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Positioning

Product positioning: the method operators actually use

Product positioning is how you set the context around your product so a buyer immediately gets what it is, who it's for, and why it beats the alternative they'd otherwise settle for. Strong positioning isn't a tagline or a logo; it's a sequence operators run, and April Dunford's version starts not with your features but with what the customer would do if you didn't exist. This guide walks the full method, step by step, links each move to the operator behind it, and shows where they genuinely disagree.

Why this matters. Get positioning wrong and everything downstream, your category, your price, your pitch, inherits the error. As Dunford puts it, if you get the competitive alternatives wrong, everything downstream is wrong.

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40-60%

of B2B purchase processes end in no decision, not because the status quo won, but because the buyer couldn't choose confidently. Sharp positioning is what makes the choice obvious.

April Dunford Lenny's Podcast

The short answer

Product positioning in five steps

Positioning isn't a tagline you write; it's a sequence you work through. Run these in order and your category, pitch, and page fall out of them.

  1. 1

    1. Map the real alternatives

    What would your best customers do if you didn't exist? A spreadsheet, an intern, a rival, nothing at all. That set, not the competitor you obsess over, is your reference point.

  2. 2

    2. Find your unique attributes

    List the capabilities you have that those alternatives don't, judged from the customer's point of view rather than your feature roadmap.

  3. 3

    3. Translate attributes into value

    For each one ask 'so what for the customer?' and group the answers into two or three value themes people can actually hold in their heads.

  4. 4

    4. Name your best-fit segment

    The customers who care most about that value, defined by characteristics, not demographics. Win them first before you widen.

  5. 5

    5. Choose the frame and make it distinctive

    Pick the market category that sets the right expectations, then keep one idiosyncrasy so you're memorable, not just correct.

Counter-positioning is the advanced move layered on top: where you can, choose a step-three value the incumbent structurally can't match. Use the spokes below to go deep on any single step.

Why generic advice fails here

Where generic AI positioning advice falls short

It can't see your real alternative

Ask a generic model to position your product and it starts from your features, not from the spreadsheet or the status quo the buyer would otherwise use. So it differentiates against a named rival and misses the do-nothing buyer, who is usually most of the market.

It optimizes you into the average

Tell an LLM to make your positioning stronger and it sands off the very idiosyncrasy that made you memorable. It regresses to the mean because the mean is what it was trained on, which is the opposite of the distinctiveness that gets you remembered.

It picks one play and sounds sure

Generic advice can't tell you whether to fit an existing category the way Dunford would or counter-position out of it the way Helmer would. It averages the tension away into 'know your market,' which is exactly the judgment call that decides the outcome.

The cited playbook

The cited positioning playbook

Six operators who have positioned real products would each own a step in this sequence. Every move traces to a named source you can check, and is built to run against your own product, not the generic average.

  1. 1

    Start from the customer's real alternative

    Before you write a word of positioning, ask what your best customers would do if you didn't exist: a spreadsheet, an intern, a rival, nothing at all. List your capabilities against each of those alternatives, translate every one into 'so what for the customer,' and your differentiated value falls out of the comparison. Differentiation only exists relative to a real alternative, so this step decides everything downstream.

    April Dunford · Obviously Awesome
  2. 2

    Narrow to the one segment you can win first

    Positioning aimed at everyone lands with no one. Focus your attributes and value on a single beachhead segment and become the obvious leader there before you expand, the way you knock down the lead bowling pin first. The segment you pick is a positioning decision, not just a sales target.

    Geoffrey Moore · Crossing the Chasm
  3. 3

    Where you can, pick a position the incumbent can't copy

    The most durable positioning is a stance the market leader would have to damage its own business to match. Run the collateral-damage test: if the incumbent copied your model tomorrow, what would it cost them? If the honest answer is real, structural pain, cannibalized revenue or a channel that revolts, their size becomes the thing that traps them.

    Hamilton Helmer · 7 Powers
  4. 4

    Make the position distinctive, not just correct

    A perfectly logical position optimizes you straight into the category average, where buyers can't tell you apart. Keep one deliberate idiosyncrasy the rational optimizer wants to delete, familiar enough that buyers can place you, strange enough that they remember you. Distinctiveness, not optimized sameness, is what wins the first glance.

    Rory Sutherland · Alchemy
  5. 5

    Translate the position into a pitch

    Positioning is what you are; the sales pitch is how you say it to one buyer in roughly twelve minutes. Build the pitch as two unequal halves: a short setup on the market and your point of view, then the bulk of the time on the differentiated value only you deliver. The pitch inherits its content from the positioning rather than replacing it.

    April Dunford · Sales Pitch
  6. 6

    Validate it against the customers who already love you

    Positioning built in a conference room drifts from reality. Interview the best-fit customers who rave about you and refer you, because their words reveal the alternatives they actually weighed and the value that actually landed. Their story, not your feature list, is the check on whether the position is true.

    April Dunford · Obviously Awesome

Where experts disagree

Where operators disagree: position by logic or by distinctiveness?

April Dunford

builds positioning as a rational chain, competitive alternatives, unique attributes, and the value a specific segment can't get elsewhere. Get the logic right for the best-fit customer and the pick becomes obvious; the work is precision, not flourish.

Rory Sutherland

argues a perfectly logical position is also forgettable, because buyers run on memory and heuristics, not spreadsheets. A distinctive, slightly weird asset the optimizer would strip out is often what actually gets you chosen at the moment of decision.

ChatGPT blends this into 'be clear and be memorable.' Gavel shows both sides so you know when to sharpen the logic and when to protect the weirdness that makes you stick.

FAQ

Product positioning questions, answered

How do you do product positioning?

Work it as a sequence, not a tagline. Map the alternatives a customer would use if you didn't exist, list the attributes those alternatives lack, translate each into the value a specific segment cares about, name that best-fit segment, then choose the category frame and make it distinctive. Every step starts from the customer's real alternative.

What are the main product positioning strategies?

Three that operators actually run: competitive-alternatives positioning (Dunford), where you differentiate against what the customer would otherwise use; counter-positioning (Helmer), where you take a stance the incumbent can't copy without hurting its own business; and distinctiveness (Sutherland), where a slightly odd, memorable asset beats optimized sameness. Strong positions often combine them.

What's the difference between product positioning and brand positioning?

Product positioning sets the context for a specific product: who it's for, what it competes with, why it's the best pick for that segment. Brand positioning is the broader promise and personality across everything you sell. Get the product positioning right first; the brand is built on top of it.

How often should you revisit your positioning?

Whenever the inputs change: a new competitive alternative appears, your best-fit segment shifts, or a bigger incumbent enters. Positioning isn't a one-time doc. Counter-positioning especially is a closing window, so re-test it as you grow rather than once at launch.

Can ChatGPT do my product positioning?

It can draft something that sounds fine, but it can't see your real competitive alternatives or which customers value your edge most, so it defaults to the category average. That's the exact context Gavel asks for, then answers with named operators and shows where they disagree.

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