Every client I've worked with has wanted to move up-market.
They were tired of mediocre, low-paying, high-touch clients who needed 10 sales calls to maybe decide to move forward with the smallest, cheapest option.
They wanted high-impact clients:
- clients who paid more
- clients who bought faster
- clients who didn't micromanage
- clients who were more impressive
- clients who followed through on their part
Their definition of an ideal customer changed. Matured.
But they had no clue how to land those new ideal customers.
Sound familiar?
Every business goes through that shft (pun fully intended).
You grow, develop better processes, expand your expertise, provide more of an impact...
...but the prospects you attract in your content and marketing efforts don't seem to be a good fit.
You want (and need) better clients, but where to start?
7-Step Repositioning Process
This is the exact repositioning process I use with my clients to help them move up-market and attract larger, better paying clients.
Go ahead and steal it.
1. Analyze Your New Competitors
Use SEMrush to analyze the competition up-market.
Look at the keywords they rank for, what sites are referring people to them, backlinks they have that build trust with your new audience.
This will give you insights into how they position themselves in the market and new marketing channels you should consider.
My Competitive Analysis Template can help.
2. Review Messaging and Content
Evaluate your new competitor's websites, social media, and ads.
Look for any unique points of view, messaging, or content styles they use. Check out the people engaging with their content. See if they are doing anything unique, or if they all look and sound the same.
For ads, visit the Ads Library on various platforms:
3. Find and Study Your New Ideal Customers
Find companies that fit your new ideal customer profile and study them.
Platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, or Clay allow you to apply filters to find individuals and companies that could be your new ideal customers.
Do not pitch them!
At this point, you're trying to find ideal customers and research them.
Check out their websites, visit their LinkedIn and social media profiles, see who they engage with, understand what resonates with them.
If you have someone in your network who might be an ideal customer, ask to chat with them to understand their pain points and what they look for in a vendor.
You can find sample questions to ask and document your findings in my Ideal Customer Playbook.
Remember, at this stage, you're simply trying to understand these new ideal customers.
4. Research Your Offer and Process
Do a deep dive into your offer and process.
You want to find something you can own in the market — a deliverable, a process, something you DO that is different.
Ideally, you want to find something that:
- Your business does exceptionally well
- Your new ideal customers want or need
- Your new competitors can't or won't do
That thing is the basis for your new position.
Struggling to find it?
Take my free Find Your Differentiation email course. It walks you through the process I used to find differentiations for 145+ businesses.
5. Reshape Your Market Position
Here's where all your research comes together.
Take that differentiation you found and apply it throughout your business — making sure everything you do points people back to that differentiator:
- Messaging
- Experience
- Marketing
- Sales
- Operations
- Tech
- Staff
Ask yourself: does everything in our company match that new position?
If not, you have changes to make.
6. Create Unique Points of View
Next, you want to create unique points of view you can own in your content and marketing.
Think through a word or phrase you can own.
Nike has "Just Do It." Apple has "Think Different." Donald Miller has "StoryBrand." Seth Godin has "Purple Cow."
Look for a word or phrase that:
- Links to your offer (or IP)
- Displays your differentiation
- Can't be owned by anyone else
- Is easy to remember
Also, find common beliefs up-market that you disagree with.
If your competitors all rely on AI to churn out content for their clients, be the one who defiantly says that AI content is sh*t.
Or if your competitors all deliver fluffy strategies about personality and tone of voice, be the one says fluffy strategies are lazy af.
Find a point of view that resonates with you and your ideal customers, and share it in your content.
7. Audit and Update Your Brand Design
Lastly, look at your brand design (logos, fonts, colors, overall look and feel).
More often than not, the design you hobbled together yourself or paid a freelancer on Fiverr to do is not building the level of trust you need.
Sure, the logo you made in PowerPoint might have been okay going after businesses making $500k a year. But if you're going after $20M+ businesses, that logo screams, "DO NOT TRUST US."
Evaluate and update your design to resonate with your new ideal customers.
If you don't look trustworthy, you aren't trustworthy.
Elevate Your Position
Moving up-market can seem daunting.
But with the right position, message, and design, you can break in and quickly become the go-to expert for new ideal customers.
And make a sh*t-ton more money.
Are you a 7-8 figure B2B service founder looking to reposition your business?
Book your Onlyness Brand System today.
We'll work through your positioning, messaging, experience, marketing, and content, give you a 1-year action plan, and help you implement — all so you become the ONLY choice for your new ideal customers.
Get the full breakdown of what's provided and costs here.
Hurry, though.
I'm almost booked up for Q1 and Q2 of 2026.
Until next week,
#SassyJason out.
✌🏼
PS - See how Shft can help you move up-market and attract larger, higher-paying clients in 2026.
