At this time of the year, I often reflect on the year past – what worked for the business, where are improvements needed, what can we leverage and build upon for the next year?
One thing I do every January is revisiting my positioning statement. Positioning statements state how you want the world to see your business. It’s not always how the world or you clients see you today –it is what you are striving for.
It should be the core message you want to deliver in every marketing medium – including elevators, waiting rooms, and on the soccer field – to influence and enhance the perception of your service.
There are seven key questions to ask when building your positioning statement:
- Who: Who are you?
- What: What business are you in?
- For Whom: What people do you serve?
- What Need: What are the special needs of the people you serve?
- Against Whom: With whom are you competing?
- What’s Different: What makes you different from those competitors?
- So: What’s the benefit? What unique benefit does a client derive from your service?
I’ll give you an example: Bloomingdale’s (because I love to shop!) and because this is the statement that has held strong for many, many years.
Bloomingdale’s (who) are fashion-focused department stores (what) for trend-conscious, upper-middle-class shoppers (for whom) looking for high-end products (what need). Unlike other department stores (against whom), Bloomingdale’s provides unique merchandise in a theatrical setting (what’s different) that makes shopping entertaining (so).
Bloomingdale’s focuses on the entertainment of shopping (my favorite past time) not on “couture fashions†(Bergdorf), “stuff to die for†(Neiman’s) or “good stuff cheap†(Wal-Mart.)
Ask yourself these seven questions and have clear answers.
Don’t be over zealous, think about how your clients perceive you, think about how you want to be perceived and close the gap – but be sure it is a small gap to begin with … clients and prospects won’t make a huge leap!