If you’ve read anything on marketing you’ll know you’re supposed to consider your unique brand positioning in the market.
And while the big end of town pays large sums of money to agencies to do research and come up with something marvellous, smaller businesses often have to muddle through by themselves.
What does ‘brand positioning’ mean?
Positioning starts with ‘what makes you different’ from your competitors.
It defines exactly who your clients are and what it is they want from you.
Your positioning may help identify a niche in the market for your product or service.
Why is knowing your brand positioning important?
It’s at the core of every message you send to prospects and clients about you. It makes it clear why people should choose you over the other guy.
But how do you work out what your unique positioning is?
“There are lots of accountants/builders/hearing care clinics/[insert your type of business here] just like me”, I hear you say. “How do I stand out?”
Ask the experts – your customers
One way is to ask the people who know you best – your customers.
In his book Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch suggests you call up ten customers and ask them these questions:
- Why did you hire us in the first place?
- What do we do that others don’t?
- What’s missing from our industry as a whole?
- What could we do that would thrill you?
- Are there things that you find yourself simply putting up within this industry?
- What would you do if you owned a business like ours?
- What would you Google to find a business like ours?
- Tell us the name of companies you admire and refer to most?
Do you see now why this might be important?
According to another marketing guru Bernadette Jiwa, “positioning is less about considering what people value and more about telling people what to believe.”
If you get the answers to these questions you’ll have a whole lot more knowledge about your customers. How they see you and what they expect.
And it will better equip you to sell what you do and stand out from the crowd.
