Whether you're starting a small business, introducing a new product line, or entering a new market, it's essential to take the time to think strategically about supporting your business plan through marketing. 

Image via www.wagamama.com

In this series, I'm using the opening of a Wagamama restaurant in Rome, Italy as a case study for planning a successful marketing campaign. So far, I've discussed the first two steps in the planning process: conducting a business self-assessment and establishing communication objectives.

Today, I'll discuss developing a strategic plan -- a task that requires thinking critically about your business's positioning and competitive advantage.

Positioning is the process of identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service by looking at traditional market placement indicators like price, promotion, distribution, packaging and competition. Positioning involves creating an image or identity for a business, defining how a business aims to be perceived by its target market.

Wagamama may have a unique business concept in Rome, but its niche can be located within the spectrum of existing restaurants.

As a quick-serve sit-down noodle shop, Wagamama falls somewhere between a trattoria -- a casual sit-down restaurant serving simple Italian dishes -- and a sandwhich bar or café. At a trattoria, time is no concern for diners and multiple-course meals are served. At sandwich bars and cafés, patrons stand in line and order at the counter; food is served quickly and can be packaged for take-away.

For the sake of this case study, let's assume that Rome's Asian eateries include -- at the low-cost end -- Chinese restaurants that offer an affordable menu but lack atmosphere and -- at the high end -- Japanese restaurants that are sleek, hip, and modern but offer only a limited, expensive menu. Wagamama straddles the line between these two types of Asian restaurant.

Our target market will likely perceive Wagamama as more like a trattoria than a café and more like a high-end Japanese restaurant than a Chinese fast-food place. This positioning  (reflected in the diagram above) will help us select the appropriate marketing channels to promote Wagamama.

The second step in developing a strategic plan is identifying your business's competitive advantage -- the value it can provide customers by a.) offering the same products and services as competitors but at a lower price, or b.) offering products and services that are more costly than those of competitors, but differentiated.

There are many different types of competitive advantage; based on the nature of your business, these may or may not include cost structure, product offerings, distribution network or customer support.

Our task is to identify what it is about Wagamama that sets it apart from its competitors -- local Italian cusine and Asian-style restaurants --, what characteristics will attract more customers, propel greater sales, and maintain higher rates of repeat business. 

Wagamama's competitive advantage is their unique spin on Asian cuisine: "contemporary Pan-Asian dining." The restaurant concept is new and fresh: offering nutritious, delicious food that captures the flavors of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, served in a modern but elegant setting. Despite being an international city, Rome doesn't currently have this type of restaurant, which will allow Wagamama to stand out from the crowd.

The next step in designing a successful marketing campaign will be to identify key implementation strategies. Stay tuned for tomorrow's discussion.

Jeremy Striffler is a Retail Market Analyst for NorthMarq, which is based in the Twin Cities and provides provides a full range of services for commercial real estate owners, occupiers and investors. Jeremy specializes in commercial real estate and retail and writes the blog, Simply Ask Compendium, which offers advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs. He is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and Young Professionals of Twin Cities.