Question Page

Can you explain the difference yet relatedness between messaging and positioning to me like I’m a 5yr old?

Sarah Scharf
Vanta VP of Product and Corporate MarketingOctober 25

Positioning is the framing of the house - it defines the structure and heavily influences the overall style (for instance, low and long like a midcentury modern or up and down like a townhome)

Messaging is the design choices you make once the structure is built. If your messaging feels very discordant from your positioning, it will be confusing. But, you can make certain unexpected choices in messaging that are not purely defined by your positioning.

I'm not sure this analogy fully works for the "5 year old" described in the question, but hopefully it is illustrative!

1058 Views
Developing Your Product Marketing Career
Thursday, January 23 • 12PM PT
Developing Your Product Marketing Career
Virtual Event
Anna Thielsch
Carlos Eduardo Lippi
Svetlana Shif
+80
attendees
Top Product Marketing Mentors
Michele Nieberding 🚀
Michele Nieberding 🚀
MetaRouter Director of Product Marketing
Mary Sheehan
Mary Sheehan
Adobe Head of Lightroom Product Marketing
Amanda Groves
Amanda Groves
Enable VP of Product Marketing
Jeffrey Vocell
Jeffrey Vocell
Panorama Education Head of Product Marketing
Jackie Palmer
Jackie Palmer
ActiveCampaign VP Product Marketing
Christine Sotelo-Dag
Christine Sotelo-Dag
Close Head of Product Marketing
Kevin Garcia
Kevin Garcia
Anthropic Product Marketing Leader
Sahil Sethi
Sahil Sethi
Freshworks Vice President - Global Product Marketing
Susan "Spark" Park
Susan "Spark" Park
Monzo Director of Product Marketing
Leah Brite
Leah Brite
Gusto Head of Product Marketing, Employers