Positioning your B2B company
When we talk about positioning, we're talking about how to leverage your unique value proposition and appearance that sets your offering apart. Read this post and we'll give you the basics of business positioning.
Remember: Good positioning shortens deal cycles and lowers the cost of customer acquisition.
Positioning gives you a competitive edge
We are always somehow positioned against our competitors. Unfortunately, we often position ourselves "accidentally". Like in nature, we just kind of evolve into something without thinking about it too much. But unlike in nature, in business we can control our destiny and decide how we want to be positioned.
Positioning math 👩🏼🏫
ICP ➕ Value Prop ➖ Competition = Pursued position
Animals are nailing the positioning game
There are approximately 1,5 million different species of animals in the world. Natural selection favors individuals that possess traits that are better adapted to their environment, allowing them to survive and prosper. Fish can dive, lions can hunt and birds can fly. Differentiation is the answer when competing for the same resources.
Sounds familiar?
In business, we are competing for the same customers, investors, and employees. Not just money, but also we compete for time in busy schedules and attention as well.
Three lessons a business can take from nature 🌳
How to find your competitive edge?
The most common example of differentiation is to compare price to quality. It is a fantastic example, but let's remember, there are a million ways how we can gain a unique competitive edge! Instead of comparing price and quality, you can combine any features your business is excellent at, and place it in the quadrant diagram. The goal is to find a combination that makes you valuable, and unique from your competitors.
This is a great positioning exercise!
Think about your dream customer and all the value-providing aspects of your business. The goal is to find a cutting-edge competitive advantage.
- Draw a cross on a whiteboard.
- On both axis write down a unique feature or value proposition your business is good at.
- Place your competitors into the quadrant and evaluate if you can differentiate in a valuable way.
- Change wording on the axis and repeat.
- This is an extremely helpful exercise to evaluate your positioning.
Great positioning feature examples:
Speed, Delivery, Sustainability, Quality, Innovation, Carbon free, AI, Price model, UI, Personalization, Accessibility, Convenience, Tangibility, Locality
Check out this great example of combining different features in a quadrant diagram!
Roadmap to positioning success 🗺
- Study your happiest customers. Look at the data. Why are they happy?
- Study the rest of the market, especially your biggest competitors.
- Create a quadrant diagram with selected features and map your competitors on it.
- Try to find the features that make your position stand out.
- Define your unique market proposition again based on the findings.
- Brand it clearly! Think about Vogelkop Lophorina.
- Compete and show yourself, you have an edge. Your dream customers will take notes...
Natures reminder of why positioning is important
As already mentioned, there are approximately 1,5 million species in the world. 99,9% of all the animal species ever lived have extinct. As businesses, we can either stick out as unique contributors to the ecosystem or drop to the bottom of the food chain with our general offering and low margins until we go extinct. If you want to evolve the positioning of your B2B business, we might be able to help you. Just book a meeting down below. 😎
