3 Steps To Market Positioning Your Package For Better Sales

market positioning

If you’ve been creating offerings and doing your marketing homework for your business, then you may have heard of the concept of market positioning for your package to get sales.

Market positioning refers to the process the experts use to occupy a distinct position in relation to other brands in the mind of the customer. The concept of market positioning was first introduced by Jack Trout and Al Ries in 1969. It’s very simple: market positioning refers to the perception a target market has about a particular brand.

Your target-market’s perception of your brand will occur regardless of whether or not you are actively managing it, but Trout and Ries claimed that companies could do their part in positively influencing how they are perceived in the eyes of their demographic by studying, measuring, and improving a product’s market positioning.

Steps to improve your product’s market positioning

Over time, market positioning has come to mean the process by which marketing experts create an image in the mind of a brand’s target market. It’s typically defined by taking certain steps, which we will discuss in this article.

1. Simplify your message and be consistent

Consumers are dealing with information overload as they maneuver a constant stream of advertising and marketing. While it used to be on the TV, radio and magazines, we’ve now added the Internet to the mix. That means everywhere a consumer looks they are being bombarded by marketing. We can’t even check our inboxes without seeing ads!

According to Trout and Ries, the way consumers deal with this is by oversimplifying and shutting out anything that isn’t consistent with their experience.

This means that business owners have to make sure they are simplifying the message of their brand and product, otherwise consumers will tune it out. Marie Forleo actually had a great video recently where she somewhat discusses this. In the video she talks about how using over-complicated terms actually makes people lose you and take you less seriously. The same can be said of your brand.

You also need to be consistent with your messaging. How often do you send out emails with value? How often do you create new content? How often do you contact people? When you set expectations (e.g., We publish something new on the blog every Tuesday!”), people expect you to follow through.

Your messaging also needs to be consistent. Just recently I had a friend email me about an opportunity to speak at a conference geared for millennials. She ended the email by saying “Your marketing must be on point! Every time I hear ‘millennials’ I immediately think of you!” That’s exactly the kind of reaction you want to get from people.

2. Get into your market’s mind

I often tell business-coaching clients that they need to know their market so well they know what their market is thinking. This takes time to figure out, but once you truly understand your market everything starts falling into place.

Here are some of the ways you can get yourself some permanent residency in your market’s mind:

  • Use your market’s language in your marketing copy and emails. For example, how do they describe their problems? What do they want?
  • Be where your market is. For instance, I primarily focus on millennials in the coaching aspect of my business. Where are my people hanging out? Facebook and now Periscope. That means I must use these tools and leverage them.
  • Remind them of their problem. In his book, World Class Speaking, Craig Valentine talks about the concept of making your market sick before you can make them better. Essentially, in effective marketing you have to spend some time reminding people of their symptoms and their overall problem. (Note: Do not only focus on the negatives. This is simply to remind them that they have a problem so you can tell them you have the solution.)

After you get into your markets mind you’ll want to tell them about the benefits of purchasing your offering. Note, this is not telling them logistics about the product. This is telling them the results they will see in their lives if they purchase your offering.

3. Play on your unique strengths

For better market positioning, you must know what sets you apart from your competitors. For instance, I know what sets me apart from other business coaches. I believe in stuff like manifesting, but unlike most coaches who teach those things, I’m very down to earth and practical.

I make you deal with things like cash flow while still leaving space for possibilities. I also maneuver the online business world incredibly well where as many business coaches focus on more traditional businesses.

What really sets me apart is my story. I relate to my market on a very deep level because I’ve been through the same struggles they have. I graduated into a bad economy and questioned everything about what I’d been taught about making money. So what did I do? I built an online business from nothing.

This story resonates with an entire generation that just so happens to be my market. My market also just so happens to want the same thing I achieved: freedom from traditional employment. That’s why when my friend say something about millennials she immediately thought of me—because my story is as millennial as it gets.

What sets you apart? What makes you different from competitors? What’s your story? Play on these angles in your marketing and offering creation. This is part of what makes you memorable to your market.

Final thoughts

Market positioning your offering for sales is an important part of brand creation and profit. If you can’t answer the questions in this article right away try not to worry about it. It can sometimes take years for business owners to truly understand their market, just don’t let that stop you from trying and continuing to move forward.

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About the Author

Amanda Abella is an online business coach, speaker and author of the Amazon bestselling book - Make Money Your Honey. She is committed to helping individuals have a better relationship with work and money through entrepreneurship, online marketing and money mindset. Her work has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, and more.

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