POSITIONING

As an entrepreneur, what’s most important is to position your enterprise so that the heart and soul of what you do is on display, and… comes into play.

Positioning focuses on:

• The Founders: the reason why you have launched your enterprise;

• The Customers: why they should give you business;

• The Employees: why they should choose to work in the enterprise;

A good position is:

1. What makes you unique?

2. Why is this considered a benefit by your target market?

Positioning is how your target market defines you in relation to your competitors. It is important to understand your offerings from the customers’ point of view relative to the competition.

Consider:

1. What is your marketing environment?

2. What is your competitive advantage?

You must be able to answer this question:

What do you have that can satisfy the needs of the marketspace and that gives you an advantage over your competitors?

There are seven positioning strategies that can be pursued:

Attributes:
What are the specific attributes of your product or service?

Benefits:
What are the benefits to the customers?

Usage Occasions:
When / how / where can the product or service be used?

Users:
What class and category of users can avail of your offering?

Against Competitors:
How well positioned is your offering versus that of your competitors?

Away from Competitors:
How well positioned is your offering located away from that of your competitors?

Product Classes:
How distinctive is your offering within a range of product classifications?

[Excerpted from the 'Lifescaping' seminar participant's manual. The 'Lifescaping' seminar is conducted by Dilip Mukerjea about four times a year under the auspices of the Singapore Institute of Management.]

WHERE DO YOU POSITION YOURSELF ON THIS MATRIX?

This particular matrix has been created by Dilip Mukerjea in his book, 'Brain Symphony: Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application'.

He poses this pertinent question to readers:

Where do you position yourself on the matrix?

The answer you have in your mind will serve as an interesting perspective of your future orientation.

I have in fact mentioned to Dilip that his matrix reminded me of an almost similar matrix, but with a twist, from futurist Joel Arthur Barker in his debut book during the mid-eighties, entitled 'Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms'.

Using Dilip's matrix as a reference, just replace:

- "Metagrobolised" with "Problem Solving";

- "Masterful" with "Opportunity Finding";

- "Moronic" with "Reaction";

- "Mastermind" with "Anticipation";

& you have Joel Arthur Barker's original matrix.

In a nutshell, & according to Joel Arthur Barker, in order to anticipate - & shape - our future, we need to head in the direction of "Matchless", just as Dilip has originally envisaged.

[All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]