I recently spoke to group of small business executives on marketing at an event with the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce. (Thanks much to my co-presenter Jacen from Century 21.) As I was planning my portion of the outline, I had an “ah ha!” moment when I came to the slide on “positioning.”

What is positioning?

What I mean by positioning is how one seeks to be compared in relation to others of perceived like characteristics. For example, when evaluating vehicles, how is the Mazda model seeking to position itself against its competitors in the same class? How does Mazda frame the argument and what are the specific buyer “hot buttons” — issues of vital importance — it is looking to push.

My take on positioning uses qualitative research of customer and prospect “hot buttons” to determine how one frames a product or service. Branding is the introspective process of determining values and identity apart from the customer. Positioning is the extrospective process of evaluating how that brand will be conveyed to prospects and clients in light of the market landscape. Read the rest of this entry » »

I just received a mailer from Dell with the usual coupon incentives to buy. $300 off this commodity PC, 10% off that hardware system, free company web site… What?

Is a web site in the same category as PC hardware? Apparently to many including Dell this is the case. In fact, I believe one of the major factors 30% of small businesses do not have a web site is due to this errant assumption: to have a web site, one must have IT resources. Read the rest of this entry » »