As marketers, we strive to differentiate our brands and products, to increase our relevancy and, ultimately, to make our customers’ “must have” list. No easy task in any market or community you serve.
One of the best techniques I’ve learned from working with many strong communicators and through lots of experimentation over time is what I call Point of View (POV) Marketing. Many pros, colleagues and a great deal of trial and error have helped shape my POV approach to demand generation.
What Is POV Marketing?
In a statement, Point of View Marketing is communications that support what your brand – company, product or personal – stands for.
POVs are a defined set of beliefs you share with the communities you serve. These perspectives amplify and drive home your value, position and strategy. They’re core to your brand. They both reflect the customer environment and project what will transpire in a market. Therefore, they’re dynamic and ever-evolving.
POVs can be developed from various company, market or customer dynamics. In my experience, the most essential ingredients of strong POVs include:
- Your company why
- Your beliefs, passions, values
- Your take(s) on market trends
- Your customer mandate
How to Develop POVs
POVs are derived from your why, beliefs and values. They’re elegantly and thoughtfully blended with key happenings in the markets you serve, including market themes, trends and conversations, customer pains or priorities, influencer and analyst topics, competitive landscape, and of course all your content and materials.
It’s important that your POVs be complementary to, but NOT exactly the same as, messaging, product marketing, features & benefits and company position. In editorial columns, blogs or event presentations, for example, they may manifest as your “takes” on specific issues.
I want to underline that precisely developed positioning and messaging are still required. The way I think of POV marketing is that your POVs become the rocket fuel that drives home all of the above.
Examples of POVs to Increase Your Relevancy
Let’s look at a few examples of POV Marketing. I’ll use what we’re developing at Integrate in the marketing technology community we serve. For background, MarTech is a rapidly growing market segment where many new players are entering the market, and marketers can be overwhelmed with choices and lured in by promises of “game-changing” new marketing technology and strategies.
The team at Integrate uses POVs to share our beliefs (and our customers’) around how marketing technology is identified, bought and implemented.
When done right, a POV Marketing approach accelerates your brand, company and people to be more:
- Relevant
- Differentiated
- Strategic
- Understood
- and Desirable
Well, that is my POV on POV marketing! What’s yours?
Read more: Mmmm… Marketing Madness Mind Map