Agency Positioning: The Root of New Business Success

A clear positioning strategy results in significant short-term and long-term benefits for the firm, including:

  • A well-defined set of criteria for identifying the clients who want you for what you do best.
  • A stronger win ratio when soliciting new business, because you are playing to your strengths.
  • Clearer direction for how the firm should spend its time, money and resources.
  • A broader — not narrower — geographical market area.
  • Fewer competitors, because there will be fewer firms who do what
    you do.
  • Better margins, because focused firms command premium pricing.

In helping to refine the firm’s positioning, Ignition will work with you to fine-tune the answer to three key strategic questions:

  1. What are the agency’s most outstanding services and capabilities? What do you do better than most other agencies?
  2. Who does the agency know well in terms of categories or audiences? What specialized areas of knowledge do you have in particular business categories, industries, market segments, audiences, or types of brands?
  3. How can your agency be distinguished by the way it thinks? What are the agency’s unique philosophies, methods or approaches?

The intersection of these three areas — What, Who, and How — defines the firm’s business strategy and points the way to a positioning that makes the most of the agency’s strengths.

Based on the agreed-upon positioning strategy, Ignition will work with the executives of the firm to help make sure the positioning is reflected in five important areas of your business:

 
Product How the firm’s products, services, and competencies reflect and support the positioning
People How the firm should hire, train, develop and manage its people to support the positioning
Promotion How the firm should promote its own brand to reflect its branding strategy
Process How internal processes and procedures can support the branding strategy
Place How the positioning is reflected in the firm’s physical and virtual place of business

By identifying and prioritizing key initiatives in each of these areas, we’ll work to bring your business practices fully into alignment with your positioning.

This program is based on the book by Tim Williams, "Positioning for Professionals" regarded as the standard in the industry for developing professional service brands.

Firms that have completed this program are focused on what they do best. They put their time and resources behind what they can do instead of what they can’t do, and direct their energies toward a long-term business strategy that makes the firm not only different, but better.

Questions? Contact Tim Williams at twilliams@ignitiongroup.com or 801.582.7297.

 

What others are saying

“When it comes to knowing how to create an environment in which people can do their best work, Tim Williams knows the right principles.  He can show marketing professionals how to get golden eggs without killing the goose."  Stephen R. Covey, Author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

"Tim Williams helped us see what we could become and worked hand-in-hand with our team to help reinvent key parts of our agency. We set a goal to become a top 100 agency, and we got there."  Mary Ann Mele, Partner, R&R Partners

“Tim Williams has the best grasp on agency brand positioning I have ever seen.  It deserves as wide an audience as possible within our industry.”  Cindy Gallop, Former Chairman, Bartle Bogle Hegarty NY

“Every business manager who has responsibility for strategic planning or new business will benefit from Tim’s thorough exploration of positioning professional service brands.”  Tom Finneran, Executive Vice President, American Association of Advertising Agencies

Tim Williams' approach to “taking a stand for your brand” is a reenergizing process of self-discovery that can help any communications tap into their unique strengths and expertise. For us, it has meant evolving from chasing after business to enjoining a sustainable and unique market niche in an area of healthcare. Increasingly, business seeks us out -- coming from across the city, outside the province and halfway around the world.  Now, like a shark that has just tasted blood for the first time, we are excited for the next phase of our agency’s evolution and transformation.”  Bill Whitehead, President, Whitehead Inc., Toronto

Questions or feedback? Contact us.

Copyright © 2011 Ignition Consulting Group, Inc. Terms of Service