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 creative/involved, I recommend also creating a brand narrative/brand anthem doc - a story that follows a “hero's journey” format.

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 need a positioning doc and a Go-to-market plan which will also incude your marketing and sales plan ( marketing mix, channel partnerships, sales plays etc). 

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 frustrations, likes, dislikes, usage behavior etc. 

3. How does your product fullfill this customers needs -Your products USPs/KSPs and in order of importance. For e.g. If you are selling a sports camera - A surfer would find the waterproof feature of highest importance whereas a skateboarder would rate it's scratchproof lens as #1 feature.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for personna #2, 3 ....and so on. I try to define at least 5.

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
• Positioning statement. This is the core of the document. Two sentences. One that that describes the problem and solution, and for whom (per the above). And a second that starts with "Unlike," that defines your unique selling proposition (USP)
• A message house or framework that identifies the 3-5 key pillars of how you want to deliver the message to this specific audience. This normally looks like a table with a column for each pillar and detail for each. 

That's it. If pressed, you should be able to fit the entire thing on a single slide. You're not defining copy, you're not going deep on features or capabilities. What's the simplest, most differentiating way you can talk about your solution to a specific audience. 

More on that Positioning Statement

There are a number of different models for a positioning statement, but the one I like best is based on Geoffrey Moore's classic "Crossing the Chasm." 

For (target customer)

who (statement of the need or opportunity),

(product name) is a (product category)

that (statement of key benefit — that is, compelling reason to buy).

Unlike (primary competitive alternative),

our product (statement of primary differentiation).

It's a little bit like marketing haiku. It's intentionally rigid and short to really focus your attention on what matters. And it doesn't have to be perfect. You'll iterate on this continuously over the life of your product. 

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:

• Mission / Vision
• Category
• Competition
• Persona
• Uniqe differentiation
• Challenges
• Value/Benefits

Hope this helps!

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 themes that help enable other stakeholders and agencies on how to bring the messaging to different contexts (web page copy, social copy etc).  

But from what you’re asking about “how to go to market with a particular segment” that sounds more like a GTM strategy that typically I organize by Goal, Strategy, Tactics, Dependencies, Timelines in a Google Doc and then translate the tactics to a spreadsheet of activities, owners, links to artifacts and dependencies to track progress against execution.

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 versus ensuring you can clearly articulate the answers for a few key questions:

• Who is this segment? Not just in relation to your product...what do they really care about? What are they motivated by? What does success look like for them?

• What are their core blockers? What stops them from achieving their goals?

• How are the unique value props your product offers? Be honest about which blockers it can help tackle, and which it cannot. No one likes marketing that says "we do everything for everyone!"

Then, layer in a competitive element - who are all your competitors (direct, indirect, "doing nothing", etc). How is your solution different than everything else in the market?

Once you've documented this, try going back to as many internal and external experts as you can - is it landing? Positioning is a living and breathing document, so as you roll it out (in emails, ads etc) make sure you are tracking results and setting a regular cadence (say, quarterly) to revisit and revise it.

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 description
• Core pillars (key features)
• Customer
• Why people will care
• Who will buy
• Keywords they are searching
• Customer examples

They also describe the competitors and the state of the industry! :)

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 symptoms at night so that one can finally sleep.

The rest of the "document" should support this positioning statement and define certain components. Think of it as the ability to drill down so that others can follow how you arrived at that positioning statement. This would include a section on the detailed definition of the target audience. Mine also include a competitive landscape within the "frame of reference". The points of differentiation tend to be descriptions, images, or quick videos of differentiating features. Finally, the reason to believe detail is where we share our market validation.

This is a lot to pull together, but having it all in one place is really helpful when new information surfaces and you have to determine whether to adjust your positioning statement.

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 detailed here.

- Problem: Clearly outline the problem your customer/users are facing

- Solution (your product): outline the technical details of the product and your most high level positioning statement

- Competition: Outline your key competitors and how your product is different or better

- Use cases: What are the use cases for your product? Are there any your want to highlight over others? Highlight them here. 

Remember, positioning needs to be revisted as the market, consumers, and product changes. Don't set it and forget it!