Digital Business Positioning Strategist

Q: What is a Digital Business Positioning Strategist?

A Digital Business Positioning Strategist helps businesses clarify who they serve, what makes them different, where they fit in the market and why the right customer should choose them. Jarrod Michael then helps translate that positioning into the digital environment, including website, messaging, content and visibility across traditional search and emerging AI-powered search platforms.

Q: How do I know if my business has a positioning problem?

Common warning signs include difficulty explaining what makes the business different, frequent price comparisons, a professional-looking website producing few quality enquiries, increasing dependence on paid advertising, or valuable expertise that is not coming across clearly online.

Q: What types of businesses do you work with?

Jarrod Michael primarily works with small, independent and owner-operated businesses where knowledge, reputation, expertise and personality are genuine competitive advantages, including local and regional businesses, family businesses, service providers, consultants, specialists, tourism and accommodation businesses.

Q: Are GEO and AEO replacing traditional SEO?

No. Traditional SEO still matters. What is changing is how people search and how information is delivered. Businesses increasingly need a digital presence that works across traditional search, answer engines and AI-powered discovery.

Q: Can you help with my existing website, or do I need a new one?

A new website is not automatically required. The first step is determining whether the existing website clearly communicates the business's positioning, value, expertise and relevance. It may need restructuring or rewriting, while in other situations a rebuild may be appropriate.

Q: What happens when I book a Positioning Conversation?

The first conversation focuses on understanding the business, its goals, target customers and where its current positioning or digital presence may not be working effectively. The aim is to identify what problem actually needs solving first.

The internet gave customers more choice than ever before. Google changed how businesses were discovered. Social media changed how businesses communicated. Online marketplaces made comparison easier. And now AI is changing how people search, research, compare and make buying decisions again.

The result?

Many good businesses are becoming increasingly commoditised. Customers see similar websites, similar claims, similar services and similar advertising. Businesses respond by spending more on Google, Meta, SEO, content and lead generation — often without fixing the underlying problem:

Their positioning is unclear.

When your business looks and sounds like everyone else, marketing becomes more expensive because you are continually paying to interrupt people rather than becoming the obvious choice. My role is to help fix the strategy underneath the marketing.

Digital Business Positioning brings together several parts of your business that are too often treated separately:

Your market position.
Your niche.
Your customer.
Your value proposition.
Your business model.
Your brand.
Your digital presence.
And increasingly, your visibility within AI-powered search.

It starts with a simple question:

Why should the right customer choose you?

Not because you say you provide great service. Not because you have been operating for twenty years. Not because your website says you are “professional, reliable and trusted”.

Your positioning needs to give customers a clear reason to understand:

Who you are for.
What problem you solve.
What makes you meaningfully different.
And why that difference matters.

Once that is clear, your website, content, marketing and digital strategy become much easier to build.

For years, businesses have focused heavily on ranking in Google. That still matters. But customers are increasingly asking questions directly through AI-powered platforms and answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, and Gemini.

Instead of simply typing: “best accountant near me.”

They can now ask: “Who is a good accountant for a small construction business that needs help improving cash flow?”

This is fundamentally changing the way we need to think about building a website. Businesses increasingly need to be not only searchable, but also understandable and answerable.

This is where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) become important.

I help businesses structure their website, expertise, content, services and broader digital footprint so search engines and AI systems can more clearly understand:

who the business is
what it specialises in
who it serves
where it operates
what questions it can answer
what expertise it demonstrates
and why it may be relevant to a particular customer enquiry

This isn’t about trying to trick Google or stuff a website with keywords.

Traditional SEO still matters, but search is evolving beyond simply targeting keywords and trying to rank a page.

Today, it is increasingly about making your business clear enough to be understood. And that starts with positioning.

The clearer your business positioning is, the easier it becomes for people first and foremost - and increasingly, search engines and AI systems - to understand when and why your business is relevant.

My interest in this work isn’t theoretical.

I previously owned a retail business that was caught in the disruption created by the rise of internet retailing. I watched technology change customer behaviour, increase price transparency and rapidly commoditise an established market.

At an Australian Internet Retailers conference, I heard a message that stayed with me:

When technology commoditises a market, businesses generally only have three options: Get big, Get niche or Get out.

