Adapted from content excerpted from the American Express® OPEN Small Business Network
Position is your identity in the marketplace: how you want the
market and your competitors to perceive your product or service.
While your USP is based on features of your product or service,
your positioning is based on your customers and competition.
Federal Express positioned itself as a reliable and dependable
overnight delivery service for businesses. MTV and VH1 play many of
the same music videos, but MTV is positioned as the choice for
young, hip viewers, while VH1 is considered the station for more
mature viewers.
If you run a dry cleaning business you can be the fastest, the
most dependable, the cheapest, or the business providing the best
service. A mail-order gift business can emphasize price,
convenience, a flexible returns policy, unique products, or some
combination of these. A hairdresser may be positioned as hip,
traditional, pampering, inexpensive, or convenient. You may think
that positioning is based on image. Develop your position by
answering the following questions with brief, direct
statements:
- What is unique about your product or service?
- What customer needs does your product fulfill?
- How do you want people to view your products or
services?
- How do your competitors position themselves?
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Tips
- Research your competitors by shopping their stores or
calling them to see what they offer and what they charge
for it.
- To create a list of your competitors strengths and
weaknesses, look at areas such as distribution, pricing,
value, service, timeliness. If you were undertaking
market research, for example, you would look at depth of
research price, frequency of survey, add-on services, and
reputation in the marketplace. A dry cleaner would look
at pricing, location, services such as delivery, hours of
operation, quality of their cleaning, whether or not they
are computerized and if they provide services such as
tailoring and mending.
- If appropriate, research your competitors in trade
magazines to unearth their strengths and
weaknesses.
- In order to position yourself in the market you
will need to understand standard industry practices, such
as pricing, billing, distribution. This information is
usually available from trade organizations. Call the
reference librarian or visit the reference section of
your library to find the appropriate association in a
book called the Gale Encyclopedia of Business and
Professional Associations.
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