When you're trying to promote your business and its products or services, don't overlook your marketing positioning. You've identified your target market, done your keyword homework, monitored and tweaked your various promotional strategies, so you're off on the right foot. But there are more things to consider to really promote your brand and see your company succeed. Positioning yourself within your market can make a huge difference in sales and your customer base.

Many people new to marketing might not even know what marketing positioning is. It's simply how you are perceived by your customers and potential customers. You might think this is something out of your hands. While it's true that each person sees things through his or her own filter and makes his or her own opinions, there's a lot you can do to position your company in a more favorable light. This is where marketing becomes less about your company specifically and a little more about the entire market in general.

Consider the environment in your particular market right now. What problems does your industry face at the moment? Is there a downturn industry wide, or is business booming? Are customers' needs being met, or is there room for improvement in certain areas? Also think about how your competition uses marketing positioning to improve their business, and how costly and inconvenient it is for customers to switch from one company or one brand to another. If you find that a hindrance, make it easier for customer to come to you.

Now, focus on your business. Think about what sets you apart from your competitor and what advantages your company has over your competitors. Compare your prices, convenience, level of service and even company size. Do you have excellent customer service that's more personal and prompt that the bigger company in your field? Are your prices lower, or your guarantees more iron clad? How does the quality of your product or service compare with your competition?

When it comes to marketing positioning, you have a variety of choices in how you go about it. You can focus on specific products or services and their qualities. You can focus on how the customer benefits from them, or how and when the product or service can be used. Identify your target users and appeal directly to them. You can also position yourself against one of your competitor's in a comparison situation, or conversely, do everything you can to disassociate yourself from them to avoid comparisons.

Your marketing positioning strategy should focus on which of those options stands out to you as the best and obvious choice. If your company is smaller than Corporation X, but you give better, faster, friendlier service that such a huge company could ever hope to give, focus on that. Brand yourself as the small business with heart that listens to customers, and portray larger business as out of touch with customers and suffering under the burden of their own size. That's an example of good marketing positioning.