A positioning statement is vital to any retail store, restaurant, and entertainment-based business since it defines who you are and what makes you different from your competition. Basically, this statement feeds your marketing messages and becomes a vital part of how you promote yourself. Businesses that are selling in a highly competitive field or offering similar products and services will deteriorate without one. This can be attributed to the following reasons:
- If you do not position yourself and communicate that position, your customer WILL do it for you. Like it or not, you already have a position. This may or may not be the opinions you would like them to have, but the formation of those opinions is inevitable
- The companies that try to be “everything to everyone” become “nothing to no one.”
- Your positioning statement gives your company focus and without a solid focus, chaos exists.
- Your company is already being perceived. Companies that win know how to influence that perception and turn it into positive differentiations.
Creating the statement is done through thoughtfully answering the following questions:
(1) Who are we?
(2) What do we do?
(3) Who is our customer?
(4) What needs do those customers have?
(5) Who are we competing against?
(6) What’s different about us? -or- What is our key benefit?
(7) Why is that benefit important to your customer?
Once you have a grasp on the answers to those questions ask yourself, “Is this positioning statement matching the position that already exists in the minds of my customers? If not, make that your goal to alter your communication and take small steps to bridging that gap. If so, congratulations! You are on the right track.
