03ExplainerFoundational
Positioning: how to explain why you're the right choice for a specific customer
Positioning is the honest reason a specific customer should choose you over everything else they could do instead. Here's how to find it and say it plainly.
By Khalel Dumaz, Founder of Vora IQ
Published
The short answer
Positioning is how you explain why you're the better choice for a specific kind of customer, compared with the alternatives they'd otherwise use. Start from those real alternatives, find what you do that they don't, turn each difference into value the customer cares about, and aim it at the customers who care most.
- Level
- Foundational
- Reading time
- 7 minutes
- Updated
- Sources
- 3 cited
- Useful for
- All business types
Understand
The direct answer, in plain language, and why it matters.
What positioning means
Every customer is asking one question, even if they never say it out loud: why should I pick you instead of what I'd do otherwise? Positioning is your answer.
April Dunford, who advises companies on positioning, defines it as how a product is different and better than alternatives for a particular set of customers.[1] Each part of that definition does work:
- Different and better. Being different isn't enough. The difference has to make you better at something the customer cares about.
- Than alternatives. Not only competitors. Whatever the customer would do instead, including doing it themselves or doing nothing.
- For a particular set of customers. You aren't the best choice for everyone. Positioning says who you're best for.
Positioning isn't your slogan, logo, or tagline. Those express your positioning. They come after it.
Why it matters
Dunford describes strong positioning as the foundation of marketing and sales, and the starting point for messaging, branding, lead generation, and sales strategy.[1] In practice, that means every headline, sales conversation, and referral depends on it.
There's also a simpler reason. If customers can't see why you're the better choice, the only thing left to compare is price. Clear positioning is what lets you charge for the value you deliver, which is why it belongs next to pricing your first product.
And it tells you who to ignore. A business that's trying to win everyone spends money reaching people who were never going to buy.
Apply
The framework, a worked example, and the steps to take.
How to work out your positioning
The steps below are our own, built on the definition above. Dunford's book Obviously Awesome sets out her complete step-by-step method, which breaks positioning into five component pieces, and argues that positioning is more than filling in the blanks of a positioning statement.[2] Read it if you want to go deeper.
- 01
List what customers would do if you didn't exist
Use what customers told you in interviews, not what you imagine. Include indirect alternatives. The SBA recommends that your competitive analysis include indirect competitors, not only businesses like yours.[3] Always include "do it myself" and "do nothing."
- 02
Write down what you do that those alternatives don't
Be literal. List capabilities, expertise, approach, speed, location, or anything else you do differently. Skip claims every business makes, such as "quality" and "great service."
- 03
Turn each difference into value
Ask "So what?" about each difference until you reach something a customer would pay for. "Delivered the evening before your shift" becomes "you have real food at work," which becomes "you stop paying for vending-machine dinners at 3 a.m."
- 04
Find the customers who care most
Some customers feel that value far more than others. They have the problem more often, it costs them more, or the alternatives fit them worst. Start with them. You can widen later.
- 05
Choose the comparison you want buyers to make
Customers tend to sort every offer into a mental category, and that category shapes their expectations and the prices they compare you with. Pick the frame that makes your strengths obvious. A "meal kit" is expected to need cooking. A "shift meal" isn't.
- 06
Write it plainly, then test it in conversations
Write two or three plain sentences: who it's for, what you do differently, and why that matters to them. Then say it to prospects. If they get it immediately and start asking about price or availability, it's working. If they ask what it is, it isn't yet.
Worked example
Hypothetical scenarioA meal service for nurses on 12-hour shifts
Ana, a former ICU nurse, plans a weekly meal service for nurses who work 12-hour shifts.
First draft: "Healthy, delicious meals delivered to your door." Every meal kit and delivery app says the same thing.
Alternatives. In 15 interviews, nurses described the hospital cafeteria, vending machines and fast food on night shifts, batch cooking on days off, meal kits, and skipping meals.
Differences. Meals designed to be eaten cold or heated in under two minutes. Two full meals and snacks packed in one bag for one shift. Delivered the evening before each shift, based on the nurse's schedule.
Value. A real meal during a short break. No cooking on a day off. No paying for whatever is open at 3 a.m.
Customers who care most. Night-shift nurses at the two hospitals within her delivery range, especially those with kids at home, who described the least free time on days off.
Frame. Not a meal kit, which needs cooking. "Shift meals."
Result: "Shift meals for nurses on 12-hour shifts. One bag with two full meals and snacks, delivered the night before your shift and ready in two minutes, so you eat properly at work without cooking on your day off."
How positioning differs by business type
How this differs by business type
Your main alternatives are often doing it yourself, a friend who's handy, or the large chain. Specialization, speed, and trust in a specific area tend to be the differences customers feel. "The plumber for older homes in our neighborhood" is easier to remember than "full-service plumbing."
Customers compare you side by side, often on the same screen. The frame you choose decides which products you're lined up against. A sauce positioned as "low-sugar sauce for people managing their diet" competes on a different shelf than "gourmet pasta sauce."
