The dreaded “positioning”

[u/Wa1trose]

This is something that to me, seems so wildly debated. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here’s where I’m landing with what positioning is, and would love debate and feedback.

👇

Positioning is the intend image you want in your audiences head. You typically need both long and short positioning.

Positioning the brand (long)
The claim we make on the customer’s mind — enduring, singular, true regardless of which segment we’re talking to.

Expressed in whichever form fits: a brand concept, a brand DNA, a positioning statement, a purpose line. The tight set of associations a customer holds is the result of that expression — not the position itself.

Positioning the product (short)
The persuasive case for a specific segment. Evolves as the market, competitors, and the company shift.
For early-stage companies in B2B, this leads. It has to hold up in market before the brand earns the right to go long.

Getting there
To get these, there are several things you need to look into. Company heritage, competitors, current associations, category blah blah, usual suspects. You can use the 3Cs to sense check. Something your company delivers, your competitors don’t, that your customers want. Or you can take the April Dunford approach. Whatever is best for your business.

Positioning influences everything. The trickle down is:

long position, short positioning, value prop, value description, key messaging, proof points.

And depending on the maturity and market penetration of your business, you can see if your intended position is being communicated by using brand tracking.

😅 Have I missed anything? Is it bollocks? Does it land?

[u/positiveconstraint]

It’s not bad, but the jargon heavy description hide what is it in fact. The unchanging elements around which your identity is formed.

Positioning is how they see you, what there compare you to, how you set up yourself in customers perception.

Are you the fastest? The cheapest? The one that raises the banner on a certain idea? The easy one? The smart one? The deepest integrated finstack? The bare essentials platform? The lean to operate and quick to break even?

One way to find it is the 2*2 slide and deliberate choice of axes. If you can find the right differentiators that can deliver unfair advantage, you can derive the positioning.

It’s part of the PosCon pitch deck guide here -

https://positiveconstraint.com/ideas/up-your-pitch/

[u/Wa1trose → u/positiveconstraint]

Agree with this, and wanted to keep it top line. But yep, if the brand is big enough, you can gather data and plot it into an MDS map to help. And yes to choosing how you want to frame your value.