Your client’s competitive positioning strategy is the entire foundation for their business. 

• How is their product differentiated from their competitors?
• What is their unique value proposition?
• What is their market niche?
• What mind share do they capture? 

If you’re working on your client’s brand strategy, begin with their competitive positioning and craft their market profile. Profiling is similar to an artist’s rendering: It is a visual picture of the market and a typical buyer’s distinctive characteristics.  An accurate market profile allows you to separate your client’s potential prospects from those less likely to buy. Position their brand solely for the people or businesses that match their profile. 

A Review of Classical Market Profiling 

Let’s review the traditional methods for generating your client’s market profile. Examine each aspect and quantify your results. 

Industry Study (for B2B)

• What industries does your client serve? Identify the appropriate SIC codes.
• Is their product marketable to more than one industry category?
• What is the sales potential in other secondary industries?
• Is the overall business category expanding or contracting?

 Geographical Demographics

• Define the geographical location of your client’s customers.
• Is your client’s product positioned locally, nationally, or globally?
• Is their product multi-cultural or narrowly defined?

 Demographic Traits

B2B Analysis

• Quantify the size of their typical target business.
• Are these businesses start-ups, mature firms or companies in a declining phase?
• Define how these companies are owned: privately-held, public, not-for-profit or municipal.

End-User Market Analysis

• What are the general demographic descriptors of your client’s target customer: age, gender, income, marital status, or family status?
• Do they have similar occupations, clubs or related interests that will affect their buying habits?

 Size & Trends

For Both B2B and Consumer Markets

• Identify the number of potential consumer or commercial prospects.
• What are their spending habits?
• Determine their target’s average income or annual business revenue.
• Chart the individual demographics trends or business trends.

 A Touch of Modern Marketing 

You’ve now identified the quantifiable characteristics of your market profile. But the picture isn’t complete without the human element. Your client will have a better understanding of their buyers if they understand their buyers’ psychological motivations.

 Examine:

• What issues do their customers face, whether business or personal?
• What are their pains and their desires?
• Who is the decision-maker for the purchase? Look deep!
• Are there multiple decision-makers or influencers?
• Review the standard purchasing process and the key players.
• What is the buyer personality? What unique psychological process is a common factor?

Can you now paint a complete picture for your client? Disseminate this precise market profile to everyone that makes strategic decisions. Recommend that they judge positioning and strategic choices through this framework.

Most importantly, ensure that their brand strategy decisions align with each “typical” prospect in the acknowledged market. An accurate, focused and verifiable market profile will lay a strong foundation for your client’s optimal brand strategy.

B2B brands are trickier to define than consumer product brands. They often represent far more than a simple, tangible product that we can hold, feel and use for our own enjoyment.

One way to tackle your client’s brand strategy is to think of your client’s company as a person. Focus on their human elements. Who do they look like to an objective observer? Are they a big, mean biker guy riding a Harley? Are they a friendly female librarian in her mid-sixties? Are they a twenty-something programmer with spiky hair and attitude?

Example

Apple has been doing this for a couple of years with their TV ads. We’ve all seen them: The Mac guy is the young, hip dude and PC is the portly guy with wireframe glasses. Microsoft has started fighting back with ads interviewing all different types of people claiming that “they’re a PC,” but the powerful imagery of the first ads succinctly reinforces what many of us think: PCs stodgy and boring; Macs are hip.

Steps

• Imagery is powerful, so use this concept with your clients. When shaping your client’s brand strategy, start by listing the top three things that the brand should mean to their customers. These are typically the reasons why customers buy.
• Now, list 3 to 5 human personality traits that describe the person. Are they trustworthy? Efficient? Knowledgeable? Caring? Creative? Aggressive? Turn their company into a person and use detailed description to bring him/her to life.
• You should have a pretty clear picture of the “person” that represents the brand if your brand “means” and your traits are aligned. If they contradict each other, this will be challenging.
• Finally, boil it down even further to the one word, or one thing that the brand stands for. If you can’t choose a single word, use a phrase instead, but keep it short!
• Make sure to differentiate what the brand aspires to be, and what the brand really is. Complete an independent brand audit to check alignment.  If they’re different, create a long-term plan to shift the brand perception to the desired personality, means and phrase.

Results

The singular focus or phrase is the most powerful way to represent a brand. Southwest Airlines is a great example of the power of a singular band focus.  What business is Southwest in? They’re in the freedom business. That mantra, or mission, has driven the company’s operational and marketing strategy for the last 25 years.

Most importantly, have your client commit to this brand focus. It should drive strategic decisions in pricing, distribution and marketing for years to come. The greater their focus, the more succes they should achieve.

Every cloud has a silver lining. The current economic slowdown may be the impetus many executives need to start their own consulting practice. 

The U.S. Labor Department predicts that the employment rate for consultants will grow more than twice as fast as the average for all other disciplines. 

Some start a practice out of necessity. Others are chasing their dream career. But almost all find that creating a consulting practice involves more than just practicing an area of expertise. 

Sarah Needleman of the Wall Street Journal highlights 5 valuable steps to make the transition easier. Her first recommendation - know what you’re getting into - highlights an important point for all new consultants to understand: Most consultants spend 50% or more of their time marketing and selling. 

If you’re a new consultant, make sure to keep marketing after you land your first few projects. It can be challenging to develop and manage marketing campaigns continuously while delivering client work. One way to handle it is to understand and use a marketing process. You can also partner with other consultants to share leads, co-market and provide support services. 

Ms. Needleman’s final point is also something to keep at the top of your priority list: Create a succinct, 30 second elevator pitch. Most consultants rely on networking events and face-to-face meetings to gain new clients. The elevator pitch introduces your brand, your competitive positioning, and can start (or end) your selling process. Create it, test it, and refine it. It can make or break your launch.