Positioning.

The key to getting (almost) everything right

Positioning is the fundamental strategic process that defines how your brand or product is differentiated in the minds of your buyers, staff and stakeholders. Great positioning will guide your strategic decision-making, define effective marketing and sales messaging, and drive sustainable growth for your business.

The ROI of Positioning

Differentiate & stand out in the market

Positioning your business strategically will make it stand out to your ideal customers with a distinctive brand and targeted value-based messaging.

Drive sales & revenue

Positioning gives your customers the reason and the confidence to choose your solution over their status quo and competitive alternatives, driving commercial traction and revenue.

Make getting funding easier

Pitching your business to investors with crystal-clear positioning demonstrates a strategic roadmap for commercial growth, that will excite and inspire investors to fund your business.

Increase marketing effectiveness

Positioning helps marketing initiatives and campaigns work - facilitating clarity in targeting and messaging – saving your business time and money.

Accelerate sales cycles

Positioning compels your sales team to focus on an ideal target market and makes key product capabilities and their value so obvious to your ideal customers that they will want to buy.

Build sustainable growth

Strong strategic positioning aligns your core team, supercharges marketing and sales and makes your business more resilient to market challenges so you can grow sustainably.

If you fail at Positioning you will fail at Marketing and Sales.

If you fail at Marketing and Sales, your business will fail.

Positioning FAQ

  • Positioning answers the question: Why Choose Us Right Now?

    It is the most crucial strategy your business needs to inform all of the company’s strategic decisions, supercharge marketing and sales effectiveness and drive sustainable growth.

  • 10 signs you may very well have a Positioning problem:

    1. Stagnant growth

    2. Declining revenue

    3. Loss of market share

    4. Lack of differentiation

    5. Customer confusion

    6. Marketing Campaigns don’t seem to be working

    7. Price erosion

    8. Long sales cycles and low close rates

    9. High customer churn

    10. Negative feedback

  • Strategic Positioning will give your business the core foundation to win in your market. Positioning will:

    1. Help your business stand out and differentiate clearly

    2. Align with your audience and customers

    3. Enable a strong competitive advantage

    4. Improve marketing effectiveness

    5. Drive commercial traction and accelerate sales

    6. Build sustainable resilience in the market

    7. Enable premium pricing

  • Positioning can make or break growth. For Startups entering the market, taking on competitors whilst under immense pressure to deliver return to their investors, Positioning can supercharge growth and accelerate ROI.

  • Positioning clearly defines five key strategic elements:

    1. Competition

    2. Unique Attributes

    3. Differentiated Value

    4. Target Market & Customers

    5. Market Category

  • No.

    Branding refers to the perception and identity of an offer in the minds of consumers.

    Positioning is context setting – how an offer is perceived in relation to its competitors in the minds of customers.

  • Positioning statements are generic “fill-in-the-blanks” templates which usually disappear in a file never to be seen again.

Case Studies

  • ATLANT 3D

    ATLANT 3D is a pioneering deep-tech Series A startup based in Denmark. The business has developed revolutionary technology that will shape the future of advanced electronics. The key challenge in Positioning this business with its unique offer was alignment on competitive alternatives and gaining focus on initial market category targeting.

  • Insempra

    Insempra is a biotechnology-powered Seed Stage startup enabling businesses to transform their ingredient lists with superior products made with nature. After launching products into the market, the company’s positioning needed to be revisited to drive commercial traction and update key messaging.

  • MDO

    MDO is a cosmetic skincare brand that was originally positioned as a Hollywood brand focussed on a GenZ target group. Re-positioning the brand by connecting it clearly to renowned cosmetic dermatologist, Simon Ourian M.D. helped the business achieve clarity on product development and the right target groups, transforming marketing and sales effectiveness.

  • Neuromedex

    Neuromedex is a leading manufacturer of innovative medical devices for neurosurgery. As the business strove to enter new international markets, we re-positioned it by honing in on its core product capabilities and building out its customer service offer. Re-positioning enabled internal alignment and alignment of marketing and sales functions.

  • GOOGLE

    The Google News Initiative works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation, share resources and build a diverse and innovative news ecosystem. In this project, the key objective was to develop a communications strategy to showcase the value of the GNI through video case studies to gain the support of key opinion leaders throughout Europe.

10 signs you may have a postioning problem

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Positioning is a key success factor for startups

“The primary reason why companies fail is that there is little or no market for their product or service. A new company’s challenge is to create a great product and match it with an appropriate market need. Unfortunately, many companies become so blinded by what they’re trying to create that they fail to see if there are even people who are interested in their offers.”

“Positioning is the first hurdle to startup success, but many entrepreneurs and marketers fail to treat it with the care they offer their general marketing and product development activities.”

“Many overlook a crucial step in the lean start-up process: researching customer needs before testing products. (…) The good news is, firms can avoid that pitfall by rigorously defining the problem they want to solve, getting one-on-one feedback from potential customers, and validating concepts with real customers in real-world settings.”

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Find out more about how we can work together. Contact me, or schedule a quick 15-minute call. I look forward to hearing from you!

The 5 Elements of Positioning

  • 1. Competitive Alternatives

    Who are your competitors? What would customers do, if you didn’t exist? What is your customer doing now? Understanding the answer to these questions, helps to set a context and help you define how your offer is better than the alternatives.

  • 2. Unique Attributes

    After understanding the context of your offer, you must now understand how you can differentiate. What are the capabilities you have, that no other solution has? Why should a customer chose you over others?

  • 3. Differentiated Value

    What is the core benefit you can deliver customers via your unique attributes?

  • 4. Target Market

    As a startup with limuited marketing budget, your are best served offering your solutions to a select audience of customers, who will care about the value you have to offer.

  • 5. Market Category

    By defining your market category, startups can set an intentional focus on a market they can succeed in. Clearly defining your market category also enables your customers to build a set of assumptions that help them understand your offer and its value.