Market positioning 101
Def. Market positioning is a strategic exercise that establishes the image of a brand or product in the consumers’ mind.
Broadly speaking, most B2B companies don’t understand market positioning because they’re focused on a ‘build it and they will come’ approach to product development and marketing.
Whether it’s a SaaS product or a professional service, there was a time where the most effective products would float to the top, being the cream of the crop. After all, no one’s ever been fired for buying IBM.
Unfortunately, market competition and ubiquitousness of companies claiming to solve every problem you’ve ever had, means that taking up space in consumer’s minds is more of a competition than it used to be.
This is where market positioning comes in. It’s a strategic exercise that establishes you in the mind of your prospective customer, so the first question to ask yourself is always: what space do we want to take in someone’s mind (or buying cycle)?
Usually, the answer is that you want them to think you’re a ‘passionate results-driven partner’, an answer that’s been thought of by everyone else, as well.
So, if it feels like you’ve come up with the same answers as everyone else, then it’s time to start thinking about your company’s market positioning.
To help you do that, this article is going to break down some of the ways you can start thinking about your positioning, to help you more concisely and effectively communicate what you do, the benefits of it, and why people should buy it from you.
Part 1 - Points of difference
You solve a problem that either a) no one else does or b) you solve it better than everyone else does. You’ve already found a gap in the market and you’ve been servicing it for quite some time, with great results.
With that in mind, think about what makes you different from your competition. Try making a list of 50 differentiators, and have your leadership team do the same.
Think about the potential differences in:
The way you operate, such as the way you deliver for your customers
What you stand for and believe in as a company
What you do better than anyone else in the market
What your clients have in common, and what they come to you for
Points of difference aren’t easy-to-reach superlatives like ‘quality work’. High quality work, delivered to deadline, which gets results, is table stakes. You need to go deeper than that and get to the heart of what makes your business stand apart.
Part 2 - Your tone of voice
If you randomly pick five different companies in your sector and visit their websites, you’re likely to notice something: they all sound strikingly similar to your website, and strikingly similar to each other.
When it comes to language and communication, people tend to huddle together for warmth - they see what their competition is doing and do their best to replicate it.
If you’re going to stand out, you can’t just think differently: you need to speak differently, too. It needs to be confident in its tone of voice, and its tone of voice should be something that your niche can relate to.
Part 3 - Clients vs niche vs brand
It’s likely you already have a niche (but if you don’t, go back and read the article about niching) and some stored-up brand equity.
You need to think about how these things work with and against each other, and then work out how to make the things that do work together the heart of your market positioning.
Think about how your brand relates to your niche, and whether there are any tweaks that can be made there. You may have come up with your brand when you started out, and then found your niche much later. Whether your niche is eSports or chocolate bars, your brand should speak to it.
Finally, start to bring these things together in a way that makes them work:
Remove irrelevant client logos
Make sure the language on your website reflects your niche
Tweak or update your brand so it stands out from the competition
Positioning takes time and won’t happen overnight, but at the very least, the exercises in this article will give you an excellent starting point, and allow you to comfortably begin the process of creating a distinct market positioning.
