Your Customers Are Looking For You Online...
Can They Find YOU?

Michael Bennitt
Editor
June 2015
Volume 5, Issue 6
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Smart Positioning in Your Marketplace

What's your position? This question could be asking where you stand on a political issue, where you stand on a baseball field, or where you stand in the eye of your potential customer. When it comes to your business, your market position describes your competitive strategy. It defines where you fit in the marketplace and where you fit in the minds of your customers. Do they think of you first? As a backup? Not at all? You want to be first. Period.

 

But what goes into a successful marketing plan that makes positioning a priority? There are three main elements that you need to keep in mind when creating your strategy.

 

   

1. What's Your Image?

 

Creating an image for your product or service to promote in the marketplace is critical to your positioning. Think of some high-profile brands. Do you know what their logo looks like? What their branding is? What they offer to their customers?

 

Take FedEx, for example. When someone mentions overnight shipping, most people don't have to think very hard to come up with this industry leader. And what about Apple? Love 'em or hate 'em, everyone can identify with their simple logo, sleek electronics, and always-crowded Genius Bars. Your image is what people will remember when they're looking for a product or service, it helps position you for success.    

 

2. What's Your Price Point?

One of the primary ways a business can position itself is through its price. Do you offer a luxury item? Are your products geared more toward the middle ground? Or do you offer deeply discounted items for people on a budget or who do competitive bargain hunting? You need to understand how price-sensitive your customers are and market to that demographic.

 

If your products or services are so unique that you can justify a higher price tag, that's your pricing position. If you're competitive but offer the biggest/strongest/fastest item at a certain price point, that's your angle. But bear in mind, no matter what your pricing, what you offer better meet or exceed expectations or you can't offer a deep enough discount to get return business.   

 

3. What's Your Product?

 

What are you really selling? Does your portfolio of goods and/or services stand together in harmony? If what you offer doesn't make sense, if it isn't congruous, you need to step back and regroup. If you've ever been to a restaurant that offers so many options that it doesn't seem like they could all come from the same kitchen, it's confusing for diners. Same goes with your business. It needs to make sense to your customers.

 

We all find ourselves taking a position on things that are important to us. That's the key to market positioning. Putting out there what's important, different, and valuable about your business that your customers need to know about to get to know you. Once they know you, you'll rank in that desired number one position for them, which will keep them coming back. It's the foundation for your marketing strategy.

 

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About Us

We work with business owners (like you) to grow and increase their profits by doing their online marketing for them.

Our specialty is making sure future customers can find you online and choose you over your competitors, even if they don't know your name - with Social Media, Search Engines and Mobile devices

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 3 Content Marketing Tips to Keep in Mind  

To keep up with the changing face of content marketing and benefit from this part of your marketing strategy, you need these 3 content marketing tips:

 

  1. Choose your words wisely. They are what tell your story. Make sure they work. And proofread your content, or hire someone to do it for you.

  2. Don't forget about social media. Content will get people to your site. Use social media to promote it. It enhances customer participation and engagement and pushes them to your site and toward your sales funnel.

  3. Visual appeal is more important than you think. Decide on a (great) design and stick with it. Consistency is key.


Plagued by Fake Productivity?    

Always busy, but never seem to get the most important tasks done? Could be fake productivity syndrome. Here's where you could be getting sucked into the fake productivity abyss.

 

Are You Stuck on Perfectionism?

 

Pretending to be perfect, or getting stuck trying to be perfect, or hoping that you might someday be perfect is a waste of time. You spend more time working toward an unattainable goal than you would reaching many more actually productive goals.

 

Do you put off putting together a plan for a project because others might identify flaws? Input from others is a great way to learn and grow. Flaws are a growth opportunity. Do you keep working on something long past when it's beneficial because you keep hoping for perfection? Set it down and walk away knowing you learned from the experience. Know when to let it go.

 

Getting stuck on being perfect is a way to procrastinate and put off reaching your goals because you're afraid they won't be perfect.

 

 

Tackling Too Many Tasks?

 

Don't value quantity over quality. Take a close look at your list. Do the majority of the items lead you to your desired outcome? Refine your list so that each task has value and will help you move forward toward your goals.

 

Constantly Playing Firefighter?

 

If you're the one that everyone comes to when there's a fire, you're not being productive. You're being reactive instead of proactive. It's time consuming and it's an energy sucker. Don't get pulled in by the drama. Do a little triage, figure out the reality of the situation, and decide if it needs your immediate attention or if it can wait. And better yet, delegate the fire extinguishing to someone else so you can focus on your own priorities.