How to set your web services apart (and answer to case of inland seafood restaurant)

Last blog asked you how you would position a seafood restaurant in a Florida tourist market with no water view or waterfront location. While many of your ideas were good, this restaurant chain chose a simpler solution than what you proposed.

The answer relates to Web Design/Development services because their approach is a common, successful way to position any business (and is one I’ve talked about before in this blog):

Turn a weakness into a strength.

The restaurant proudly advertises the fact that they lack a waterfront view, and focuses instead on the quality of their menu and seafood. Their motto is:

“No waterfront views, just great seafood.”

And they back up their claim with: the broadest and most creative seafood menu around, numerous entries in local food competitions along with awards, and by winning the “People’s Choice” awards every year in the local upscale magazine.

This is called one-dimensional positioning: Choose a criteria that matters to your customers and redefine the market by succeeding on/dominating that criteria. In this case, the market had been focused on spectacular waterfront views. In the meantime, many restaurants with good views sometimes had questionable seafood, something that matters to tourists and residents alike. So there was an opening for a restaurant to focus on having the best seafood.

Other examples:

The United States Post Office regained ground from Fedex by focusing on price. Their service/reliability/speed may not be as good as Fedex’s, but they cost much less and get your package there only a day or so later. This price advantage matters to plenty of people.

Avis is #2 in the market vs. Hertz, but turned that into an advantage by focusing on how they have to “try harder” to win your business.

In Web Design, there are lots of dimensions of service to set yourself apart:

– The only firm that understands navigation and design schemes to get response for companies selling services and products via the Net

– A focus on a specific industry (e.g. “We have designed web sites for more Fitness Clubs than anyone else)

– A focus on a geography (e.g. “Voted best small technology company by the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, and best new company by the Sarasota Economic Development Committee)

There is also two-dimensional positioning, which I’ll cover soon….