Happy Labor Day everyone.  I thought a post on "positioning" was timely because not only is it something we are continuing to focus on and evolve at Gist but it also came up last week in one of my mentoring sessions as a NWEN Advisor.  Also, it is no small effort to get right so thought it appropriate to discuss on Labor Day.

What is positioning and why is it important (according to me)?

The positioning strategy is a competitively focused statement of what makes a company different and better than the competition.  It is a description of how prospective customers, partners, etc. should think of the company relative to the competition.  A fundamental of good positioning strategy is creating perceived differentiation in an area that is important and relevant to those audiences.  Since positions are “relative to the competition,” it is important to understand how competitors are currently perceived and how they are trying to position themselves.

How do I come up with it (not sure where I got this from originally, so apologies for no source reference)?

[Company Name] provides  [product or service category]
For [your beachhead target customer]
So they can  [product’s primary benefit].
Unlike [the product alternative]
We [key differentiator]

This is definitely an exercise about picking the right words but in order to pick the right ones you must understand the broader landscape and how companies operate within it.  In an early stage company this is not a one time effort that you complete and move on.  It is a constant and iterative process as you learn more about your customers and market and the difference between how you want to be perceived and are perceived becomes clear.