The alternatives are usually hiring someone, asking a generalist firm, or living with the problem. Specializing by industry or by problem makes you easier to refer and easier to choose. "Fractional finance for service firms with $1 million to $5 million in revenue" is a position. "Business consulting" isn't.
Your toughest competitor is often a spreadsheet, a shared calendar, or software the customer already pays for. Choose a frame that buyers already understand, and make the difference from their current tool obvious in the first sentence.
Investors and early customers both need to understand what you are quickly. A frame that's too new can leave people unsure what to compare you with. Start from a category they recognize and show why you win inside it for a specific group.
Your choice is remembered across the site.
Advance
Your next action, the right tool, and where to go next.
Your next step
Write your positioning in three sentences today, then say it to three potential customers this week. Note what they ask next.
Here's my positioning: [two or three sentences].
My target customer: [who, specifically].
What they told me they use today: [list the alternatives from your interviews].
Act as a skeptical version of this customer. For each alternative, tell me whether my positioning gives you a clear reason to switch, and if not, what's missing.
Then point out any claim in my positioning that every competitor could also make.
Use only the information above. Don't invent facts about my market or competitors.
Then go deeper:
- Understand what customers are really trying to get done with jobs to be done.
- Collect the raw material for positioning with customer discovery interviews.
- Use AI to map your alternatives with our research tutorial.
- Set a price your positioning can support with how to price your first product.
Key takeaways
- Positioning is why a specific customer should choose you over their alternatives.
- Start from the real alternatives, including doing it themselves and doing nothing.
- A difference matters only when you can say what it's worth to the customer.
- Aim at the customers who care most, and choose the comparison you want them to make.
- Test your positioning in real conversations before you build marketing on it.
Questions founders also ask
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between positioning and a tagline?
Positioning is the reason a specific customer should choose you over their alternatives. A tagline, slogan, or logo expresses that positioning, so it comes after it. Work out who you're best for, what you do differently, and why it matters to them before you write a headline or tagline, because every headline, sales conversation, and referral depends on that positioning.
Who counts as a competitor when you're working on positioning?
For positioning, your competitors are everything a customer would do if you didn't exist, not only businesses like yours. List direct competitors and indirect ones, such as a different kind of business, and always include doing it themselves and doing nothing. Build the list from what customers told you in interviews, not what you imagine.
Should you position your business for a niche or for everyone?
Position your business for the customers who care most, not for everyone. If anyone could be your customer, no one feels your message was written for them, and you spend money reaching people who were never going to buy. Start with the group that has the problem most often, feels its cost most, or is served worst by today's alternatives. You can widen later.
How do you know if your positioning is working?
Say your positioning to prospects and watch what they ask next. If they get it immediately and start asking about price or availability, it's working. If they ask what it is, it isn't working yet. Positioning stays a hypothesis until customers react to it, so test it in real conversations before you build marketing on it.
How does positioning affect your pricing?
Clear positioning is what lets you charge for the value you deliver. If customers can't see why you're the better choice for them, the only thing left to compare is price. Positioning also sets the mental category buyers put you in, and that category shapes the prices they compare you with, so choose a frame that makes your strengths obvious.
Continue on a Founder Path
Validate Your Business Idea
5 lessons. You'll finish with a validation decision memo.
Sources
Every externally sourced claim links back here. We explain ideas in our own words and link to the original work. See the full source index.
- [1]April Dunford: Positioning for B2B Tech Companies
April Dunford · April Dunford
Practitioner education · Accessed November 3, 2026
- [2]Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
April Dunford · April Dunford
Book · Accessed November 3, 2026
- [3]Plan your business: market research, competitive analysis, and startup costs
U.S. Small Business Administration
Official guidance · Accessed November 3, 2026
Khalel Dumaz is the founder of Vora IQ, which publishes The Founder Almanac, and the author of The Vibe Code Bible, a free guide to building software with AI.
Keep building
Related reading
FrameworksFramework8 min
Jobs to be done: understand why customers really buy
Jobs to be done is a way of understanding demand by asking what progress a customer is trying to make in a particular situation, rather than who they are or which features they want. Once you know the job, you can see what you really compete with and why people switch, which makes product and marketing decisions clearer.
Start a BusinessField guide8 min
How to run customer interviews that get honest answers
A customer discovery interview is a short conversation about someone's real experience with a problem, not a pitch for your idea. Ask about specific past events, such as the last time the problem happened, what it cost, and what they tried, because what people did is more reliable than what they predict. Save your idea for the end, and ask for a small next step.
Customers & GrowthField guide8 min
How to price your first product or service
Price your first offer between two limits. The cost floor is the least you can charge and still cover your costs and pay yourself. The value ceiling is what the result is worth to your customer compared with their next-best option. Use competitors' prices as anchors in between, pick a starting price, and test it by asking real buyers to pay.