We are very excited to bring to you Rebel Brown's Positioning eBook It's Not About You Anymore. Rebel Brown is a go-to-market strategist and Spin Doctor specializing in start ups, turnarounds and start-arounds in the high technology arena. She has helped to define, position and launch over 75 individual products and companies since she began consulting 20 years ago. Her clients who are technology vendors and venture firms leverage her strategic marketing and go-to-market expertise. She identifies and transforms differentiation - customer's crown jewels - into compelling, customer-centric value that sells. Her business is PeopleWhoKnow. Rebel's Blog is Phoenix Rising. Rebel's Twitter handle is RebelBrown

3 great ideas in Rebel's eBook It's Not About You Anymore

• Great positioning tells a compelling, attention-grabbing story – a story that resonates with your audience and will attract prospects and customers to your door, and keep them coming back.
• Build your positioning using three pivot points(key areas that answer the Who, What, Why and How of any story) and then provide the evidence within each area that best addresses a specific customer scenario.
• Be prepared to change your positioning as your company evolves.

We have invited Rebel Brown to discuss her eBook It's Not About You Anymore

Ambal Balakrishnan: Rebel, it is a great pleasure to discuss your latest positioning eBook. Thanx for finding time out of your very busy schedule to provide your valuable insights to our readers. What prompted this eBook?
Rebel Brown: This eBook is an overview of the thought processes I use with clients to create positioning strategies and stories.  It’s also the first step toward a book of the same name that goes into more depth on how to identify true value, evidence that value in compelling ways and spin customer-centric stories that compel our audiences to action.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is the audience for your eBook?
Rebel Brown: Positioning is one of the most important things any company can do – perhaps the most important.  Anyone in customer-facing position - from sales to marketing to service - executive management, middle management, product management and even engineering can benefit from this eBook. The eBook is written with technology vendors as a focus – but the lessons can be applied to companies in any industry and of any size – from startups to SMBs to full blown enterprises.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What’s your view on how positioning is done today?
Rebel Brown: That’s a whole book, Ambal :-) Seriously, my goal with It’s Not About You Anymore is to teach people how to think about positioning in a more strategic, and much more customer-centric way. We spend too much time discussing positioning internally, and not enough time actively listening to our customers, prospects, partners and the market. We also tend to focus on ‘feeds ns speeds’ and chest thumping claims – instead of telling stories about our customers, their business results and their perspectives. This eBook helps readers focus on their audience and what matters to them.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Why do you think companies haven’t changed the way they position themselves?
Rebel Brown: People and companies get locked into ways of thinking, ‘the way we’ve always done it’ mode.  We also assume that our audience’s are on the same page as we are. We spend our lives focused on our business and the products we deliver to our markets. So it’s natural to focus on what we know, what we believe, what’s comfortable for us. The challenge is that what we ‘know’ often isn’t what our audience believes or cares about.  That’s where the positioning disconnect begins.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your eBook?
Rebel Brown: I think a reader’s takeaway depends on their own personal perspectives – as with any audience.  That said, there are a few key areas of focus that I think are important, all of which are around the concept of customer and market-centric positioning.

• Identifying our true value  - through the eyes of our customers
• Describing our value - 3 Pivot Points of Positioning
• Spinning stories that touch our audience

Ambal Balakrishnan: What one change would you recommend to a reader of your eBook 'It’s Not About You Anymore'?
Rebel Brown: Listen to your audience and try to minimize your own opinions.  You may be the subject matter expert – but your audience makes the rules – their perception wins every day. Get out and talk to your believers, your doubters and even your naysayers. They will teach you more about who you are, and the distinct value you bring, than hours of internal debate.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Rebel, thanks for taking the time to discuss your eBook and sharing your insights about positioning in your eBook.
Rebel Brown: Thanks Ambal.

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