So to continue on yesterday's post — your small business brand's goal is to be number 1 or 2 in your category, if you can't be number 1 or 2 in your current category, your small business must move on to a new category and make it to the top.
Here at LittleEngine, we couldn't just be a corporate social network or a professional social network, we had to be THE SMALL BUSINESS social network in order to be number 1 in a new niched category.
How did we get to number 1 in a new niched category? We created it of course! There is nothing against creating it, you must do this to survive.
For example, can you tell the difference between Bebo, Myspace and Hi5? No! However, do you remember when Facebook first started? They were the social network for college students and all their decisions were based on this contrasting factor. They've since gone on to bigger things, but you can't help but wonder how that factor helped with their rise to the top.
This teaches us that a good place to start is by listing out all your small business' competitors who could make the same claim as your small business. Then start reflecting on ways to slightly shift in to your own comfortable category.
Your small business can make that true "niched" shift by figuring out the following statement about your small business:
Our small business is the only ___________ that _______________.
So for LittleEngine we could say...Our small business is the only social network that caters to small businesses. How about your small business?
You can quickly take this position statement and push it further with: how, who, where, why, when.
So for LittleEngine we could say...
What: The only online social network
How: that offers an exclusive social media profile
Who: for small businesses
Where: in the United States (for now :)
Why: who want to publicize, network, and communicate
When: in an era where potential customers/clients go online looking to make their spending decisions
Now try it yourself, it's a lot of work and moves your mind in so many directions. However, once you've finalized your statement, you'll have a strainer for all business and brand decisions, as well as, a unifying goal!
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