Glossary
What is positioning in marketing?
Positioning is how a product is defined in customers' minds relative to alternatives: what category it's in, who it's for, and why it's the better choice for them. Good positioning makes a product easy to understand in one line and decides which directories, categories and comparisons it belongs in.
Parts of positioning
- Competitive alternatives: what customers would use otherwise.
- Unique attributes: what you have that they don't.
- Value: what those attributes do for customers.
- Best-fit customers: who cares most about that value.
- Category: the frame that makes the value obvious.
This follows April Dunford's widely used framework in Obviously Awesome.
Positioning in practice
Your launch tagline, homepage headline, category tags and the competitors you list on alternatives directories all express your positioning. If they disagree, so will customers and AI assistants describing you.
Example
A product positioned as "AI writing assistant" competes with hundreds of tools. Repositioned as "follow-up emails written from your sales calls", it owns a narrow category, its listings land in sales tool categories, and its tagline explains itself.
FAQ
Is positioning the same as messaging?
Positioning is the strategy; messaging is the words that express it.
How often should positioning change?
Rarely, unless your market or best customers change.
How do I test positioning?
Show your one-line description to target customers and see if they understand and care.
Should positioning differ by directory?
The core shouldn't; adapt the wording and emphasis to each audience.
What's an example of good positioning?
"Follow-up emails written from your sales calls" names a category, a job and an audience in one line.