Marketing textbooks refer to the 4 P's of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. There are a further 7 P's that we need to consider. Two of these are the subject of this article: Position and Proposition.

Your Position in the market is perhaps the most important decision you can make about your business. You need to define your niche from two perspectives:

What does your business do for your customer? (Remember, people only buy benefits, not products)
How does that differential your product or service from your competitors?

The concept behind positioning is simple: Find a hole and fill it. Do not attempt to fill a hole that is already occupied. An example of this is illustrated when Mercedes tried to challenge Volvo's position as the "safe" car. Two things happened: firstly, every Mercedes ad talking about safety only reinforced Volvo's position in that niche and secondly, Mercedes customers, who purchased their cars for different benefits became confused. Do not attempt to try to be all things to all people. You need to appeal to those few customers who have a very high desire for your product or service, rather than many people who have a lower desire - that is where most of your competition will be.

A major cause of business failure is that people fail to find and define their niche. They open a dry cleaner, garden service or hairdresser that is not positioned differently from their competitors and discover that the person that got there first has a massive advantage. Good positioning is really about eliminating competition. When Close-Up was introduced, the major brands of toothpaste were all fighting for one position - the family toothpaste that fights cavities. Close-Up was brilliantly positioned as a toothpaste for single young adults, who care a lot more about sex appeal than cavities.

A common mistake in defining their niche is that many business owners look inwardly at their business. A client recently said that their differentiation is "convergence" - they had obviously omitted to ask how many customers are likely to buy "convergence".

Having defined your Position, you need to tell the world about it. This is where you need to spend time, effort and imagination formulating your Single-Minded Proposition. Another good term for this is your Unique Selling Proposition. This is a short statement of less than eight words that describes your key differentiation from the perspective of your client. Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the excellent range of Guerilla Marketing books, maintains that "if you cannot articulate your focus in seven words, then you don't have one". It must state what your product or service does for the buyer, not for your business. Ask yourself why you believe your clients or prospects would choose your business over many others. Then ask your customers and prospects. You may be amazed at the differences.

It is vitally important that your Single-Minded Proposition has substance in what you actually deliver. Do you really understand what your clients and prospects needs are and do you really understand and have what it takes to meet and exceed their expectations? Once you have your Single-Minded Proposition, you have your clear sense of purpose presented in your customers terms, unfailingly and without deviation.

The only thing left is to use it again and again, in every sales call, on you letterheads, business cards and advertising. You will have one of the most powerful keys to unlocking the potential of your business.

The authors are directors of the business PLAN. They can be contacted at mail@tbp.co.za or (011) 782 6746.

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