Use this when: You're launching something new, repositioning an existing product, or your marketing copy feels generic because you haven't done the positioning work underneath it.
You're done when: You can fill in one sentence: "For [target customer] who [need], [product] is the [category] that [unique value] unlike [alternatives]."
The Sequence
Template
The Disruption Angle: Position Against Non-Consumption
There's a positioning option most teams overlook: don't compete with existing products at all. Position against non-consumption. Two ways to do it:
- Low-end positioning — target overserved customers who are paying for features they don't need. Win by being "good enough" at a lower price.
- New-market positioning — target people who aren't using anything because existing solutions are too expensive, too complex, or too inaccessible.
When you position against non-consumption, your competitive alternative isn't Asana or Salesforce, it's spreadsheets, email, or doing nothing. That changes everything about your messaging, your pricing, and which features matter.
Example
A project management startup kept losing deals to Asana. They ran the positioning exercise:
- Competitive alternatives — Asana, Monday, spreadsheets, email threads
- Unique attributes — real-time co-editing where 5 people work simultaneously without lag
- Value — fewer meetings, no version conflicts, faster project completion
- Target — remote startup teams of 5-15 people
They stopped calling themselves a "project management tool" (competing against Asana's $100M marketing budget) and repositioned as a "team workspace" — a category where real-time collaboration was the expected differentiator, not a nice-to-have. Win rates against Asana doubled in the next quarter.
Written with ❤️ by a human (still)