Positioning Your Business as Unique
Positioning is honestly your secret weapon. It's a concept in strategic marketing that can supercharge your efforts and make your content, copy, and messaging so much more impactful.
Today we're talking about how positioning can impact your message and marketing because it's not enough to create content, we need to speak to people in a way that is unique.
But first, my name is Max and I'm the founder, copywriter and all around messaging magician behind Max Wild Stories. I help online entrepreneurs tell stories that allow them to grow their business with empathy while creating social change and transforming the lives of those they impact. I do this because the stories we share have power. They give us permission to live more authentically.
What is positioning, why does it matter? I know I covered this in brief in a previous video, but I really wanted to dive deep into this one because it is [00:01:00] a game changer for your marketing. Positioning is how ideal customers that you're trying to reach perceive you and your business.
In this way, it is similar to branding, however, it is a separate concept. And the way that I contrast them is that positioning is more mental, internal to the customer themselves. Branding is the intentional way that we show up that will include how we want them to perceive us, but it also includes other aspects. It's much more visual and tangible.
Positioning matters because to quote the Al Ries and Jack Trout book of the same name, it's important for us to quote, find a position and call it your own. Because truth be told, there are often people that are doing similar things to you. I don't inherently see those people as competitors because I know that nobody can do something in the [00:02:00] same way that you can.
“No one else shares your story, your frame of reference, your identity or your purpose.”
No one else shares your story, your frame of reference, your identity or your purpose. What fuels someone else isn't the same as what fuels you or me. I think in general, we do often compare ourselves to others in our space-- consuming their content, reading their websites . But it can also add to our own insecurity and our own issues with our mindset.
Our positioning is more about us, and it's important for us because once we own and we step into our unique powers and capabilities, your marketing becomes so much more resonant with people. And I know that this sounds woo but in both me and for my clients, I have noticed just how much your marketing and the success of your marketing is affected by your confidence in yourself and how you serve people.
What Makes Your Business or Organization Unique?
And this goes for me as well, positioning matters because it's standing firmly in who you are and what you are here to do. You're not everything to everyone, and you own that.
I'm gonna be just straight with you and I want things to be reasonable: understanding and really honing in on your positioning is not something that you'll have done by the end of this video. Typically, you would start thinking through it, maybe journaling through it, and creating content.
This eventually reveals itself to you through consistency. Is there something about you that no one else can say? This could be your specific background, the framework or approach that you use with your clients, your supply chain or materials. If you're a product-based business and the ways that you give back to your community, the specific type of people that you serve, there can be many different things.
I mentioned about giving back to your community because I feel that one is one that people don't think about all the time, but brands like Patagonia, they've made that a part of their positioning. Also, their materials and their sustainability. But again, this all goes into how they serve their community.
Aspects of Your Positioning to Think Through
So don't think that it's something that is always directly related to your product or your service. One thing to think about if you're unsure is: do I have any unpopular opinions in your field? Any hot takes?
Are there things in your industry that other people take for granted that you choose to think about differently? Do you approach conventional problems in maybe a fresh new way? If you're already in the process of creating content, positioning is a theme or thread that runs through each piece, and often that can be unintentional.
Look back at what you've written, and recorded. See if you can reverse-engineer your positioning. If you work with clients, maybe get in the habit of asking them after they've signed with you and after they've agreed to work with you, why they made that decision.
Because they're gonna often tell you what jumped out at them, what your unique differentiator was, because that goes into people's purchasing decisions. So again, we can reverse engineer it. What made you decide to work with me? Was it my website? Was there something specific on my website?
Implementing Your Positioning into Your Marketing
There are all different ways to come at this. Once you have that dialed in, and again, you can continue to iterate on it. The first version isn't gonna be the last version, but how do we bring that forward in our marketing and in our copy? The obvious places, of course, is your website— specifically on your homepage, where the hero image would be. Definitely include it in your about page. One way is your bios on your social media pages.
You incorporate your positioning into your elevator pitch. The “Hi, I am name. I help this type of person with blank by doing blank. The typical elevator pitch format. I definitely plan to go more into that later, but those are just the things that come off the top of my head. You can use it when you pitch podcasts for visibility opportunities, there are a lot of different ways that positioning can work for you.
When you dial in that positioning, this isn't necessarily related to your marketing, but I feel like it also helps you craft your offers, feel more confident in your pricing, because you own what makes you unique. And then it filters through what makes sense for you to focus on your marketing efforts as we get into the strategy piece.
What am I going to focus on? Is it something that is best served by maybe conversations with people on a podcast? Does it make more sense to talk about it via video like I'm doing right now? That is one way that it informs the actual tactics itself. So it works for you in so many different ways.
But for the next video in the series, we are going to talk about how to take these really big, lofty concepts, and what makes us unique in our messaging and how to filter that into manageable weekly tasks that will support your marketing and your business goals.
I plan to do a content planning workshop in December date to be announced.
And remember, the world needs what you have to say.
