Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

"Positioning is the act of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares a lot about."

"It’s natural for product creators to start by looking at the product and its features to determine the best market, and then build a context around that. As product people, it’s often the place where we feel most comfortable. After all, who knows more about our solution than us? But you need to look at those features from a customer’s point of view."

"Any product can be positioned in multiple markets. Your product is not doomed to languish in a market where nobody understands how awesome it is. Great positioning rarely comes by default. If you want to succeed, you have to determine the best way to position your product. Deliberate, try, fail, test and try again. Understanding what your best customers see as true alternatives to your solution will lead you to your differentiators. Position yourself in a market that makes your strengths obvious to the folks you want to sell to. Use trends to make your product more interesting to customers right now, but be very cautious. Don’t layer on a trend just for the sake of being trendy—it’s better to be successful and boring, rather than fashionable and bewildering."

"These are the Five (Plus One) Components of Effective Positioning: Competitive alternatives. What customers would do if your solution didn’t exist. Unique attributes. The features and capabilities that you have and the alternatives lack. Value (and proof). The benefit that those features enable for customers. Target market characteristics. The characteristics of a group of buyers that lead them to really care a lot about the value you deliver. Market category. The market you describe yourself as being part of, to help customers understand your value. (Bonus) Relevant trends. Trends that your target customers understand and/or are interested in that can help make your product more relevant right now."

"While most people think of positioning as a marketing concept, a shift in positioning feels more like a shift in business strategy. Every department inside the company is likely to be impacted over time. Tracking"

"(Aside: this is where I also first encountered the expression “malicious compliance,” meaning you have completed something that was requested of you, simply to illustrate the stupidity of the request.)"

"If there’s a way to pull in trends, you should do it, but if there isn’t, it’s possible to have a very successful business without being trendy in the slightest."