3 Keys to Successful Positioning

When the competition gets tough, what advantage can your business have? Make your business stand out above all others by using strategic Power Positioning. Below are 3 key elements needed to achieve success in a competitive world:

1. Make Your Business Unique.
There is enough competition in any given industry to baffle your potential customers. Therefore, you want to avoid duplicating your competitors’ marketing and promotional tactics in order to not remind your prospects about your competitors’ existence. Be unique. Be original. Be so different that your name or your company’s name as well as the products you offer are first in the minds of prospects. Top-of-mind awareness is important to the success of all businesses. Top-of-mind awareness is a process by which an "anchor" in the subconscious of prospects has been created. When deciding to find out about the type of service you provide, let alone when deciding to buy the products you sell, your name, the name of your firm, and/or the name of your product or service must come to your prospects' minds instantaneously. Does your company reflect the type of service you offer in an immediate fashion? It’s crucial that the name of your firm reflect what you do, what you have to offer, and how you are different from your competition, in as few words as possible.

Use of a tagline can be a clever way to quickly express what you and your business are all about. A tagline is a small sentence, preferably 5 words or less, that complements your name and says it all in one clean line. Make sure to use your tagline in all your communications, promotional pieces, as well as standard stationary. Remember to look at every aspect of your business, whether it's answering your phone, writing your invoices, mailing your brochures, and even handing out your business cards. It should all become part of a marketing approach in which it emphasizes your uniqueness through your special name or tagline.

2. Perception is “best”.
If you have a product or service that is the best or that you perceive as being the best, it may not be a shared perception among your target market. However, whether your product or service is better than your competition or not, if people perceive you as a leader in your field or category, they'll automatically assume that you're the best. People will often say, "They must be the best, 'cause they're the leaders!"

When people perceive you to be the best, it is much more powerful than being the best in the first place. Look at your background. Look at your clients. Look at your specialty. Are there any awards you and/or your products or services have won? Are there any unique references or endorsements you can obtain from recognizable public figures or clients? Do you or your company possess any special accreditation, certifications, or memberships in specific groups? Are you the first to cater to a specific target market? Keep in mind that people want the best, the newest, the freshest, the leading product or service in any given field. If there’s not a category you can be first in, simply create one. Creating one will make it impossible for your competition to copy you. That’s a powerful thing.

3. Be Extraordinary.
Do not forget that perception is more powerful than truth. Emphasizing that your product or service is unique or the best is not necessary. Doing that can often be worse than remaining silent because it makes you appear as if you are bluffing or exaggerating at best. However, by putting a name on your product or service, even a trademark if possible, you will indirectly cast an aura of exclusivity and superiority and do so without utterly flaunting it. Remember that perception is powerful. When it comes to the perception of a product or service, it can fall into a customary service category. Even if your service is customary or your competition offers the same thing you do, by naming an often-nameless service, a unique and superior quality can be developed instantly, without having to state it outright. The resulting effect is that not only does the name keep you in the back of your prospects’ minds; it also generates curiosity, stirs interest, and increases desire. If people had to choose between a general product or service and one that, through its name, implies a better or more unique kind of product or service, more than likely they will go for the second option.