Any phase · Craft
Position your product against the alternatives
Positioning explains what your product is, who it is for and why it is better than the alternatives. Clear positioning makes marketing, sales and even product decisions easier.
About 2-4 daysEvergreenLast reviewed 5 November 2026
Who this applies to
- Skills it builds
- Commercial and business senseStrategy and vision
- PM types
- All
- Product types
- All
- Starting points
- All
- Ways of working
- All
- Experience
- Intermediate (1 to 4 years)Experienced (5+ years)
- Size of organisation
- All
Steps, by experience
Beginner (under 1 year)
- List what users would use if your product did not exist.
- Write what you do better.
- Name who cares most.
- Write it in one sentence.
- Test it with users.
Intermediate (1 to 4 years)
- Map the real alternatives, including doing nothing.
- Identify your unique strengths and the value they create.
- Define the users who care most about that value.
- Choose the market frame that makes your strengths obvious, and test the wording.
Experienced (5+ years)
- Revisit positioning as the market changes.
- Align product, marketing and sales on one positioning.
- Use positioning to say no to features that blur it.
Who can do this
Owner: Product manager
Can be delegated to
- User Researcher: Test positioning with target users
- Content Designer: Write and refine the positioning statement
Reviewed by: Content Designer, UX Designer
Tool examples
- Miro
- Map alternatives and your strengths on a board.
- Google Docs
- Keep a positioning canvas with each element and its evidence.
- Claude
- Ask it to rewrite your positioning for three different audiences.
Definition of done
- Alternatives and strengths mapped
- Target users defined
- Positioning tested with users
Common pitfalls
- Claiming to be for everyone
- Comparing only with direct competitors
- Positioning that product and sales do not share