Why companies spend $65k and more on positioning.

Can small businesses even afford that?

Before you start on your branding, you need to get clear on three things:
a) Your audience
b) What you’re selling
c) Your vision for the business for the next 3-5 years.

And there’s a clear-cut way to get to that - positioning (which is a part of your brand strategy but let’s not get into the semantics).

People presume positioning is ‘your niche’ or filling in the <this is what I sell> to <whom> and <how> formula.

But if you put it simply, it’s how you position yourself in a crowded market. It’s your USP, what makes you great at what you do and your value factor.

Once you get clear on your positioning, sales becomes a breeze.

It’s why companies will easily spend upwards of $65k on a positioning workshop - the price tag to hire one of my favourite marketers, April Dunford.

But is that something a small business can afford to do?

Yes, the best thing to do is hire a brand strategist or positioning expert.

But a lot of clients who come to me either - don’t understand why they need one or don’t realize this is something they can do. While I'll try my best to educate them, the truth is they might not have the resources for it.

And then, I realized it looked different for someone with a small business.

It's certainly not possible for a copywriter to create website copy without their client’s positioning (because that's where they derive the USP, values, benefits, etc..) and as a result of this - many designers and copywriters, like myself, build it into their strategy process.

Why? Because, copy cannot exist without strategy.

Yes, the best case scenario is for you to hire a brand strategist or positioning expert before you even work with a copywriter.

The second best case? For you to ensure that you get it one way or another.

If you’ve been at your business for a while, are you clear on your positioning?

On the more personal side…

Watched: Deadpool V Wolverine. I have a very personal relationship with the Fox’s X-Men and honestly, it broke my heart a little when Fox got absorbed by Disney. Fun, even if the plot didn’t have any repercussions in the MCU’s arc (like most of their movies in this phase). I also watched Inside Out 2 - and yes, I did end up spending all of last weekend at the theatre haha!

Something that brought me joy: I made 24 pieces of sushi at a Sushi-making Workshop, and that might spell trouble for future me and all the sushi I plan to make and eat! (Also, I’m aware these pictures I upload for the newsletter have no relation to the content of the newsletter and quite possibly the worst thing for SEO- but it’s fun, isn’t it?)

End Notes

This edition of the newsletter (we’re at lucky number seven!) was inspired by a post from a copywriter (whom I still respect) who stated that,

‘A lot of positioning experts suck at copywriting and vice versa. It's a new trend doing rounds on LinkedIn where positioning experts think they can also write the copy………Don't try to act like you can do everything and then leave the client with a half-cooked positioning and lousy copy.’

It likely came from the fact that they write copy for B2B tech companies. And that last statement is certainly true, however unfortunate.

But on the small business front, I disagree - and the comment I responded with formed the basis of this newsletter.

After all, my decision to build the brand strategy workshop into my copywriting process resulted from way too many clients coming to me without one.

For years, I was conducting this workshop for my clients without charging for it. In fact, I only began charging for it this year - yes, I know!

But now, I consider myself lucky because it ended up inspiring my LinkedIn headline, ‘positioning you as the go-to expert through website copy’.

Now, I just need to figure out what the ‘positioning’ is for this newsletter, instead of it just being my name - can you tell I’m still getting used to Substack’s format?

Who knows? Maybe I should conduct another positioning workshop for myself.

Happy marketing,
Maria

Ps: Here’s my website & linkedIn if it interests you :)