Captain’s log, stardate 20210401
Fellow list member Michael Spangler wrote in to ask for feedback on his positioning statement (shared with permission):
Hi, Jonathan.
If you’re so inclined, here’s some fodder for your daily list:
Destroy this positioning statement.
“I help software companies reduce uncertainty in the marginal cost of features”
Have a good one!
— Michael
There are a few different kinds of positioning statement styles that I use with students.
What Michael has here is what I call an XY Positioning Statement. An XYPS takes the form:
I help X with Y.
...where X is a target market or ideal buyer, and Y is an expensive problem they’d like to solve (or a big opportunity they’d like to capture).
For a positioning statement to be effective, it needs to be laser focused and crystal clear. If either of those things are not true, it’s not going to supercharge your marketing efforts (which is the whole point of positioning).
Michael’s attempt is a good start, but I think it needs to be more focused and more clear to unlock the magic of good positioning.
Two things to think about:
Here are some XY Positioning examples to give you a feel for a useful level of clarity and focus:
Positioning can be really hard to nail down, but it’s shocking what happens once you can perfectly articulate your ideal buyer’s biggest pain. Give it a shot.
Yours,
—J
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