This is week two as we dig into writing a marketing plan for 2026. It’s an exciting one. You get to think about what you want to be known for as a company.
Use what you’ve learned in our past discussions of most profitable clients, competitors, and online presence to shape positioning and key messages for the year ahead.
Your positioning is the space you want to own in your customer’s mind. It’s the simple answer to, “Why call them?”
Your key messages are how you communicate that answer — short, clear statements that reinforce what makes your company valuable and trustworthy.
Here’s 3 questions to get you started:
1. What do your best clients value?
Think about the customers who are easiest to work with and most profitable. What do they worry about? What do they ask for most often? Do they value reliability, responsiveness, specialized expertise, or something else entirely?
Let’s use that in your messages. If they say, “You made it easy,” or “You always follow through,” that’s a clue to what sets you apart.
2. Is there a service gap you can own?
Go back to the notes from your competitive review from the Oct. 20 email. Ask AI to summarize what you found. Use where you worked to “spot the sameness” and make a point to go beyond the same old stuff everyone is saying on their websites.
Did you find a gap you can own? Your goal is to describe your business in a way that’s tangible and distinct, built on what you know about your market and your most profitable clients.
3. How do you want to be described this time next year?
Imagine that a year from now you could control how a favorite customer recommends you to a high-level colleague. What would you want them to say to your prospect? Examples:
“They are the construction firm that builders call when they need practical solutions to keep projects on schedule.”
“They are the team that helps manufacturers like us build capacity to compete with larger firms.”
Keep refining until it feels true to how you work and what your clients appreciate most.
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This Week’s Action
Write a paragraph that answers two key questions:
Who you serve best
The problem you solve for them and what they value most about it
If that exercise doesn’t generate the perfect positioning, feed the paragraph into your AI. Ask it, based on the paragraph and your website, to write five statements that explain why you are the best choice for your market.
Refine the 5 statements in a word document if you need to. Then feed it back to your AI and ask for one key message that summarizes all of them. A statement you hate may generate more momentum than a good one. Seeing it you may angrily burst out, “No! We’re the company that does … “
Simple, clear, and true, that’s what makes a positioning statement stand out.
You’ve got this!
Carolyn
– If you want to work on your 2026 marketing plan with other owners and marketing managers check out the Plan as You Grow Accelerator on Skool. The leadership support group has a 7-day free trial and you can cancel at any time.
