Positioning

The place you occupy in a customer's mind relative to the alternatives. Chosen, or assigned to you by default.

What it means

Positioning is the decision about who you are for, what you are the best choice for, and what you are deliberately not.

It is expressed in everything: pricing, the work you accept, the language on the website, and the customers you turn down.

Why it matters

Without a position, you are compared on price, because price is the only dimension left.

Narrow positions win disproportionately for small businesses. Being the obvious choice for a specific group beats being an acceptable choice for everyone, and it is achievable at a scale where being famous is not.

What it looks like in practice

Write down: who it is for, what problem it solves, what the alternatives are, and why you are the better answer for that specific group.

Then check whether you could honestly turn work away on that basis. A position you would abandon for any paying customer is not a position.

Price is part of it. Being the cheapest is a legitimate position and requires a cost structure to match; most businesses claim it without having one.

What to watch out for

Positioning that describes your process rather than the customer's outcome.

Changing it constantly. Positioning works by repetition, and the point at which you are bored of saying it is roughly the point at which the market begins to hear it.

Where to get proper advice

Talk to your best customers about why they chose you and what they would have done otherwise. That conversation is the research.