- Image by jdlasica via Flickr
Brian Clark broke down the options for positioning on the web in amazingly precise terms last week at SOBCon: Persona, Crossroads, and Metaphoric…
With all the chatter about social media and and the potential for finding efficacy, Brian’s insights came as a huge relief to me. It’s easy to see those who have built there total gig out of personal branding and why it works for them. It’s a bit more subtle, and perhaps more useful to consider how those without the flare for showmanship might find ways to accomplish their goals.
Crossroads positioning looks to set up a content stream where two different topics or interests intersect. Instead of going off into a niche where the traffic will resemble a rural cul-de-sac on a rainy November afternoon, the crossroads approach identifies two heavily traveled roads and then ties the efforts of the content stream around both. The result: you become the crossroads. For instance, Brian’s successful Copyblogger sits in that space where copy writing and blogging intersect.
Metaphoric positioning occurs when set up your tent beside a useful metaphor. I’ll add it will need to be a metaphor that will capture the collective imagination, resonate with the archetypes that are driving the zeitgeist. It’s clear that Seth Godin has achieved this with his Tribes. He has identified the collective image that is activated in the way millions are behaving. And he named it, made us conscious of of it, celebrated it (as all heretics do…). Brian gave some sage advice about this while reviewing the titles of Godin’s books: “Metaphors are hard.”
Brian explores positioning in depth at his Teaching Sells program.
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