The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

What’s Your Positioning?

Positioning is the process of creating a unique perception of your products, in the mind of the customer, as compared to your competition. A positioning statement is the best way to succinctly capture the customer perception you’re trying to create. It conveys the core target of the product, and how you want customers to view your brand. A positioning statement is not a tagline or slogan, which is crafted to generate sales. Rather, a tagline or slogan is derived from the positioning statement. Use one of the following formats to write your positioning statement:

V1: <Product/Service/Company/Person> is the one <your category> that provides <your target customer> with <your key benefit> because <reason to believe you can deliver the benefit>.

V2: For <your target> who wants / needs <reason to buy your product/service>, the <your product or service> is a <category> that provides <your key benefit>. Unlike <your main competitor>, the <your product/service> is <your key differentiator>.

Once written, present your statement to prospective customers and industry veterans. Does your positioning create a unique perception? Are you sufficiently different from the competition, in an impactful and meaningful way? It will probably take a few revisions to nail it.