Hello friends,

Today I’ll show you how to keep your business projects laser-focused using one essential tool: the positioning statement.

Positioning statements are simple, powerful frameworks that define the core essence of your brand, products, and marketing efforts. Mastering them ensures everything you create is aligned, focused, and directed at the right customer.

Basic Positioning Statements

The most foundational statement is incredibly simple and helps define the very essence of your business in a single line. This is the critical decision point that launches your business adventure: identifying a customer, their dream, and how you help them achieve it.

The Formula:

When brainstorming new ideas, I use this formula to stay focused. Here are some examples:

• I want to help non-tech entrepreneurs who want to use vibe-coding to build their dream app.
• I want to help developers (and other service professionals) who want to get jobs to land interviews with better clients.
• I want to help engineer-entrepreneurs who want to build a killer brand and marketing machine for their new SaaS app.

More Refined Positioning

While the basic statement is a great start, a mature business has three core components—Brand, Product, and Messaging—and each benefits from its own focused positioning statement.

1. Brand Positioning Statements

A brand positioning statement defines the overall reputation and identity of the business (like Apple or Nike). It gets you clear on why your business exists and what you want to be known for.

The Formula:

• Functional Benefits: The utility you provide (the product or service).
• Experiential Benefits: The support and feeling you provide (education, thought leadership, moral support).
• Symbolic Benefits: The clout or reputation the customer gains by using your product (e.g., SOC2 compliance, being perceived as high-end).
• Reason to Believe: Your core why—the mission that motivates you.

Example Brand Positioning:

2. Product Positioning Statements

A mature business often sells several products. A product positioning statement defines what category a specific product is in and its Unique Selling Proposition (USP)—the thing that makes it different from the competition.

The Formula:

Product Examples:

• For freelance service businesses who want to get more customers, we have an AI-powered marketing enginethat gets you inbound leads on autopilot with minimal work on your part.
• For freelance service businesses who want to get more customers, we have a first gig class that takes you through the steps of sourcing, applying to, and completing your first online gigs.

3. Messaging Positioning Statements

Marketing content—articles, ads, YouTube videos, etc.—can be thought of as mini-products designed to attract leads. Writing a messaging positioning statement ensures your content is helpful and on target.

The Formula:

Messaging Examples:

• For freelance service businesses who want to get more customers, we have an article on ways to get clients from freelance sites like Upwork and Freelancer.
• For freelance service businesses who want to get more customers, we have a video series on how to get SEO traffic for your freelance business.

Putting it All Together

A successful business requires total alignment between its Brand (reputation), its Products (what it sells), and its Marketing (how it communicates).

When building a business, it’s easy to get sidetracked and have these components drift in random directions. Positioning statements are the framework that ensures every piece you create supports the whole, keeping you focused on your target customer’s dream.

It takes a bit of practice, but mastering positioning statements is worth the effort to achieve real focus.

Positioning In the Wild

Businesses use positioning in their marketing messaging all the time. Here are a bunch of examples.

When I do a search for Kit this is their search result:

The elements of their positioning statement are in the search result—you might write:

For AUTHORS and CREATORS who want to MAKE THEIR LIVING ONLINE we have an EMAIL MARKETING TOOL that AUTOMATES YOUR GROWTH

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When I do a search for revenue cat this is their search result:

The elements of the revenue cat PRODUCT positioning statement are in the search result—you might write:

For DEVELOPERS who want to RUN AN APP BUSINESS we have an IN-APP SUBSCRIPTION TOOL that MAKES COLLECTING PAYMENTS EASY

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When I visit the landing page of HeadShot Pro the positioning statement is featured in the hero section of their website.

These are just a few examples. When you master positioning statements you'll start seeing them in use everywhere.

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Good luck with your projects and let me know if you have any questions!

-Walt

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