October 28, 2020

Is your positioning specific enough?

Hanna and Travis over at Louder Than Ten invited to me do an AMA for their members today about pricing creative projects.

An part of the talk, we did a quick positioning exercise. Hanna asked everyone to go into the chat and answer the question “So... What do you do?” and then I went through and made suggestions.

Here’s an example:

We build e-commerce sites for sustainable black-owned businesses

I’m pretty sure I’m remembering this 100% correctly, because it is memorable! This is the core reason for positioning - i.e., to make your product, service, or business more memorable. I could remember this one, so I give it high marks for stickiness.

There’s a second dimension I use to judge a positioning statement, which is whether it triggers a Rolodex Moment in my mind.

Again, this example gets high marks from me because the target market (i.e., sustainable black-owned businesses) was specific enough to make me think of people I know who might need an e-commerce site.

Another positioning statement came in that was a great example of not being specific enough:

We help businesses grow

Even though this one is short, I’m not sure I’m remembering it exactly right. I think the word was “growing” but I can’t remember exactly how it was worded (maybe it was “We help businesses start growing?”).

Anyway, this one doesn’t trigger a Rolodex Moment for me because there’s not enough information. What kind of businesses? Coin-op laundromats? eSports leagues? Robotics startups? Gambling casinos?

And what kind of growth? Revenue? Profits? Headcount? Marketshare?

Here’s the thing...

If people in your network can’t remember what you do and/or don’t understand who you help with what, you are making it impossible for them to introduce you to people they know who might need your help.

Give them the tools to help you connect with more clients and they almost certainly will.

Yours,

—J