March 13, 2021

Reader question from Jimmy Ekisa about positioning

Fellow list member Jimmy Ekisa wrote in to ask for feedback on his positioning statement (shared with permission):

Hi Jonathan, forgive me for the bother. After recently reading through some of the responses you shared from your recent discussions, it dawned on me that I’d never thought of a Marketing Position statement. I’ve come up with the one below:

“I build conversion focused award-winning websites for brands.”

what’s your thoughts on this statement as applicable to me as a web designer?

Looking forward to your wisdom.

Regards.

Jimmy

The true test of a positioning statement is whether or not people exclaim something like, “No way! I have to introduce you to my friend Bob!” when they hear it.

If people are reacting that way to Jimmy’s positioning statement, then great! It’s perfect.

But if that’s not the reaction he’s getting, here are three thoughts:

1) “Brands” is an exceptionally blurry target market. What kind of brands? Mission driven brands? Retail fashion brands? Fast casual restaurant brands? Commercial real estate brands? Green energy brands? eSports brands? Professional golfers personal brands? Instagram influencers personal brands?

2) Without a laser-focused target market, it’s very hard to know what language to use to make your ideal buyers perk up with interest. A 23-year old fitness model with 100k followers on Instagram is not lying awake at night worrying about the same things as a fifty-something CEO of a regional restaurant chain.

3) Once you know who your target market is, you can find out if they’re more interested in “conversion focused websites” or “award-winning websites” or some other success metric that will instantly get them to jump on the phone with you.

Here’s the thing...

If you don’t know who you’re trying to attract, it’s really hard to attract them.

There are other approaches to focusing your positioning, but... niching down on a very specific target market is usually the quickest path to getting more better clients.

Yours,

—J