Crafting a Positioning Statement

We do X, for Y, so they can Z.

One of the first things I do when visiting a new website is to ask myself, “Is it immediately obvious what this company does?”. And if I can tell what they do, my next questions are, “And who do they do it for? Is it me? What will I get?”

I use the X,Y,Z formula as an easy reference point to explain to companies how they can lay out what they do, who they do it for, and what the result would be – so they can communicate quickly the value of working with their company.

Over the years, I’ve come across many companies who have a website simply as a box-ticking exercise, and claim that their industry ‘doesn’t work that way’, and ‘they’ll never get business through their website’. Their industry works on word-of-mouth and trade shows, international expos, and a field sales team.

My response to those companies often is, “That may be true – but when you meet potential customers at your trade-show or expo, and they take a flyer or business card – what will they find when they look you up?”

The other often-overlooked side effect of an unclear website is recruitment. We’ve had several clients over the years who have said, “We don’t need a website for our customers, but potential staff are cancelling interviews based on what they’ve found on our website.”

One of the daftest sayings I’ve come across is, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Because that’s exactly what we all do. The cover gets us to pick the book up, read the inside or back cover, and decide whether it’s for us.

Websites are the same. Don’t expect a potential client to invest any time reading your website if it’s slow, messy, outdated, and isn’t immediately clear as to what you do.

We do X, for Y, so they can Z.

“We clear moss off roofs for home-owners, so they can stop being embarrassed”

“We save tax for small business owners, so they can keep more of their earnings”

“We teach want-to-be-home-chefs to cook, so they can throw amazing dinner parties”

“We curate amazing holidays for families on a budget, so they can avoid the stress and hassle”

Websites are a central pillar of many marketing campaigns. Companies spend thousands of pounds bringing ‘leads’ to their websites – but frequently overlook the effectiveness of the website itself.

If you spend ￡2,000 per month with Google search (for instance), and your website converts visitors into leads at a rate of 3% - by improving the site, and the conversion rate to 4.5% - that’s the equivalent of spending another ￡1,000 per month – but without actually spending anything more.

We do X, for Y, so they can Z.

“We help great companies develop their digital strategies so they can improve sales and generate more leads…”