How to adapt your business and prosper during COVID-19

Learn how small changes to your messaging will allow you to effortlessly develop new products and grow your customers in the new normal – 5 min read. Click here to download a free positioning statement template to radically improve your marketing results today!

 

You’re probably sick of hearing terms like “The new normal” but there’s no doubt about it, things have changed. Not many businesses have been left unaffected by COVID 19. There have been positives and negatives depending on the industry and sector, but what is clear is that sitting back and hoping for the best is a losing strategy. Your business has to adapt and evolve to minimise the threats and take advantage of new opportunities.

 

It’s all about positioning.

 

Whether you’re targeting different customers, better engaging your current ones, launching new products, or ramping up your marketing… Whatever it is, it will only work if your customers understand who you are, what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. How you position yourself in the marketplace is the key factor that will determine whether you survive, or go the way of the Dinosaurs. 

 

Your positioning is basically the parameters you set yourself to define your market, identity your audience, and differentiate from your competitors. It outlines the image you want to project, the experiences you want to deliver and the feelings you want to conjure.

 

 

Get your brand positioning right and you give customers a clear reason to choose you. Get it wrong, and you’ll quickly slide deep into the red.

 

The great news is that we’ve created a template along with some real-world examples to help you quickly and easily build your positioning statement. You can download it here.

 

Your positioning.

 

Here’s what you need to think about to nail your positioning statement.

 

1. Your what

 

This is the easiest; what does your business offer? It’s important to consider a little detail. For example, Ryanair doesn’t just offer flights, it offers low-cost European flights. You haven’t got to list every service or product just try and sum up what you deliver.

 

2. Your how.

 

Your how is all about your approach; think about your methodology for delivering solutions and experiences for your audiences. Take Apple for example, their focus is on innovation in design to create beautiful products that are easy to use. Your approach might be excellent customer service, attention to detail, using only the freshest ingredients etc. it’s everything that makes you, you.

 

3. Your why.

 

Perhaps the hardest part to your brand positioning. Your why is your purpose and is all about creating an emotive response from your audience. Purpose doesn’t have to be about saving the world; it’s simply about why you do what you do. Just look at the success that John Lewis had with their Christmas adverts, they wanted to make people laugh, cry and smile. Think beyond what your product and service is and think about the impact you have for your customer.

 

 

4. Your audience.

 

Understanding your audience is vital to your marketing activity. List out your target audiences and build a profile of them. Think about what triggers their interest in you and the problems you solve for them. Consider what values, attitudes and behaviours define them. Everything you do should then be aligned with these to really resonate.

 

5. Your competitors.

 

Standing out from the crowd is important, even if you’re in a highly competitive market there are always key points of differences. If you look around and think your industry is homogenous, then that just means there’s an even bigger opportunity to break the mould. Look at your competitor brands and evaluate how they differ from you. Why would someone choose them over you? And vice versa. These attributes start to define the initial positioning of your brand.