Product positioning

Positioning is the context you create so the right customers understand why you are the best choice for a job they already care about. It is not a tagline and not a brand story. April Dunford's Obviously Awesome method starts from how buyers actually choose.

Start with alternatives, not with "our vision." If you start with what you wish you were, you invent differentiation that customers do not feel.

The big idea

Her five components, in order:

1. Competitive alternatives — what customers would do if you did not exist (status quo, Excel, hiring an intern, a competitor, doing nothing).
2. Unique attributes — what you have that those alternatives lack.
3. Value — the benefit those attributes enable, with proof.
4. Target customer — who cares a lot about that value (best-fit segment).
5. Market category — the frame that makes your value obvious to that segment.

A mail slot labeled "bills" vs "letters" is positioning: same envelope, different expectation. The analogy breaks when you change the label without having the unique attributes — messaging cannot invent a connector you do not have.

A spreadsheet comparing 40 features across five vendors feels rigorous and usually produces the wrong strategy. Feature parity races are how you lose to the incumbent: they already have the long tail, and you burn years catching up on things that do not win deals.

Better competitive work:

• Win/loss interviews after deals: "What else did you consider? What almost stopped you? What would you do if we disappeared?"
• Jobs, not features: map competitors to the jobs to be done they serve well. You may compete with "hire a contractor," not with Salesforce.
• One wedge: name the 2–3 attributes where you must be clearly better. Everything else is "good enough" or "not yet."
• Ignore vanity competitors your board mentions but customers never evaluate.

Walking through it

A B2B analytics tool positions as "a BI platform" and loses every bake-off to Tableau. True alternative for their best customers: a data analyst spending two days a week exporting CSVs.

Unique attribute: connectors that refresh warehouse tables into shareable dashboards without an analyst. Value: "answers in the meeting, not next week." Target: product and ops teams at series B–C companies with one overloaded analyst. Category: "self-serve product analytics," not "enterprise BI."

Same product, different frame — win rate changes.

Common mistakes

• Starting from the category you want. Buyers compare you to their actual alternative, often a spreadsheet.
• Feature-matrix wars. You will not out-list the incumbent on the long tail.
• Repositioning without product change. Messaging can clarify; it cannot invent unique attributes.

Check yourself

1. Why start positioning with alternatives instead of vision?

Alternatives force honesty about what you must beat. Vision invents differentiation customers do not feel.

2. You are losing Tableau bake-offs. What frame might you try instead of "BI platform"?

The job the best customers actually hire you for — for example self-serve product analytics versus an overloaded analyst exporting CSVs.

Key takeaways

• Position from alternatives → unique attributes → value → best-fit customer → market category.
• Win on a few attributes for a defined job and segment.
• Narrow the frame first; expand after you dominate a segment that cares about what you uniquely do.

Further learning

Obviously Awesome — April DunfordApril Dunford's book on product positioning is a practical guide for startups and tech companies looking to simplify their story for customers.aprildunford.com A Quickstart Guide to Positioning — April DunfordWant to improve your product's positioning but not sure where to start? This article is going to give you everything you need to get started including what positioning is, why it matters, and how to improve it.aprildunford.com

April Dunford on nailing product positioning (Lenny's Podcast):

Next: put the strategy on one page in the strategy one-pager.