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Concept
Positioning
Positioning is not a slogan. It is the deliberate act of setting the context in which your product is the obvious choice. The same product can look confusing in one frame and inevitable in another. The core move is to name the real alternative the buyer is actually weighing, including the option of doing nothing.
Why it matters
Without a frame, buyers supply their own, usually the cheapest and least flattering one. Positioning decides the question the buyer asks, and the question decides the answer.
Common misconceptions
- That positioning means describing yourself better. Often it means changing what you are compared against.
- That more features and more claims strengthen a position. Usually they blur it. Positioning is subtraction more often than addition.
- That the cleverest position wins. The truest one you can keep every time wins over a decade.
How it connects
- PerceptionA position only exists in the buyer's perception.
- DifferentiationPositioning needs a difference worth caring about.
- Category designThe category sets the frame a position lives inside.
- MessagingMessaging carries a position into a real mind.
- TrustA promise you can keep is a position you can be trusted on.
Essays exploring it
Books that shaped my thinking
- Building a StoryBrandDonald Miller
- Obviously AwesomeApril Dunford
Case studies applying it
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