Good positioning is the difference between failure and success.

It won’t matter if:

❌ what you sell is unique or revolutionary

❌ you have a strong marketing budget

❌ you have a great business plan

❌ your branding is outstanding

❌ you have a great team

None of it will matter if your positioning is off.

If your customers can’t tell the difference between your product or service and the hundreds of alternatives, why would they choose you?

Today I bring you the 5+1 components of effective positioning from the positioning queen herself; April Dunford.

1. Competitive alternatives

“If you wouldn’t exist, what would customers use?”

Customers don’t know as much about the market as you do.

It’s crucial to understand what they compare your solution with, because that’s what they will use to define what’s better.

The most common alternative is a general purpose software + manual processes.

2. Unique attributes

“What features do you have that alternatives do not?“

We often think only of technical features, but your unique attributes can be found in your:

• delivery model

• business model

• specific expertise

• relevant experience

Whatever they are, they need to be real from the customer’s perspective.

3. Value (and proof)

“What value do the attributes enable for customers?“

Value has to be fact-based.

It has to be quantitative.

It needs to be objectively provable.

4. The market characteristics

“Who cares a lot about that value?“

Unless you have unlimited marketing budget, your efforts should focus on the customers most likely to buy from you.

Find the customers whose lives your product will make truly better.

Find the ones who’ll be obsessed with you.

5. Market category

“What value do the attributes enable for customers?“

It’s a shortcut to set the right context in your customers’ minds. It triggers a set of assumptions about:

• what your product should do & don’t

• who your competitors are

• what the pricing is like

Be careful! 🚨

These can work for and against you.

+1. Relevant trends

“What trends make your product relevant right now?“

Trends can make the need to purchase more urgent and significantly rise the relevancy of your product in your customers’ mind.

But use them wisely.

Jumping in the wrong trend can leave you very out of place.

Finding the right answers to these questions takes time.

But it is crucial for the success of your business.

Good positioning is very complex and quite honestly, never ending.

As you grow your business you will have to keep reviewing, adjusting, and iterating your positioning because as we’ve discussed, it depends on:

• Your market

• Your product

• Your customers

• Your competitors

And all of these will change over time.

Do not underestimate the importance of positioning.

Start thinking about it today.

Think about it tomorrow.

And always keep it top of mind.

Let me ask you again, why would your clients choose you?