It’s a real killer of otherwise great marketing.
You might have a beautiful website, good case studies, and a solid offer. But if a stranger can’t answer, “Ok… but what kind of thing is this?” in a second or two, the rest has to work twice as hard.
This is your market category — the market you describe yourself as being part of to help customers understand your value.
The key question in positioning isn’t what you call yourself, it’s what your market thinks you are. If your label doesn’t map to an existing mental shelf in their head, they’ll either skip you or invent their own (often the wrong one).
So the job is twofold:
Start in their frame of reference.
Then, inside that frame, explain why you’re different and better for them.
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1) Start with the category they already know.
Most of us can describe our work in a handful of ways.
There are simple ways:
“We’re a marketing agency for…”
“We’re an AV programming firm for…”
“We’re a translation company for…”
And there are less simple ways:
“Revenue enablement partner”
“Experience engineering studio”
“Audience intelligence platform”
Both might be true in your head. But which is legible in theirs?
If the simple version is not obvious to you, the easiest way to find it is not to brainstorm harder. It’s to ask.
Describe what you do and the problem you solve in plain language to a few ideal customers. Then ask:
“In your mind, what kind of firm is this?”
Or,
“How would you describe us to someone else?”
If they keep saying “accountant,” “AV support company,” “market research,” “HR consultancy,” that’s your starting point.
That’s the shelf they already have. Fighting it just means more education work for you and more friction for them.
You can’t win a game your buyer doesn’t know they’re playing.
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2) Then differentiate inside that category.
Once you know the category in their head, your positioning work shifts to a more specific question:
“Given that we’re seen as [category], why choose us over the others?”
This is where your differentiation belongs — in the second half of the sentence, not the first.
A simple pattern:
“We’re a [category] that [unique, desirable difference].”
For example:
“We’re a bookkeeping firm that only works with home service providers.”
“We’re an AV support partner specializing in Crestron systems for hotels.”
“We’re a translation company that manages Canadian manufacturing documentation and compliance.”
The first half answers “What kind of thing is this?” in language that makes sense to them. The second half tells them why they should care about you in particular.
If you skip the first half and lead with “we’re revolutionizing home services,” they won’t know where to file you in their brain. If you skip the second half and just say “we’re a bookkeeping firm,” you vanish into the soup.
You need both.
And you don’t have to invent a new category to stand out. In fact, that usually makes things harder.
Start with the frame they already understand, then reshape it just enough to favour you.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Justin
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