Do people know what you do? 

Do people refer your business to their friends?

Do you know the specific audience your business serves?

So often, I see business owners soooo in the day to day and nitty-gritty of their businesses, that they can’t answer these simple questions. When they’re asked what they do, they give a long drawn out answer. Sally will say: “I’m a designer, and I work with businesses who create products and I help them get more sales, but I only really work with these specific types of business owners….” on and on that goes ;)

I get it, it’s hard to explain the nuances of what you do when it’s your life and passion! You can’t simply explain that you’re an accountant, or a web designer…you’re so much more, right?

When it comes to positioning your business, simple sells!

Here are my favorite ways to get clear on your online positioning so you can clearly define what it is that you do, and people will be able to easily send people your way when they know your business is THE business to solve their problem.

1: Find your public statement

When someone asks what your business does, this is the simple answer you give. For Pinegate Road, I simply say it is a branding and web design agency. Keeping this extremely simple is key! When people are coming to your business to look for support, they often don’t know what type of business it is that they need support from. If you are using pretty words that make sense to you, but not to the general public, you’re going to be missing out on a HUGE opportunity to get traffic from search engines.

If I described our business as “sales engineering through digital experiences” who the heck is searching for that!?! ;) That could describe what we do, and — we need to think simply here so people can actually find our business. You can bring in the fun copy throughout the website, but it should be clear right off the bat what your business does.

If you’re needing help finding this:

• Ask your audience “If you could describe what our business does, what would you say?” They will give you a good understanding of how you need to be positioning yourself!
• Search with a tool like Ubersuggest. This will help you search for different SEO terms, and you’ll be able to see how high each one ranks. If you’re prepping your website for SEO traffic, it will be important to look this up!

2: Who do you specifically help?

Next, it’s important to get clear on who you serve with your business, so once people find you — they know if you are for them or not! Getting clear and specific is key here! You can also poll your current audience to see what they call themselves. It’s super important to hear what they would call themselves. Even if you help several different types of people, getting clear on who they are can help you create content specifically for them.

A tip here is to find the general type of target audience members… maybe that’s “women” or “business owners” and then get even more specific. Ask yourself: “What types?” and answer what comes up for you. This will help you break this down even further. When it comes to SEO specifics, it’s awesome to have a list of different words your target audience calls themselves, so you can write content that they will be searching for. 

For example, I might say that we work with “Online business owners.” I can get even more specific by stating what types of business owners are doing this and who we love to serve: coaches, creatives, knowledge workers, educators, designers, course creators, influencers, etc.!

3: What do you help your people with?

What specifically are you helping them with? How can you keep this broad, but also something that they would resonate with? This can be the hardest thing to get right when it comes to simplifying your online positioning. This needs to be something that your target people associate with, and not something that you are making up. So many entrepreneurs make this fluffy and whimsical, and it’s actually hurting their sales! When people don’t understand exactly how you can help them and if you’re for them…they’ll look elsewhere. 

A great place to start here is to ask past clients, and to again…ask your people! What would they tell their friends your business does? If they can’t answer this, it means you have a problem with being simple or clear enough. I see many online entrepreneurs writing statements like “We help heart-forward business owners share their story-filled images that ignite their soul” but what does that meeaaaannn!?!? I love the sentiment here, but who is searching for “heart-centered” and “story-filled”?? Your passion and story can absolutely shine through in how you position your brand, but the more simple and straight-forward you can make this — the more people you will attract!

4: What transformation do you provide?

Once people understand clearly and concisely what it is you do and if you are for them — they need to know why they should care. In a simple statement, how do your services help your clients get from where they are now, to where they want to be? Crafting a simple transformation statement can be an amazing way to connect with your audience. They can feel heard because you’re sharing that you help with their exact and specific struggle, and help them get to exactly where they want to go with your services!

What do your ideal clients and customers most want? Let them know this is what you provide! For our coaching program The Aligned Business Academy, we state simply that we help online service providers scale to 6-figures. We could get all fluffy about how we specifically do this, and add in all the fun adjectives…but that is what the rest of the page is for! When you’re positioning your online business, it’s all about that immediate reaction. How is your ideal client going to know that you are the one for them?? Say what they want, and state it simply!

Ready to get solid with how you’re positioning your business online?

If you’re ready to scale to 6-figures, work out allll the business stuff holding you back, and get a rock-solid foundation for your online business, let’s do this!

Enroll now in the Aligned Business Academy. Growing my online business as an online service provider, I have had to figure this out over the last decade. This program is created with you in mind — to get your business SOLID, so you can continue to grow and have your service-based biz support you waaaay into the future!

If you’ve been feeling any internal nudge towards getting your business in tip-top shape for your future…this is your nudge to take things seriously and enroll now!

If you’re ready to build the foundation for your biz so it can support your big dreams into the future — this is THE program for you as an online service provider ready to make major moves in your business this year!

Click here to enroll today!!

Having any feels pop up as you think through this decision? Send me a DM on Instagram — I would love to chat with you and see if this is a good fit. Seriously, I’m personally here to chat and talk through alllll of the things that can pop up! I’ve totally been there when it comes to making big investments in your business…and if you’re ready to think long-term, this will be something you’ll have to get used to ;) Eeeeek, I know!!!! Sending you love!!!