If you are in the middle of starting an online business, the last thing that you want is someone adding to your list of decisions you need to make. However there is a topic that needs your attention during these early stages of business planning.

Basically a marketing position identifies your unique place in your niche. The key word here is unique. What makes you different from your competitors? What benefits do you offer your target market that the other players don’t?

-Service – Nearly all businesses claim they have great service. If you can provide exceptional service compared to your competitors, your customers will remember you. I’ll never forget calling a foul tempered plumber to try to get him to come to my home for a plumbing emergency on a weekend. He acted like he didn’t want my business and then told me it was going to be 0 for him just to show up. I told him “never mind” and hung up. I called roto-router who gave me tremendous service, a guarantee, and the whole bill was less than the other guy’s service call fee. I now use that company for all my plumbing, whether emergency or not.

-Features and Appealing Benefits – Identify what it is that you stress in your business operations or with your products or services. Maybe you are a “full service” dry cleaners or you specialize in problems just like theirs. Possibly you offer more size options of your clothing lines than any other online store.

-Price Point – Not everyone can offer the lowest prices and still make a profit. But you must be certain to convince your prospect that your products and services are worth whatever it is that you charge.

-Negative Features – People probably find some things at your competitors annoying. Maybe they feel that they have to wait too long to get an answer to their questions. If that’s a good angle for you, try not phrasing it as a special positive feature, but frame it as a negative that they don’t have to worry about with your business. For example, you might say, “You’ll never have to wait for an answer to your questions with us.”

-Authority – Some businesses like to brag about their long history. If your business is new, you need to find a different way to establish your credentials. Perhaps you might say that you bring fresh ideas to your industry or niche. Adding logos from recognizable, trusted sources helps as well. Join the Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau. Work to obtain the endorsement of a magazine or a professional organization. Display those endorsements prominently. Plan for the future by soliciting testimonials.

-Etc. – Whatever you can think of that allows you to demonstrate that you are different from your competitors (in a good way, of course) is useful. That’s really all positioning is. Spend some time thinking through each phase of your business to see what you can point to in order to stand apart.

Proper and effective positioning is important from the first day that you open your website for business. Traffic to your website is a precious resource. You need to be sure that your unique position is evident as soon as that first potential customer arrives. After all, you need that person to return time after time. You’ll have time later to worry about other aspects of your continuing online business development, but the time is now for clear positioning.