Find a product attribute which captures the customer’s imagination. Look at the problem with fresh eyes and fresh data. Find a new attribute customers can get excited about and focus your positioning around it.

Market share gains are expensive. Market share comes at a heavy cost and your product planning and positioning must reflect this or your P&L will suffer and you’ll end up back at the drawing board.

Reinvent the “customer experience.” What’s important to customers changes as a function of time and market conditions. Take advantage of it.

Only target up, not down the totem pole. Always position your product relative to the market leader. It lifts customer perception.

Infrastructure (or ecosystem) as a competitive barrier. Many products and services require related companies and industries to support them in some way. This can be an extraordinarily effective competitive barrier.

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Here’s a great example of a company which utilized four of these five principals. When Toyota entered the luxury automotive sector with the Lexus brand, it 1) Made ergonomics and quality the new performance and luxury, 2) Initially undercut the competition to gain entry and early market share. 3) Created a low-stress and more respectful showroom experience. 4) Targeted Mercedes and BMW - up the totem pole.

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