How to Position Your Business

You can’t be everything to everyone.

That’s the fastest way to earn your spot in the bread line.

You have to choose the niche (and specific circumstances) you’re most passionate about helping.

For instance…

In the soap market alone, you have a myriad of completely different approaches and positioning:

• Dove Soap hits the “soft skin” female market. “Discover the Dove Difference.”

• Zest goes after the “clean” male/female market. “You’re not fully clean unless you’re Zestfully clean.”

• Neutrogena positions itself in the “healthy skin” market. “Healthy Skin Starts with Clean Skin.”

• Axe Showers Gels position themselves by eluding their clean scents help men attract women.

Four completely different niche approaches in the broader soap market.

Even the regular old bar soaps alone go the extra mile to differentiate themselves from one another.

The point is…

Each company is clear who they’re targeting and execute their brand, slogans, copy and main marketing message appropriately.

They choose WHO their audience is and use the copy to position their companies.

One more example:

• Carl’s Jr. goes after the 20-30 year old, blue collar-type man in their marketing campaigns. “If it doesn’t get all the place…”

• While McDonald’s hits the low income families by conveying a wholesome, cheap, complete meal that won’t break the bank.

Both of them sell the basic low-grade meat burger and fries type fare.

And yet…

They both position themselves very, very differently in the broader burger-joint marketplace.

As a copywriter…

Part of my job when I work with clients is revealing the best possible positioning for their business.

Sometimes I’m right….

Sometimes I’m wrong and we need to revise the brand/copy direction.

I’ll give you an example that I’ve used here before:

A gentleman in England hired me to write a sales letter/video sales letter script for an ebook targeting the “get your ex back” market.

This letter was directed specifically towards women.

I immediately had to ask myself, “Why the hell would ANY levelheaded woman want to get her man back?!?!”

After collaborating with my client, researching the marketplace and deliberating on my own, I decided that going after women who feel like they lost their soul-mate was the best positioning.

I also felt like his copy would really stand out in the broader market… since everything else pretty much followed the same basic emotional triggers.

So I started writing down all the circumstances that women feel like they lose out on when things don’t work out with a man they thought might have been the love of their life.

That’s Positioning 101…

One more example:

When I did massage/bodywork, I NEVER went after the “bliss out” spa type crowd.

I wasn’t interested in just rubbing people so they could fall asleep on my table and fart in my face (yes, it’s happened before.)

My whole positioning was to help men and women achieve structural alignment through myofascial stretches.

I addressed the deeper muscle adhesions and educated clients so they understood why their bodies manifested structural imbalances to begin with (so we could prevent further compensation & contraction.)

I further positioned myself by going after people who had already received massage/bodywork from a multitude of therapists, without getting the results they so desperately wanted.

I was the guy that savvy massage connoisseurs reached out to when they wanted to create real, sustainable change in their physical life experience.

And it worked.

I charged more than double what most therapists asked from their clients in my community and remained booked until the day I shut my doors.

So my question to you is:

How can you position your business; your product or service in a way that helps the most people, while hitting a market segment that is still incredibly thirsty for the REAL authority to step up to the plate?

Another way of asking is:

How can you be the truest to your original vision (for creating your product or service in the first place) and frame your copy/marketing so prospects can feel enveloped in your authenticity?

That’s the million dollar question.

But please, please, please…

Don’t just put your online business out there is the most obvious way.

“I sell soap. It cleans you.”

Hone in upon a particular circumstance your product or service helps and amplify that nuance under a microscope with your value-heavy copy, brand and visual framing.

Really put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and pinpoint every little aspect your product or service can impact – until you’ve niched your market down as much as humanly possible.

Mark Pescetti