Positioning Strategy
Also known as: Market Positioning, Product Positioning
Positioning Strategy
Overview
Positioning is the process of defining how your product or service is the best in the world at providing a specific value for a specific type of customer. It is the foundation of all marketing and sales efforts, as it clarifies what your product is, who it is for, and why it is better than the alternatives. A strong positioning strategy makes it easy for customers to understand your value proposition and choose your product over the competition. It acts as a compass for your organization, guiding product development, marketing messaging, and sales strategy to ensure that all efforts are aligned and focused on the right target market.
Developed by April Dunford and detailed in her book ‘Obviously Awesome’, this pattern provides a systematic, 10-step process for discovering and articulating your product’s optimal market position. It moves beyond generic marketing advice to offer a practical framework for startups and established companies alike. By following this process, you can uncover your product’s unique attributes, translate them into value for a well-defined target audience, and choose a market frame of reference that makes your strengths obvious. The result is a clear, compelling, and defensible positioning that accelerates customer acquisition, increases revenue, and builds a strong brand.
Core Principles
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Customer-Centricity: The entire positioning process is anchored in a deep understanding of your best customers. It begins with identifying who they are, what problems they face, and what they value most. By focusing on the customers who already love your product, you can uncover the unique value you provide and build a positioning strategy that resonates with a broader market of similar customers.
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Context is Everything: The market category you choose to compete in is the most important factor in your positioning. It sets the context for customers, helping them understand what your product is, who it’s for, and how it’s different from the alternatives. A well-chosen market frame of reference can make your product’s unique strengths immediately obvious and compelling.
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Different is Better than Better: Competing on features alone is a losing game. True differentiation comes from identifying your unique attributes and translating them into value that your target customers care deeply about. Instead of trying to be a slightly better version of a competitor, focus on what makes you fundamentally different and better for a specific market segment.
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Clarity and Simplicity: The ultimate goal of positioning is to make your value proposition so clear and obvious that your target customers instantly understand why they should choose your product. This requires a simple, consistent, and compelling message that is communicated across all marketing and sales channels. When your positioning is truly “obviously awesome,” customers will not only buy your product but also become advocates for your brand.
Key Practices
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Understand Your Best Customers: Start by identifying your happiest and most successful customers. These are the customers who “get” your product, bought it quickly, and are vocal advocates. Analyze what makes them your best customers and what common characteristics they share.
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Form a Positioning Team: Assemble a cross-functional team with representatives from marketing, sales, product, and customer support. This ensures that all perspectives are considered and that the final positioning strategy is aligned across the organization.
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Align Your Vocabulary and Let Go of Baggage: Before you begin, make sure everyone on the team has a shared understanding of what positioning is and why it matters. Encourage the team to let go of any preconceived notions or “positioning baggage” that might be holding them back from seeing new possibilities.
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List Your True Competitive Alternatives: Ask your best customers what they would do if your product didn’t exist. The answers will reveal your true competitors, which may not be who you think they are. These could include direct competitors, but also homegrown solutions, manual processes, or even doing nothing at all.
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Isolate Your Unique Attributes: Once you have a clear understanding of the competitive alternatives, identify the features and capabilities that make your product different and better. Be specific and focus on what is truly unique about your offering.
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Map Attributes to Value “Themes”: Translate your unique attributes into customer value. What do your customers get from these features? Group related value points into 1-4 “value themes” that represent the core benefits of your product.
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Define Your Target Audience: With a clear understanding of your unique value, you can now define the characteristics of a customer who is a perfect fit for your product. This is your target audience, and it should be as specific as possible.
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Determine Your Market Frame of Reference: This is the most critical step in the process. You need to choose a market category that makes your unique value obvious to your target audience. You can either position your product within an existing market or create a new market category.
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Layer on a Trend: If there is a relevant trend in the market, you can use it to make your positioning even more compelling. A trend can create a sense of urgency and make your product seem more relevant and innovative.
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Capture and Share Your Positioning: Once you have completed the first nine steps, you need to capture your positioning in a clear and concise document that can be shared with the entire organization. This document should include your target market, your market category, your unique value proposition, and your key differentiators.
Implementation
Implementing a new positioning strategy requires a coordinated effort across the entire organization. The following steps provide a roadmap for successfully rolling out your new positioning.
1. Develop a Positioning Canvas
Create a one-page positioning canvas that summarizes the key elements of your new strategy. This document should be the single source of truth for your positioning and should be easily accessible to everyone in the company. The canvas should include:
- Competitive Alternatives: The top alternatives your customers would consider if your product didn’t exist.
- Unique Attributes: The key features and capabilities that differentiate your product from the alternatives.
- Value: The unique value that your product delivers to customers.
- Target Market Characteristics: The specific characteristics of the customers who are the best fit for your product.
- Market Category: The market you compete in and the context you want customers to have for your product.
- Relevant Trends: Any market trends that make your product more relevant right now.
2. Update Your Marketing and Sales Materials
Once your positioning canvas is complete, you need to update all of your marketing and sales materials to reflect the new strategy. This includes your website, your sales deck, your product datasheets, your email marketing campaigns, and your social media profiles. Ensure that your new messaging is consistent across all channels and that it clearly communicates your unique value proposition.