We eventually got out - but I never forgot the lesson!

Today, I want to help other small business owners recognise those changes earlier than I did. Because most independent businesses will never win by trying to outspend large corporations. BUT - they can compete through:

clarity, specialisation, expertise, relationships, reputation, personality and a position that larger competitors struggle to replicate.

That is where I believe small business still has enormous power.

Question: What is a Digital Business Positioning Strategist?

Answer: Digital Business Positioning Strategist helps businesses clarify who they serve, what makes them different, where they fit in the market and why the right customer should choose them. I then help translate that positioning into the digital environment - including your website, messaging, content and visibility across traditional search and emerging AI-powered search platforms.

The goal is simple: make your business easier to understand, easier to find and easier to choose.

Question: How is digital business positioning different from marketing?

Answer: Marketing is how you communicate and promote your business. Positioning determines what you should be communicating in the first place.

Before spending more money on advertising, social media, SEO or content, you need clarity around your target customer, niche, value proposition, point of difference and the position you want to own in the market. I focus on getting that foundation right first. Once your positioning is clear, your marketing has a much stronger platform to work from.

Question: How do I know if my business has a positioning problem?

Answer: There are some common warning signs. You may find it difficult to explain what makes your business different. Customers may frequently compare you on price. Your website might look professional but generate few quality enquiries. You may be spending more on Google or Meta just to maintain the same level of business. Or perhaps you know your business provides something genuinely valuable, but that value simply isn't coming across online.

These can all indicate that the problem isn't necessarily your marketing - it may be your positioning.

Question: What types of businesses do you work with?

Answer: I primarily work with small, independent and owner-operated businesses where the knowledge, reputation, expertise and personality of the people behind the business are genuine competitive advantages. That can include local and regional businesses, family businesses, service providers, consultants, specialists, tourism and accommodation businesses and established businesses trying to adapt to a changing digital marketplace. I’m particularly interested in businesses that don't want to compete purely on price or simply spend more money buying online attention.

Question: What are GEO and AEO?

Answer: Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) are approaches to making your business and its information easier for AI-powered platforms, search engines and answer engines to understand and reference. Traditional search has often centred around someone entering a few keywords into Google. AI-powered search allows people to ask much more detailed questions about the problem they're trying to solve. That means your digital presence increasingly needs to clearly communicate who you are, what you do, who you help, what you know and what questions your business can answer. Good GEO and AEO start with clarity — and that starts with strong business positioning.

Question: Are GEO and AEO replacing traditional SEO?

Answer: No. Traditional SEO still matters. Google and other search engines remain important ways customers discover businesses, and many of the fundamentals of good SEO continue to be valuable. What is changing is how people search and how information is delivered to them. Search is expanding beyond lists of links towards conversational answers, AI-generated responses and increasingly specific questions. The opportunity isn't to abandon SEO. It's to build a digital presence that can work across traditional search, answer engines and AI-powered discovery.

Question: Can you help with my existing website, or do I need a new one?

Answer: You don't automatically need a new website. The first step is understanding whether your existing website clearly communicates your positioning, value, expertise and relevance to the customers you're trying to attract. Sometimes that means restructuring or rewriting an existing website. In other situations, the current website may be limiting the business enough that rebuilding it makes more sense. The decision should come after understanding the business and its positioning — not before.

Question: What happens when I book a Positioning Conversation?

Answer: The first conversation is about understanding your business.

We'll look at where you are today, what you're trying to achieve, who you're trying to attract and where you feel your business or digital presence isn't working as well as it should. I'll look at the situation through a positioning lens and help identify where greater clarity could create an opportunity. It's not about pushing you into a predetermined marketing package. It's about determining what problem actually needs solving first.

Get seen online. Become the obvious choice.

BUILT FOR BUSINESSES WHERE THE OWNER STILL MATTERS

Who I Help

The Problem I Solve

What Digital Business Positioning Means

How I Help

Business Positioning

Customer Positioning

Value Proposition

Business Model Thinking

Brand & Messaging

Website Positioning

Digital Discoverability

Website Builds for AI Search Visibility (GEO & AEO)

Search is changing.

I'VE LIVED THROUGH WHAT DIGITAL DISRUPTION CAN DO TO A BUSINESS

Why Work With Me

Frequently Asked Questions