Positioning

Also called Brand Positioning

The distinct place your product holds in customers' minds relative to alternatives, what it is, who it is for, and why it is different. The foundation your messaging sits on.

Why it matters

Weak positioning makes everything downstream harder: marketing, sales, and pricing all struggle when people cannot place what you are. Sharp positioning, often against a clear alternative, is one of the highest-leverage things a founder can get right.

For example

April Dunford repositioned a database as a 'data warehouse for analysts', not a faster database, and the same product suddenly started winning deals.

Go deeper

A Quickstart Guide to Positioning April Dunford · article From the person who owns this topic: a practical process for positioning against a clear alternative, not a fill-in-the-blank template. Open aprildunford.com →

A Product Positioning Exercise April Dunford · article A hands-on exercise to actually do the positioning work, rather than just read about it. Open aprildunford.com →

Obviously Awesome: April Dunford's Positioning Do-Over YouTube · video If the book is too much right now, this talk gives you Dunford's whole positioning method in one sitting. Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Related terms

Also in Starting Up

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

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