3. Train Your Team
Your entire team needs to understand and be able to articulate your new positioning. Conduct training sessions with your sales, marketing, and customer support teams to ensure that they are all on the same page. Provide them with the tools and resources they need to effectively communicate your new positioning to customers and prospects.
4. Weave Positioning into Your Company Narrative
Your positioning should be more than just a marketing message; it should be a core part of your company’s story. Weave your positioning into your company’s mission, vision, and values. Use it to guide your product roadmap and your hiring decisions. The more deeply your positioning is embedded in your company culture, the more effective it will be.
5. Monitor and Adjust
Positioning is not a one-time exercise. You need to continuously monitor the market, your competitors, and your customers to ensure that your positioning remains relevant and effective. Be prepared to adjust your positioning as needed to respond to changes in the market or to new opportunities. Regularly review your positioning canvas and make updates as necessary to keep it current.
7 Pillars Assessment
| Pillar | Score | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | 4 | Positioning Strategy is deeply aligned with the Purpose pillar, as it forces a company to define its core value proposition and the specific problem it solves for a specific audience. This clarity of purpose is essential for building a sustainable and impactful organization. However, it does not explicitly address the broader social or environmental purpose of the organization, which is why it does not receive a perfect score. |
| Governance | 3 | While the process of developing a positioning strategy involves a cross-functional team, it does not inherently promote decentralized governance or community ownership. The decision-making power for positioning typically rests with the company’s leadership. However, by clarifying the company’s purpose and target market, it can help to align stakeholders and create a more cohesive and accountable organization. |
| Culture | 4 | A strong positioning strategy is a cornerstone of a healthy company culture. It provides a shared language and a common understanding of the company’s goals and values. When everyone in the organization is aligned around a clear and compelling positioning, it fosters a culture of collaboration, focus, and customer-centricity. |
| Incentives | 3 | A clear positioning strategy can help to align incentives by focusing the entire organization on a common goal. When everyone understands who the target customer is and what value the company provides, it is easier to design incentive structures that reward behaviors that support the positioning. However, the pattern itself does not provide specific guidance on how to design or implement these incentive structures. |
| Knowledge | 4 | The Positioning Strategy pattern is fundamentally a knowledge-building process. It requires a deep understanding of customers, competitors, and the market. The process of developing a positioning strategy generates a wealth of knowledge that can be used to inform product development, marketing, and sales. By capturing and sharing this knowledge, organizations can create a learning culture that is constantly adapting to new information. |
| Technology | 3 | While technology can be used to support the research and analysis required for developing a positioning strategy, the pattern itself is not technology-dependent. The core principles and practices of positioning can be applied with or without sophisticated technology. However, technology can be a powerful enabler for implementing and scaling a positioning strategy, particularly in the areas of marketing automation and data analytics. |
| Resilience | 4 | A strong positioning strategy is a key driver of organizational resilience. By carving out a unique and defensible position in the market, companies can reduce their exposure to competition and create a loyal customer base. A clear positioning also makes it easier to adapt to changes in the market, as it provides a framework for evaluating new opportunities and making strategic decisions. |
When to Use
- When you are launching a new product or service: A clear positioning strategy is essential for a successful product launch. It will help you to define your target market, your key differentiators, and your go-to-market strategy.
- When you are entering a new market: If you are expanding into a new geographic market or a new customer segment, you will need to adapt your positioning to the specific needs and preferences of that market.
- When you are facing new competition: If a new competitor enters your market, you may need to adjust your positioning to differentiate your product and protect your market share.
- When your sales are flat or declining: If you are struggling to grow your sales, it may be a sign that your positioning is no longer effective. A positioning refresh can help you to re-engage your target market and reignite your growth.
- When you are struggling to explain what you do: If you and your team have a hard time articulating what your product is and who it is for, it is a clear sign that you need to work on your positioning.
Anti-patterns
- “Better for everyone” positioning: One of the most common positioning mistakes is trying to be everything to everyone. This results in a weak, undifferentiated message that fails to resonate with any specific customer segment. A strong positioning strategy requires making choices and focusing on a well-defined target market where you can be the clear leader.
- Feature-listing: Many companies fall into the trap of listing all of their product’s features instead of focusing on the unique value they deliver. Customers don’t buy features; they buy solutions to their problems. Your positioning should highlight the benefits of your product, not just its technical capabilities.
- “Me too” positioning: Simply copying a competitor’s positioning is a recipe for failure. If you don’t have a clear point of differentiation, you will be forced to compete on price, which is a race to the bottom. A strong positioning strategy requires a deep understanding of your unique strengths and how they translate into value for your target customers.
- Ivory tower positioning: Developing a positioning strategy in isolation, without input from customers or front-line teams, is a recipe for disaster. The best positioning strategies are grounded in a deep understanding of the customer and the market. It is essential to involve a cross-functional team in the positioning process and to validate your assumptions with real customers.
- Positioning as a marketing-only exercise: Positioning is not just a marketing exercise; it is a core part of your business strategy. It should guide your product roadmap, your sales process, and your customer support model. If your positioning is not integrated across the entire organization, it will be ineffective.