Your position lives in other people’s words.
Ask a recent customer why they chose you. Then ask what they would tell a friend who needed the same thing.
If their answer sounds like your homepage, you have a position. If it sounds like a different business, or a pleasant but vague compliment, you have a good reputation. That is valuable. It is not the same thing.
A position is the short, specific reason someone should choose you over the alternatives. It only works when other people can carry it without you in the room.
A logo can’t do this job alone.
Visual identity matters. It makes you recognizable, signals the level of care, and keeps your materials consistent. It also tends to get the attention first, because it is the easiest part to see.
But a new logo doesn’t tell anyone who you are for or why you are the better choice. If the message underneath is vague, a refresh mostly makes the vagueness look more expensive.
Settle what you want to be known for first. Then the design has something specific to express.
Clear usually beats clever.
Taglines are a tempting place to be creative. The trouble is that a clever line often needs explaining, and customers rarely stop to ask.
“Solutions for a changing world” could belong to a bank, a software company, or a plumber with ambitions. “Same-day water heater repair across Columbus” is less poetic and far easier to repeat.
Clear doesn’t have to be dull. Start with the plain words a customer would use, then make them memorable. Doing it the other way round tends to leave you with only the memorable part.
Choosing means leaving things out.
Most vague positioning comes from trying to keep every option open. Mention every service, every kind of customer, and every possible benefit, and nothing stands out.
A clear position involves a few uncomfortable decisions: which customers you most want, which problem you lead with, and what you are willing to stop emphasizing. You can still do the other work. You just don’t lead with all of it.
Here is a simple test. If a competitor could put your main message on their website without changing a word, it isn’t doing much for you.
Say it the same way everywhere.
Customers meet your business in pieces: a search result, a social post, a sales call, a proposal, a recommendation from a friend. Each piece either reinforces the same idea or quietly introduces a new one.
Check the places people actually see. Does the homepage headline match how your team describes the business on the phone? Do your service pages lead with the same problem? Would your proposal surprise someone who had just read your website?
Consistency isn’t repetition for its own sake. It is how a message becomes familiar enough to repeat.
Test it with the people who matter.
You don’t need a research budget to start. Ask five recent customers to describe what you do in a sentence. Ask your team the same question, separately. Compare the answers with your homepage.
Where the answers line up, keep the language. Where they wander, the message needs work, or the offer itself may need a decision.
Then keep listening. When new inquiries start using your words to describe what they need, the position is doing its job.
Put the thinking to work
Ask five customers.
Ask five recent customers how they would describe your business to a friend. Write their answers down word for word, then put them next to your homepage headline. The gaps show where the message needs work.
Explore brand strategy
Written by
Dan Reed
Founder of Multicomma. I design and build websites, ecommerce experiences, and custom tools, with a focus on what the business needs them to do.
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