Do you know what sets you apart from your competition? Successful people do.Struggling people don’t. Face it. If you’re just selling promotional products, you are selling the same products from the same sources for the same prices to the same people in the same way. So don’t complain if your prospect finds it a couple cents cheaper. They would be stupid to buy from you. Harsh? Yes. True? Yes.
You yourself buy on price when all things are equal. It’s the smart thing to do. The only way to get a better price is to offer a better value. It’s your job to not just create that better value but to be able to articulate it. Brand positioning is presenting your brand in the mind of your customers so that they differentiate you from your competition in a positive light. How do you create your brand positioning strategy and statement? Here are six steps.
1. Know your current position. List any and all ways that you are distinctive. Review your vision, mission, values and who is your target audience. By the way, your target audience shouldn’t be the biggest spender, it should be the ones that make you feel good about what you do and how you do it. They should be the ones who value you as a business partner and recognize your value.
2. Know your competition. You should know who you are up against. If you have team members (other sales staff, customer service people, inside support) ask them who they come up against and hear about regularly. Use the internet and search some keywords that you feel define your value and see who comes up. Be brave and ask your customers who they consider before choosing you.
3. Research your competitors. Analyze how they go to market and position their companies. Discover what they offer or how they differentiate their offerings. Look for their strengths and weaknesses and what strategies they are successfully using.
4. Identify what makes your brand unique. What is working for you? Build on your successful strategies. See if you have a strength that is your competitions’ weakness. What can you do better, faster and more effectively? You’re finding joy in anything that makes you unique.
5. Develop your own positioning statement that declares your unique value to your customer relative to your main competition. This requires articulating:
• Who is your target customer?
• What is your product/service category?
• What is the greatest benefit from choosing you?
• Prove it.
Here’s how that might look for a promotional products professional. “To the professional who want to make their brand look good and get better results (target customer) MY BRAND COMPANY is the creative branded merchandise specialist (product/service category) that makes our customers look good, feel good and perform better so that they improve their market position (benefit from choosing us). That’s because we • have partnered with the best resources in the industry • are winning international awards for our creativity • are committed to industry leadership and continuing education • and are willing to break barriers (Proof).
6. Make sure it works. Make sure your Positioning Statement is YOUR statement and that it feels right and resonates with your target audience. Test it. Get feedback from your customers and trusted advisors. Actively gather real feedback and actively listen to make sure you have nailed it.
Knowing your value and being able to consistently articulate it and live it is your key to creating differentiation in the marketplace. That takes you out of the commodity game and takes price out of the equation.
Paul Kiewiet MAS+ is an industry speaker, writer, consultant and coach. He serves as the executive director of MiPPA. Kiewiet was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame and the MiPPA Hall of Fame. He served as Chairman of PPAI in 2007. A former distributor, he founded Promotion Concepts, Inc in 1982 and worked with some of America’s most valuable brands including Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, and Whirlpool.