 10-year cycles.  So if you doubt there will be a downturn or swings in your particular domain, you are dismissed.  Otherwise, stay with me and it might help you survive.

There are essentially four ways to position an organization. I’ve labeled them this way: Premier, Bully on the Block, Conqueror and Exclusivity.  The first one -- in order of weakest to strongest in terms of keeping and defending ones position -- is Premier, when a company states its present market position or aspirational goal in its market.  In the early days of America Online, when the market for Internet connection was fairly crowded, Steve Case wanted his company to rise to number one.  This was communicated in a tagline along the lines of “We aim to be the number one Internet service provider.”  The tagline later evolved as the company achieved its goal to “AOL: The No. 1 Internet Service Provider.”  McDonalds used a variation of this early on when it claimed the number of hamburgers sold daily. The reason I’ve identified this as the weakest positioning is that competitors can unseat a Premier position with the least amount of effort merely by reframing value in the market. Avis did this to Hertz with a brand supported by an accompanying tagline “We Try Harder.”

The second positioning I call the Bully on the Block, because it reminds me of a tough guy who can’t be pushed around and who essentially defines the terms of the relationship.  I think this can best be envisioned by Rolex or Porsche, brands that would appear nearly impenetrable; after all, who wants to mess with Swiss timing or German sports car engineering?  No doubt these companies took advantage of perceptions of their countrymen’s skills and talents. If these product attributes alone are what a consumer desire, well then you could not be persuaded otherwise.  The downside is, these Bully on the Block positions have images so ingrained that the brands are largely out of control of its own creators and subject to manipulation.  So when Movado says its all about styling because any of today’s marginally sophisticated electronics can all keep good time, Rolex is left to compete against its own brand, countering Movado on the newly defined consumer preference, not those initially defined by Rolex and out of date.

The third is I what I call the Conqueror position, because its branders seek to unseat the market leader by changing consumer preference.  This is where many marketers aim their efforts, such as Movado in the example above.  But the one that comes to my mind is Nike in its efforts to redefine value in an athletic shoe from comfort and fit to performance, all the while supported by the use of innovative soles and other devices.  In a more contemporary example, Proctor Gamble is trying to get households to throw away traditional mops and dusters in favor of its Swiffer.

The most coveted positioning, however, is Exclusivity, and Apple is the shiniest example. It doesn’t matter that other companies can produce similar gadgets to an iPhone or an iPod, and it doesn’t even matter, frankly, that competitors’ products are cheaper and come in more colors than just black and white.  Nor does it really matter, I will argue, that Apple was first in market.  All that matters in the mind of most consumers of this technology is that it’s an Apple, with its simplistic yet functional styling and gee whiz technology – technology, for that matter, that had become taken for granted, a hard drive – used in more approachable lifestyle ways.  This has been and will probably always be, incidentally, an ingredient to successful products.  Furthering its positioning through messaging and branding – the next step for positioning -- Apple even has its own stores where consumers prefer to buy these devices over other stores.  Yet it’s not unique to Apple; I’m sure you can think of examples that fit Exclusivity positioning, such as Uggs and North Face.  Granted, sometimes Exclusivity just means fads riding the top of the marketing consumer preference curve.  But there is no doubt companies with Exclusivity positioning occupy a coveted spot in consumerism that is nearly impossible to tip until it burns out.

So what does all this mean for the marketer?  Positioning is critical to survival. While I’ve defined some positions as weaker, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would not be wildly successful in your market.  But it does mean that if you can not see yourself having any position in the market, and being able to identify and communicate your value to a defined sufficiently-sized customer base, then you will likely not survive poor economic times.  Either your competitors will out perform you, or competitors will emerge that will.