Strategic Positioning For Profits

Posted by Sant Qiu in : Strategic Positioning & Branding on October 5, 2007 , trackback

As human beings we tend to label things, to generalize things, to simplify, so that we can assimilate the tons and tons of information that are being dumped our way every single waking hour. We become so good at it that it becomes a subconscious activity. To demonstrate:

You won’t notice your breathing pattern (until I mentioned it), the weight of your body on your bum that is being supported by the chair (until I mentioned it), even your urge to blink right now. You just blinked didn’t you?

Ok, Ok, so what has that got to do with increasing profits? Simple! We tend to shut out things that are ‘common occurrence’, ‘the norm’, and ‘the standard’ in favor of paying attention to things that stand out and are different. Knowing that, you can easily and very consciously set up your business/service/product/offer to be different than what is on the market. And when you do that, you will be guaranteed a huge jump in profits!

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples from different industries:

Internet Marketing: There are literally thousands of Internet entrepreneurs who are promoting themselves as gurus. Only a handful are extremely successful. And those are the ones who have differentiated and created a powerful positioning for themselves.

For example, they positioned themselves as the product creation expert, the web copywriting expert, the teleseminar expert, the super affiliate, the Adsense specialist, blogging specialist, etc.

Each of them have their own story to tell. By creating a strong differentiation and positioning, they stand out and attract attention. YOUR attention. They are no longer “another one of those”. Do they profit more than “another one of those”? Absolutely!

Beauty salons in Singapore: Many years back, the beauty industry in Singapore was overcrowded with so many beauty salons that were all promoting very similar things. When the trend was facial whitening, you can expect all of them to advertise about that service. When the trend shifted to the elimination of cellulite, then every salon claimed to be a specialist on how they can help you get rid of it. (Isn’t ironical that everyone is a ’specialist’? If everyone is a specialist, then maybe they have not specialized enough.)

But since then, I suspect that the salons started to realize the importance of positioning themselves and being focused in a category. Now as you flip the newspaper and see their huge half-page ads, you will realize that most of them are positioning themselves better.

You can find:

- BottomSlim: Specialize in slimming lower parts of the body (by the way, which parts do you think are the problem areas of most people? Very smart move!)
- Jean Yip: Beauty through haircare (even though they have slimming services, they are known as the experts in hair treatments).
- Hair Away: Specialist in removal of unwanted hair.
- Strip: Brazilian waxing. I was told that their most popular request is ‘the strip’. If you don’t know what that is… you need to get out more!
- Marie France Bodyline: Well-known as the premier slimming and beauty specialist.
- SlimFit: Natural breast enhancements.
- And many others!

As you can see, all of them appeal to the different categories within the same industry—Beauty. Of course many of them are still caught up in the ‘me too’ strategy. They try to jump on the bandwagon of the new trends and compete on price. And that is not a good place to be.

So start positioning your business strategically. Focus on a niche and specialize in it. Think about what’s available in the market place and how you can create a differentiation. Remember, you can apply the same positioning strategy to an individual (yourself). You will profit massively just by doing this.

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