How does one create a "positioning document?"

I like to keep these simple, and just use a single value proposition slide. Especially when it’s for an executive team. Here are the basic things to include: Who is our audience? (customer segment) What challenges do they face? (what is the need and the cost of not meeting that need?) What is our solution? (a description of your offering) How do we solve their problem? (Solution/benefit statement) What makes us unique? (Your top 3-5 core differentiators) Alternatively, if you want something more ...Read More

Here's what I like to put into a positioning doc:  1. What market are we in ? How big is this market (TAM)? What's our serviceable obtainable market (SOM) ? 2. What does the competitve landscape look like?  2. Who are our customers? (buyer personas) 3. What challenges do they face? (key pain points)  4. What is our solution? (description of your offering) 5. How do we solve their problems? (solution/benefit statement)  6. What makes us unique (differentiators)  From what it sounds like you'll ne ...Read More

There are a number of templates available online. My first recommendation is to confirm your CMO's expecation - it's rare for a CMO to *not* have a favorite format for this.  However, if they are truly asking you to build something up from scratch, there are a few basic elements you need: Target audience. Who you are trying to reach. This is both persona (multiple) and firmographic Problem and solution. What the customer's core problem is, and how your product/solution addresses it, uniquely Pos ...Read More

There are ton's of different templates available, a quick Google search will turn up dozens of positioning templates. This is a pretty good one I've used as a foundation previously. What's most important though is adapting any template to the needs of your organization. The example I linked above lacks a tie-in to mission and vision, which can be useful components -- especially if you are a part of a multi-product company. Overall, I think it's important to include some key pieces such as: Missi ...Read More

Positioning is an internal artifact. Messaging is externally facing and brings this positioning to life in various contexts.  I have usually found it very helpful to have a positioning and messaging evergreen document that is dated and encapsulates the following: 1) the positioning for the company/product 2) how to talk about the positioning for the company/product in 25, 50 and 100 words as it might appear at the bottom of a press release for examples 3) any relevant messaging pillars and theme ...Read More

Congratulations on getting tapped to write a positioning doc! Before diving in, I'd do your research: -Do you already have company-wide or product-wide positioning? If so, do you have hypotheses on how this segment will differ? -Do you have customers in this segment already? If so, put together a short list of reps, CSMs, and customers you want to interview to validate or disprove these hypotheses Once you've done this, you can start diving into a doc. I would worry less about the template versu ...Read More

Hey, Intercom published a blogpost with their templates for everything related to Product Marketing, including a Positioning template. You can read the blogpost here: https://www.intercom.com/blog/how-product-marketing-helps-build-product/Specifically, the positioning template is available here (non-gated link): https://intercom.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Positioning-Guide-Template.docx The key elements are: Product Product Mission Product Vision Pitch to Buyer Pitch to End-user Product ...Read More

The core of the positioning document is the Positioning Statement. I've always been fairly prescriptive with how the Positioning Statement should come together. Here's the structure we follow: For (target audience), (brand name) is the (frame of reference) that delivers (point of benefit/difference) because (reason to believe). As a makeshift example, here's a first attempt at writing one for Nyquil: For adult cold sufferers, Nyquil is the one brand of cold remedy that effectively prevents cold ...Read More

Positioning is the foundational element of all product marketing work, which makes the positioning document pretty critical to the success of a launch/campaign/etc. Here is what I like to include in the document: - R&R: who else is involved in this launch? who is the relevant PM or business lead? Who are the stakeholders? Using a DACI or other relevant framework will work well.  - Personas: who is the audience? What challenges, frustrations, motivators do they have? No need to get too detail ...Read More

Katharine Gregorio's point about positioning being an internal artifact is the most important thing to internalize before you write a single word. The document isn't for your customers or your website. It's for your internal teams to align on who you're for and why. That said, I'd push back slightly on treating the format as the starting point. At Salesforce and later at Tableau, the hardest positioning work wasn't writing the document. It was the structured discovery phase that had to happen be ...Read More

I always start with defining the customer and then working backwards.  1. Define the customer: Based on the market data, I come up with a few personnas. Personnas makes is easier to tell a story and it's easier for your audience (in your case your - CMO) to visualize the customer. Use all the data you have to build a semi-fictional charater and the world around her/him. Use images, videos. 2. Define the probelm this charater faces and the current solutions (or lack thereof). Talk about her frust ...Read More