Do you feel you’re getting lost in the vast ocean of your market?
Look at all the competition out there nowadays. Businesses are struggling for eyeballs and attention.
Repositioning
Sometimes the best way to solve the problem is to reposition your branding come at the market at a different angle. Repositioning is making your business look differently to the consumer, taking a different mindset approach to your customer.
For instance, I was on a forum the other day, and somebody posted a repositioning of a carpet cleaning service. Instead of being considered a carpet cleaner they re-positioned him into being a dust mite extractor. He started targeting more of the health and safety aspect of carpet cleaning.
It was pretty cool. The carpet cleaner had a postcard that said ‘carpet cleaning.’ A potential customer sorting this over the garbage can would either say ‘yeah’ I do want carpet cleaning or no don’t need it and toss it away.
That poor carpet cleaner had a 50-50 shot of that thing getting read. Not to mention all the other competition of people sending postcards out claiming the same thing.
So the repositioning went like this.
One Example of Repositioning
They wrote the postcard to show how dust mites can affect allergies. The only way to get rid of them was to have this carpet cleaner come in and extract them.
He became known in his niche as a dust mite removal expert. Not just the average carpet cleaner.
Other Examples of Repositioning
Let me give you some possible examples of repositioning for other businesses. You can reposition almost any company, and these examples are just something I came up with off the top of my head.
- A simple house painter could become an exterior home weathering expert. Just reposition yourself as an expert in protecting the exterior of your house from all elements. Talk about the harmful effect of the rain and snow on the surface of the house and what you need to do to protect it. Talk about how caulking around the window frames and door frames can protect your home from the elements. Get knowledgeable in the environmental aspects of exterior painting and materials. Going Green and environmental impacting is a big market. Positioning yourself as an expert in the environmental impact by still being a house painter can open up the whole move field for your business.
- What about repositioning a dry cleaning business. A dry cleaner could reposition themselves as a formal-wear cleaning expert. By expanding the message in their marketing to be an expert on cleaning wedding dresses, custom high-end tailored suits and high-end formal-wear. Show your market your knowledge on different fabrics different weaves and how to clean and care for them. People who spend a lot of money on higher end formal wear clothing are looking for experts in cleaning care for them. In a busier metropolitan area just cornering the market on wedding dress cleaning and care would bring them an incredible revenue stream.
- Here’s an interesting one. How about repositioning an auto repair facility as your auto safety experts. Automobile safety and maintenance is becoming a much bigger issue. Repositioning your auto repair facility from just car repairs to maintenance inspections and safety inspections and re-guarding yourself as a safety expert facility could easily set their business apart from the average repair facility. I live in a large metropolitan area, and I have never seen anybody specialize in vehicle safety inspections or vehicle safety knowledge. Many auto shops talk briefly about it in their advertising, but nobody steps away and becomes the market leader.
- Okay, last one. How about repositioning an accountant into a life asset protection expert. Most accounting firms have a fair amount of knowledge on life financial planning and investments. A simple repositioning of your identity could turn you into the life asset protection person in your area. After the recent economic recession, people are looking for protection of their assets. Repositioning your accounting business as an asset protection service could bring you an increase in activity that would not use an accounting service.
The Flip Side to Repositioning
Now there is a flip side to repositioning. It’s not all rosy pluses. What if you do a repositioning without doing some research? You reposition yourself into a niche market where there is no business. Make sure when to go about standing apart from your competition that you’re not stepping into a dead or inactive market.
Or even worse, a market which is in decline. You may never notice until it is too late. By the time you have invested marketing dollars, the bottom drops out and leaves you hanging. Before starting the repositioning process, make sure you step back and take a large scale view of all the other businesses around.
Raising Your Perceived Value
Here’s another benefit to repositioning. Increasing the perceived value of your services so you can increase your prices for the same work or product from the other market.
I have seen this personally with a racing engine builder. They build the same motor for two different markets. The price difference between the two markets can be as much as ten to fifteen thousand dollars per engine just by repositioning their brand to fit the second market. The good thing about their repositioning as the can still walk between the two markets.
Repositioning is just one use of a good copywriter. If your copywriter is claiming he or she can get you great numbers without even really looking at your position in the market, I can get you better numbers because I will look at your competition and your place in the market.
I see too many copywriters claiming numbers like there’s magic in their keyboard. It’s almost become cliché. I can give you basic marketing practices, tried and tested, basic selling practices, used in your business to bring in customers.
I want to look at your business. If you go to my contact page and fill out the form, I’ll take a look and give you a couple of ideas that may help your online presence.
If what I give you in this initial consultation makes sense to you, we can work out a plan to do even more.
This initial consultation is free, and I hope it helps you even if we don’t work together further.
Good Luck,
Kevin