How Well Do You Play the Positioning Game?

How Well Do You Play the Positioning Game?

In a more modest area of a city, I saw a sign on the roof of a motel near a main highway. It said “Cleanest budget motel in our city” and then named several other available features offered. It looked to be tidy and in good repair, even though in a less desirable part of town.

Now, if you were on a tight budget yet needed accommodations that night, wouldn’t you be inclined to stop there? Rich or poor, we all like “clean.”

So how did this owner play the positioning game? By  choosing a favorable quality and marketing that as the most important selling point, he/she carved out a position in your mind. The position of cleanest of the budget motels. Perhaps several months from now you are again traveling through this city. As you realize you need to stopover here, you remember this clean budget motel because it holds that particular position in your mind.

Notice it wasn’t trying to be something it was not—a classy hotel. Yes, it’s not afraid to call itself a budget one, but within the group of budget motels, it claims to be the cleanest. It wasn’t trying to play up all its features equally, as most motels do, thinking that the more features it tells about on its large sign, the better you’ll think it is. In fact, what good do all the extra features do if the room is dirty and full of bugs? It chose a particular feature to focus on, so you connect it with that feature in your mind.

For those of us on Etsy, what can we learn? Well, let’s look at where this idea of positioning came from. A number of years back, Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a book called, “Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind.” The book’s concept rocked the world of marketing at that time and its strategy has proved to be as true today as then. Their premise is that on the “ladder” of businesses in your product category, you must carve out a position in the customer’s mind. It doesn’t even have to be on top—it just has to be a unique position, something you are known for.

For example, at that time Hertz was the #1 car rental company. Avis was not. But Avis used the slogan, “We try harder” and combining that with good customer service, they won people’s hearts. They have grown amazingly since then.

Ivory soap is just another soap, right? Well, not really. Proctor and Gamble would have us believe that “It’s so pure it floats!”  They chose something unusual about it and exploited that. See how it now occupies a unique position in your mind?

How Can That Help Us on Etsy?

Because there are so many sellers in most categories, it’s imperative that you position yourself in a unique spot in the customer’s mind. Think long and hard about one thing that is unique or interesting about one product or your product group, and plan to focus on that in your marketing. Nowadays, that one thing needs to be fairly unusual, so shoppers can remember you better.

For example, perhaps you sell handmade purses. Could they all come under the theme of “Country?” Could you use country-type fabrics and styles and let that be your theme? You could market yourself as “the gal with country style bags and totes.” Your position in the mind of the shopper is that of “country style handbags.”

Perhaps you make soft leather purses and clutches. Then market yourself as “the shop with the softest leather imaginable!” Assuming your leather really is extremely soft, this now positions you as, not just one of many purse makers, but the one with the softest leather.

Yes, if you play the positioning game well, you’ll be remembered in Etsy’s marketplace, and end up getting the sales!

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