How To Position Yourself As A Premier Expert, According To Podcast Host Ali Brown

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How to set yourself apart and enter a league of your own.

In 2015, Ali Brown predicted the present-day launch bubble, over-saturation of professional posturing, advertising noise, and online confusion. With a low barrier-to-entry and promising profit margins, an online business looks appealing but comes with challenges. How do you bypass the congested marketplace and enter a league of your own? What actions do you need to take to attract the right market and render competition obsolete? As a business growth strategist for 7 and 8 figure women entrepreneurs who has interviewed over 150 guests on her #2 ranked podcast for women, Glambition Radio, Brown offers a path forward: positioning.

I sat down with Brown to explore how to set yourself apart, why identifying your target market and being “visible” is not enough, and what actions to take to become iconic.

Ashley Crouch: What is positioning?

Ali Brown:  [In his book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,] Al Ries says, "The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.” Get clear on what you stand for, who you work with, what you do and don't do. I am here to work with the seven and eight figure women, minimum. Everyone is terrified of making this claim. Positioning is what you stand for so other people instantly understand.

Crouch: How do people start to position themselves?  

Brown: If you are not sure what you stand for, flip it and ask, "Who are you not for? What are you here not to do? What metrics will you not count?" 

Crouch: What are the top three primary benefits of positioning?

Brown: First, your marketing becomes so much easier.  Once you get clear on what you stand for, who you want to work with, who you don't want to work with, where you want to be; it just takes all the stress out of everything.

Second, it makes it easier for clients to find you. They're clear on what you stand for, who you work with, who you do not. They know that you are the next step. It is tempting to jump into whatever you think your market wants. That is the biggest mistake I see people doing. You want to be so clear about this that your client will come to you.

Third, you can charge very well. If you are the only game in town, then you can charge as you would like. If you can say that you are “the first”, “the only”, “the best”, “number one”. Whatever you can say that no one else can touch.

Crouch: Entrepreneurs often compare and evaluate themselves by what someone else is doing. How can women bypass this pitfall?

Brown: (Start) positioning, (stop) posturing. Most online marketing is a lot of posturing. Position, however, is literally standing in a place that naturally attracts the right clients to you, even if not popular. Care less about likes and more about the impact you are here to create.

Crouch: How can people hone in on their great work and stand out from the noise?

Brown: Work on your credibility, theme, story, and visibility. Those combined give you positioning. Being in PR, you know getting the right type of media can position you heads above your competition. Especially in certain types of media.

Crouch: How should entrepreneurs position themselves to stand out and attract their target customer or niche?

Brown: Picking a niche is not the magical solution in itself. Positioning creates an authentic status for yourself that naturally does a lot of the work for you.

Crouch: Visibility is a critical component to positioning, but it has to be done right. Is all visibility beneficial?

Brown: A mistake I see some people make in media is they're all over the place and they have no strategy. There are two types of media I want to do. One is the media that will get directly in front of my target market. The other is media that offers credibility.

Crouch: So you are saying there are different benefits of visibility: credibility and exposure. Could visibility be a positioning tool?

Brown: Yes, by being strategic with it. Unfortunately there are not many publicists or publicity people as savvy as you. A lot of people will just spray you everywhere. There is a big difference between visibility and what I call strategic, bold outreach. Think about where your clients and prospects are. What will you say or do that is different?

Crouch: For those entrepreneurs looking to be heard, what would you advise them to do?

Brown: Get attention with a bold controversial statement. Say something very strong. That could be the answer to something that unlocks a whole new level of positioning for you. It is time for our voices to be heard.

Crouch: What if you have identified the audience, honed the positioning, message, and visibility. How do you make yourself indispensable in the marketplace?

Brown: First, do great work. Get and be really good at what you do. Second, try to get clients where no one else is getting them. Go to an event. Get out of the house. Third, networks are everything. It is possible to build a business online and be behind your computer, but something magical always happens when you show up.

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