Nail down a few USPs for your own and eventually you may find that position that makes your name come to mind when people mention your product or service.

As a father, I have enjoyed watching various Disney animation movies with my children. Aside from Pixar specials, Disney seems to have developed a reputation for copying old fairy tales or Hans Christian Andersen remakes, but of course in a uniquely Disney way.

Perhaps there is something to be said for marketing the tried-and-true (like red tomatoes as opposed to–say, blue ones) as well as for injecting a unique personal twist.

Few of us can be as original as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, or Albert Einstein. But reinventing the wheel is unnecessary for most of us. All of have our two cents to add to existing patterns, products, and services if we work at it.

And you don’t have to be some big multi-national conglomerate to use this strategy. Just starting out small is okay. Just be different.

Thanks again.

Carlton

I think we all have positioning potential but how to tap into it and use it is something else altogether. Focus and consistency is not easy.

Juhani – I understand your point, but to do this is a highly specific practice, something I don’t have the luxury of space to do in such a short article.

But let me give you some pointers.

If you’re the first in some category, you are also considered as the best. People have the natural tendency to attribute superiority to a product that’s first in its category. But if you’re not the first, you can usually create your own position.

For instance, Ries and Trout prove this point with a very simple question. They ask: “Who was the third person to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?” Now, if you’re not a history buff like me, you will more than likely be stumped. Almost everyone remembers that Lindbergh was the first because, being the first, he comes to mind immediately.

But if you were asked the SAME question but rephrased in a different way (e.g., “Who was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?”), your answer will likely be “Amelia Earhart.”

See the difference? Essentially, both questions led to the same answer. But by repositioning Amelia Earhart, the answer came to mind instantly.

That’s top-of-mind awareness.

You can be the first to cater to a specific market, the first to offer an alternative to an existing product or service, or the first to cater to a market in a unique way? — such as by offering an ordinary product or service but with a unique twist.

You can also customize a general product or service for a specific market. For example, you might be a travel agency. You could decide on being the first to sell business trips catering exclusively to financial institutions.

However, if you’re not the first you might then market yourself as “the first to serve the financially inclined,” “the leader in business trips for bankers” or “the first travel agent for the smart financier.”

In other words, don’t be the best in some existing category. Be the first in one? — ?one you create.

For example, the Apple iPhone is not just another wireless phone. (And “wireless phone” or “cellular phone” are the more conventional categories. If iPhone promoted itself in these categories, it would have a lot of competition to contend with.)

However, it’s more than that. The entire keypad uses a touchscreen, as the phone doesn’t use any keys at all. And as such, it created its own product category?.

You can ?call it the “keyless phone.” But even better, the word “iPhone” itself puts the phone in a whole new category. When someone says, “iPhone,” we instantly know not just the brand but the type of phone, too.

We don’t think, “Oh, it’s just another wireless phone.” We think, “It’s an iPhone!”

If you sell a product on ClickBank that’s in a highly competitive category, especially if it’s a mass-market product, how can you make it different? What different twist can you give your product, its name, its branding, its promotions, its salesletter, than makes it appear different, even if it’s still, at is core, the same as every other product in the category?

Hopefully, this helps.