What Building Businesses in Two Different Industries Taught Me About Positioning
One of the more useful things about working across completely different industries is that you start noticing which business principles survive when the environment changes.
Distribute PR operates across public relations, media, reputation and digital authority.
CorpDJs operates across corporate events, hospitality, nightlife and entertainment.
On the surface, there is very little connecting the two.
One business is concerned with how a founder, executive or company is perceived online.
The other is concerned with what happens in a physical room when hundreds of people are experiencing an event.
But building both has reinforced something I have believed for years.
Positioning matters before promotion.
It does not matter whether you are selling a professional service, building a personal reputation or standing behind a DJ booth.
People need to understand what you represent.
Good Businesses Are Easy to Understand
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is trying to communicate everything they are capable of doing.
The result is often the opposite of what they intended.
Instead of appearing versatile, they become difficult to understand.
A PR company might describe itself as a marketing agency, branding company, social media agency, reputation consultancy, publicity company and creative studio simultaneously.
A DJ might advertise weddings, nightclubs, children's parties, festivals, restaurants, corporate events and every other possible booking.
There is nothing inherently wrong with being capable of serving multiple markets.
The problem appears when the market cannot work out what you are particularly good at.
Strong positioning creates an immediate mental category.
Distribute PR is built around digital authority, media visibility and reputation.
CorpDJs is positioned around professional entertainment for corporate, hospitality, nightlife and private environments.
That clarity makes everything else easier.
Your Brand Is Being Categorised Whether You Like It or Not
People naturally categorise businesses.
Premium or cheap.
Corporate or casual.
Specialist or generalist.
Established or inexperienced.
Relevant or irrelevant.
Trustworthy or questionable.
You can influence that categorisation, but you cannot prevent it from happening.
This is why branding is considerably broader than a logo.
Your website contributes to positioning.
Your photography contributes to positioning.
Your pricing contributes to positioning.
The clients you show contribute to positioning.
The words you use contribute to positioning.
Even what you deliberately choose not to offer contributes to positioning.
People are constantly assembling those signals into an impression.
The stronger the positioning, the more consistent those signals become.
Different Industries Still Run on Trust
Trust manifests differently depending on what somebody is buying.
A founder considering a PR agency may want evidence of media experience, strategic understanding, credible case studies and a professional digital presence.
An event organiser hiring a DJ may be looking for recognised venues, reliable communication, professional equipment, appropriate presentation and evidence that the DJ can actually control a room.
The evidence changes.
The principle does not.
People want to reduce uncertainty before spending money.
That is why reputation has commercial value.
A prospective customer should not need to take every claim you make at face value.
Your wider presence should provide supporting evidence.
Attention Is Not the Same as Positioning
My earliest work online taught me a great deal about attention.
Social media can generate enormous reach.
Viral content can put something in front of millions of people.
But attention by itself does not determine what people associate with you.
That distinction becomes increasingly important as a business matures.
You can have thousands of followers without a clear commercial position.
You can receive millions of views without building much authority.
You can become well known for something that has almost nothing to do with where you eventually want your career to go.
Attention answers the question:
Who has seen you?
Positioning answers:
What do they think you are?
The second question is often more commercially important.
The Same Principle Exists in a Live Room
DJing gave me a surprisingly practical understanding of positioning.
When you walk into a venue, you have to understand the environment quickly.
Who is here?
Why are they here?
What atmosphere does the venue want?
What energy does the audience currently have?
Where can you take them next?
You cannot force every room into the same format.
A corporate reception requires a different approach from a nightclub.
A restaurant is different from a private party.
A branded event is different from a late-night hospitality venue.
The ability to adapt without losing your own identity is extremely valuable.
Businesses face the same challenge.
Your positioning needs to be clear enough that people recognise you, but flexible enough to operate in different situations.
Reputation Is Built Through Repetition
A strong brand rarely becomes established because of one exceptional piece of marketing.
It develops through repetition.
The same positioning.
The same standard.
The same visual identity.
The same quality of communication.
The same customer experience.
Repeated over time.
This is particularly visible online.
Someone may encounter your name through Google, then visit your website, then look at LinkedIn, then find an interview, then discover your company.
If every touchpoint tells a different story, the effect becomes diluted.
If those touchpoints reinforce one another, the brand begins to feel established.
Consistency creates familiarity.
Familiarity reduces uncertainty.
Reduced uncertainty makes trust easier.
Positioning Also Determines What You Say No To
There is another side to positioning that receives less attention.
What you reject matters.
When you are starting a business, there is a temptation to accept practically anything that generates revenue.
That is understandable.
But as the business develops, continually saying yes to everything can prevent the company from developing an identity.
Positioning eventually requires boundaries.
Certain opportunities strengthen the direction.
Others distract from it.
This applies to clients, partnerships, content, services and even platforms.
A useful question is:
If somebody saw only this project, would it reinforce what I want the wider business to represent?
Not every decision needs to pass that test.
But enough of them should.
Your Personal Position Matters Too
The same thinking applies to founders.
People increasingly research the individual behind a company.
Your biography, website, social profiles, media coverage and professional history all influence how people understand you.
That does not mean turning yourself into a manufactured personal brand.
It means making your actual work easier to understand.
For me, the common thread between public relations, digital strategy and entertainment has increasingly become clear.
They all involve attention, perception, audience and positioning.
The environments are different.
The underlying questions are remarkably similar.
What should people notice?
What should they remember?
What should they associate with the name?
And what evidence supports that association?
Clarity Compounds
The longer I work across different businesses, the more I value clarity.
A clear offer is easier to sell.
A clear reputation is easier to understand.
A clear brand is easier to remember.
A clear position makes marketing considerably more efficient because you are no longer trying to introduce yourself from zero every time somebody discovers you.
Eventually, people begin making the association for you.
That is when positioning starts to compound.
Building two businesses in very different industries has reinforced that lesson more than almost anything else.
The product changes.
The customer changes.
The environment changes.
But the need to establish a clear position does not.
