Positioning is a byproduct

Here’s the thing about positioning.

Positioning isn’t just the words you use on your website.

It’s not messaging. It’s not copywriting. In fact, it has almost nothing to do with language at all!

Positioning is a result of the strategic decisions you make about your business.

It’s about what you do (or don’t do), what you’re good at, who you do it for, how you do it, and a variety of other business strategy-related factors.

In the book Positioning by Al Reiss and Jack Trout, they say that positioning is where you exist in the minds of your customers relative to the competition (paraphrasing).

So how do you create a clear-thinking business strategy that makes for a compelling position in the market?

It all starts with your promise. Your universal value proposition, as I call it. The thing you do that permeates every corner of your business.

That promise informs your content strategy, the services you provide, your messaging, prices, methodology, and so much more.

It’s the through-line. The thing that keeps you aligned in everything you do. It’s your north star.

Once you’re clear on that, you can look to see where you might fit relative to other options in the market.

You might have the same core promise for the same audience as someone else, but you decide to do things in a different—perhaps more opinionated—way.

That would inform your positioning in the minds of the market. But that’s not positioning. That’s business and marketing strategy.

Your promise shows up in everything you do. And that promise—delivered consistently—tells a story.

The market then picks up on that story in their minds. They begin to place you—often subconsciously—somewhere in their minds relative to the other players in the market.

That is your positioning. And sure, you can coax it by communicating more effectively about what your strategic promises are. But you can’t really position yourself directly.

Positioning is a byproduct of good business and marketing strategy.

If you chase the wrong thing, you might end up running in circles.