Positioning your online business for financial independence. One of the fundamental things to get right when designing or buying an online business is positioning.
Positioning can make the difference between a profitable business that contributes to your financial independence. Or, one that takes time, money and energy.
This article contains the fundamentals of positioning your online business to help you achieve financial independence.
I have operated two businesses. One had good, clear positioning. The other I got the positioning wrong – and didn’t fix it! It taught me many valuable lessons. Financially rewarding, it was not. Not listening to those that tried to help point me in the direction was one of the lessons. Stubborn, wilful – yes, I know.
Once you have recovered from the shock of me owning that I didn’t have miraculous, seven figure success overnight, read on. There’s some easy and common mistakes you can avoid.
How do you get positioning for your online business right?
Here’s a great except from “Win without pitching”. It targets a service business, but the idea of a clear focus to inform your business strategy and differentiate yourself is clearly made. It applies to any online business.
The Three Steps of Positioning.
Positioning is strategy articulated and then proven. These components of strategy, language and proof are laid out here as the three steps we must take to meaningfully differentiate ourselves from others:
- We must choose a focus.
- Then articulate that focus via a consistent claim of expertise.
- And finally, we must work to add the missing skills, capabilities and processes necessary to support our new claim.
What difference will positioning an online business make to my financial independence?
Firstly, for an online business to help your financial independence journey, you want it to be profitable.
Making a profit from a sale is one thing. A sustainable, profitable business with good profit margin is another.
This is where many small and online businesses trip up.
Because, they don’t calculate their time in the business as part of the operating costs, they don’t calculate the profit margin of the business accurately. If you think your time has value, strong positioning can increase your profit and return on investment of time. Otherwise your time can be invested in other activities to support your financial independence journey.
Understand the profit margin formula. This is the difference between your revenue (the amount of money your business brings in) and your costs. Then take control of it to succeed.
Secondly, differentiate yourself from the market. This allows more pricing flexibility. Consider T2 tea prices, versus the packets of tea you buy from the supermarkets where they are all crammed on a shelf together.
If you are in a highly competitive sector, and offer a comparable product with little or no positioning to differentiate yourself. You will have little option but to match the market price.
If you are thinking of starting an online business check out our article on crafting a value proposition to learn more.
Considering buying an online business? Check its positioning in the market, its competition and it’s pricing, before buying. If they don’t have strong positioning and you can improve this, perhaps it’s a buying opportunity?
Put simply, positioning can make a big difference to the profitability of a business.
Great positioning and how to do it.
Great positioning and branding go hand in hand. If you are not comfortable with your skill in this area, hire an expert.
A successful brand strategy means your business’ channels, digital experiences, and tone of voice need to hone in on what your key customers want.
Research and understand what your customers want to better position yourself.
Think about famous brands like Apple, Mercedes, Go Pro and Red Bull. Each of them have created a distinct place for themselves in their market and their marketing, products and the experience their customers have, match that positioning.