Jul 13, 2010
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The Quick Guide to Finding Your Market Position
Your brand is the intangible feeling customers get when they view your products or use your services. Like it or not, every business has a brand, it might just be “amateur”. Finding your market position isn’t brain surgery, especially if you know your stuff. You might already have a premium brand without even knowing it. It might just take a little time thinking about it to bring it to life properly!
The Product:
Why do people buy it? Is it high quality? Cheap? Easy? Convenient? Packed full of unique features? What could it do better? Is there a way to diversify to increase your range or would that just annoy your customers? Is it unique? Is it identical to all its competitors – if so, why would a customer choose yours?
The Customer:
Who are they? Why do they like your product? What attracted them in the first place? What is their age, sex, location, income? How do they talk? Are you talking in the same language and saying the same things? Does your brand’s personality clash with theirs or do they get along like old friends? If you can’t answer these questions, then you need to ask some questions yourself – try doing a little market research – you might be surprised by the answers you find!
The Competitors:
How is their product different? How does yours compare based on price? Why do some customers choose their product over yours? Do you have an edge over them in any way? Is it something that would appeal to customers? How could you exploit that edge? How memorable is their shop or website? How memorable is yours?
The Industry:
What’s happening in your industry? Anything you can take advantage of? Is there anything that could be damaging to your product? How competitive is your industry? Are there a few big players or a bunch of little ones? How do the public feel about it? If the public have a negative view of your industry, is there a way you can appear like the good guy in the sea of bad guys?
So now what…
Take all the information you’ve discovered above and answer one not so simple question: Why you?
Why should I choose your product or service over all the others? What is the one thing that keeps coming up as being special and desirable about your product or service? Depending on your business and product, this is either the easiest question or the most difficult!
Your Place
Once you’ve found it, flaunt it. Make sure every word on your site reflects perfectly on your unique selling point. Make sure your site is visually compatible with your unique selling point (no point in having an exclusive product if you’re going to have a cheap nasty website). Make sure your logo gives the right feel and write yourself a snappy, memorable tag line to attach to it.
Finally, write yourself a positioning statement and treat it like a badge of honor. A positioning statement sums up exactly what you do, who you are, who your customers are, what you stand for and what is exclusively great about you. It is the very basis of your brand so make it strong and wonderful and give it a great spot on your website.
If there is something that is great about you, you should be out there pushing it to every potential customer. Don’t hide it away or leave it for the customer to figure out – make sure everyone knows why you are the very best at what you do, and watch the value of your brand soar!
Dana Flannery is a freelance writer and marketing consultant. See some of her work at Sell Property Quickly and Brisbane Marriage Celebrant