By Tim Reeder with Contributions by Blazon IG Affiliate, Natalie Pantaleo
If you’re an entrepreneur focused on bringing your product or service to market for the first time, there’s a lot of frontloaded work to do in both operations and marketing. Blazon Interactive Group routinely helps clients in both arenas through our consortium of marketing/IT service providers.
First Things First
From experience, we recognize the fundamental element of any business is clear positioning against competitors. However, with access to a plethora of digital media platforms, entrepreneurs are often tempted to dive right into marketing and skip the critical step of positioning.
What Is Positioning
By uncovering customer needs and how you will uniquely meet them, you’ll create more targeted and meaningful campaigns. Many marketers know the four elements of a strong position include: identifying a target audience, frame of reference, product or service point of difference, and reasons to believe. What they don’t know, as described in a recent Forbes article, “Demystifying the Science Underlying Brand Positioning,” by Stephen Diorio, is the how.
“The reality is brand positioning is much more difficult than it appears. Brand position is much more science than art. So, rigor, iteration, judgment, and experience matter,” Diorio writes. “Brand positioning provides the blueprint for the marketing program that fuels it (e.g. advertising, content marketing, product marketing, thought leadership, and value selling assets and programs) . . .”
Getting Started
Blazon Interactive Group works with entrepreneurs on positioning exercises that allow them to think in terms of remarkability. Additionally, we can help identify data resources on customer preferences and needs that avoid costly marketing research whenever appropriate. Clients describe our positioning sessions as helpful, creative and fun.
As the New Year advances, it’s a good time to evaluate your marketing and check your brand’s position. Send us an email if you’d like help with positioning.
At Blazon IG, we match your marketing and IT/digital services gaps and outsourcing needs with vetted experts who operate as an extension of your team.
Wishing you and yours happy, healthy holidays.
