Website as a tool for company positioning
A strategic approach to positioning your site will help you grow your business. By attracting the right visitors, there will be inquiries from people who want to buy what you are selling.
Positioning a company is all about occupying your own niche in a particular area of business.
By establishing yourself firmly in a particular position in your field, you are helping consumers form an individual perception of your company. Positioning is not only an objective strength of your business, it is more about how customers perceive your company and the most important features which make your business stand out from the competition.
A website will help your business get a foothold on the Internet.
The main purpose of a good website is to support a company’s activities in a comprehensive and multi-faceted way. The perception of your company and its goods/services by the consumer is a multifaceted set of feelings, emotions, and complex perceptions that arise in the buyer. It largely depends on how well you work on your image.
Competent marketers always try to create a winning image in advance and direct the attention of the right target audience to the competitive advantages of the company. Positioning, i.e. taking a certain position in relation to something is an internal, personal emotional state of any person.
It is subconscious and therefore when a visitor sees on your site what you are trying to convey to him through other media, he perceives your activity and company positively.
How does the website affect the positioning of the company on the market?
Development of websites is a process of creating a certain image of the company and getting an interactive tool for interaction with the audience, which serves the realization of the business goals of the company and is a tool to influence the perception of consumers of goods/services.
Internet is a huge world, where there are a lot of people with different interests. In order for your site to perform its task, you must still when developing the site, take into account that it must be aimed at a specific target audience.
This is a segmentation of the market, which is taken into account in the development of the website. It is necessary to determine in advance who exactly should be targeted: a wholesaler, a dealer or a final consumer of your products / services.
Often companies make the mistake of combining information for end consumers and wholesale buyers on the same resource. This is a big strategic mistake, which will lead to what turns out to be a lopsided site structure, and the information content will not be of interest to either group of consumers.
For example, the wholesale buyer is interested in information about the benefits of cooperation, terms or conditions of storage of products, its technical characteristics. He may also be interested in electronic tools to help work with the supplier.
And the end consumer will be interested in the consumer features, instructions for use, bonuses and promotions, information of a domestic or entertainment nature.
The difference between the interests of these two categories is huge, and so the development of a site without taking into account these points will make it very difficult to work effectively in the future.
Positioning your site is equivalent to product positioning in market strategy and product strategy. You need to:
Link your website to the benefits offered to its target users
Position it according to its strategic focus on specific benefits for specific target users
Build on your company’s strengths and avoid weaknesses
Creating a website “to be” like everyone else doesn’t make sense.
A website is a powerful business tool, it must work in accordance with your marketing plan. The effectiveness of your website depends on the strategic plan used in its creation. Therefore, if your company does not have a clear product/service positioning, you should definitely take the time to come up with one.
QUESTION: Why is it necessary?
ANSWER: The Internet erases boundaries and boundaries for the consumer.
Anyone can be on the websites of different competing companies at the same time. Where do you think he will choose? The one that brings him more benefits and represents more value. Therefore, these benefits must be clearly shown to him and focus the consumer’s attention on them.
The classical marketing concept of product positioning is closely connected with orientation on a market segment. Positioning is aimed at a product for specific market segments, with specific product needs and at specific prices. The same product can be positioned in different ways.
The general basis for classic product positioning is taken from a series of questions. Applying this idea, the website should clearly articulate product and business positioning statements.
The positioning statement, should answer these important questions:
Who is the product intended for?
What is the product?
What is the most important benefit it offers?
What is its most important competitor?
How is it different from that competitor?
How do customers benefit from this difference?
What is necessary for a website to work effectively?
First of all, the site must comply with the business goals of the organization, its main objectives and positioning in the market.
Secondly, it should use the right mechanisms to keep your customers on the site. To use exactly what catches the eye of a particular group of consumers – your customers and offer them exactly what they need.
A good website is a great opportunity to stand out among the masses of competitors and firmly occupy your niche. Creating a web site without taking into account the positioning of the company in the market – it’s just a waste of resources.
How can a website help you stand out from your competitors?
If you plan strategically you have to choose the main competitive advantages that will interest your potential consumers.
Study consumer behavior on the example of competitor sites and offer them something that favorably emphasizes your position in the market. Then you need to communicate this to the website developer and show your benefits in all their glory. Website developers need to know what to emphasize and how to highlight the benefits that will work for your business.
What is product positioning?
A simple definition of product positioning is where your product or service stands in the marketplace. It describes all the features that make your product unique and tells you why it is better than other products or solutions.
Think of your product positioning as its foundation!
This messaging will drive the rest of your go-to-market plan, from the content your marketing team creates to how your sales team communicates with potential customers. Without it, your marketing plan will fail when tested by your competitors. Effective positioning takes into account your target audience and their needs, and how your product can directly and effectively meet those needs.
What should you consider when positioning your product on your website?
Regardless of your product, its positioning should include these seven elements.
- Mission
This is your “why”-why does your product exist? How do you see your customers using it to improve their lives or solve a problem? Defining your mission will also help you think more clearly about how you bring it to market.
- Market Category
Your market category is your competitive area. What kind of product are you selling? If you’re delving into an emerging market or creating an entirely new market category, this is your opportunity to stake your ground and define it.
- Customer pain points
What are your customers’ major pain points? Is your product aimed at one or many? How can you more clearly position your product as a solution to these problems?
As you consider what your customers are experiencing and how your product or service can solve common pain points, you can create a customer journey map , empathy map or user persona map to create a connection and record this information for all who work on the product strategy .
- Distinctive company and product features
Often, if the problem is serious enough , someone has already tried to solve it . The key is to clearly identify why your product provides the best solution to the problem, and more importantly, how. In a saturated market, it is important to differentiate your product from the competition.
- Brand identity
Think about the most recognizable brands today. The company name doesn’t have to be present for you to identify the brand – and the logo itself probably evokes an opinion or emotion. This is the ultimate test of a strong brand. To create it, think about the tangible and symbolic things you’d like to be famous for. This process requires introspection and vision.
- Vision
Talking about a vision makes it easier to understand why you created the product in the first place. It’s harder to define your vision for product development or the future. Considering this as part of your product positioning will help you more clearly define the immediate value of your product – and its potential for growth.
- Product positioning statement
Once you’ve considered all of the above elements, you’ll be armed with all the context you need to craft a solid product positioning statement. Strategically, this is the core of all future marketing materials and messages.
Now you need to specifically and clearly describe your product and its value to your target audience on your website.
Here’s an example of a product positioning template:
This product was created for [audience] that [needs/wants] [emotion or decision]. Our [company / product] is a [category / solution] that unequivocally solves this problem with [features / benefits].
Once all stakeholders agree on this statement, you can also create a creative, customer-focused slogan.
Website elements that emphasize the company’s positioning
Slogan, slogan, emotional appeal – these are means to stir up positive emotions
Visual images – icons, flowcharts are also included in this category of impact on the consumer
Dynamic elements – draw attention to the content of the main advertising appeal
Unfortunately, not many people take into account these marketing “chips” in the process of developing a website. Most often, the site – a simple information resource. To increase its effectiveness, you need to apply different design elements to attract the attention of visitors to the main competitive advantages, chosen with the positioning of the company in the market.
We hope that this information has become useful and now you know what you need to demand from the performers to whom you entrust the development of the site.