Use corporate positioning to show strategic intent. (Workshop)

Increasingly, senior business and communications executives are encountering the subject of corporate positioning. And for good reason. The corporate landscape is being reshaped at an unprecedented pace. As a result, smart decision-makers are recognizing the value of defining their company's corporate position to accurately reflect its strategic intent, and to guide how the corporation will behave in the marketplace and toward its employees. Without an understanding of corporate positioning, companies will eventually find that competitors, financial analysts and the media, among others, will create one for them. It is vital that a company create its own definition of who it is or somebody else will do the job.

Before we define what a corporate position is, let's examine what it is not. First, it is not a slogan, although slogans derive from and reinforce corporate positions. "The best engineered car" has been Mercedes-Benz's slogan. The slogan clearly reflects the organization's position as an outstanding automotive company. And few would disagree.

Second, a corporate position is not a list of products and services. Competitors may offer the same list. A list of products and services doesn't tell anybody anything about an organization's unique qualities.

Likewise, a corporate position is not a list of the businesses a company might be in. That might say something about the markets an organization serves. But it says nothing about the benefits and advantages offered to customers.

A marketing strategy …