brand-strategy

Brand Strategy

Brand Positioning Framework

Complete this statement — if you can't, your positioning isn't clear enough:

For [TARGET AUDIENCE] who [NEED/SITUATION],
[BRAND] is the [CATEGORY]
that [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR]
because [REASON TO BELIEVE].

Example:

For growth-stage SaaS teams who need to ship marketing pages fast, Webflow is the visual development platform that gives designers production-level control without engineering dependencies because it generates clean, production-ready code with built-in CMS and hosting.

Positioning Inputs Checklist

• Target audience defined with specificity (not "everyone")
• Category clearly named (or intentionally created)
• 1-2 differentiators that are true, relevant, AND defensible
• Proof points for each differentiator (data, patents, methodology)
• Competitive alternatives identified (including "do nothing")

Positioning Worksheet (run in order)

Step 1 — ICP segmentation. Don't position for "the market." Pick one beachhead segment and describe it precisely. Score candidate segments and start with the highest total.

Segment	Urgency of pain (1-5)	Budget/willingness to pay (1-5)	Reachability (1-5)	Strategic value / expansion (1-5)	Total
e.g. Seed-stage B2B SaaS founders	5	3	4	4	16
e.g. Enterprise marketing ops	3	5	2	5	15

For the winning segment, write a one-paragraph ICP: firmographics (size, industry, stage), the buyer's role and the user's role (often different), the trigger event that starts the search, and the budget they already spend on the problem.

Step 2 — Competitive alternatives. Frame against what the customer would actually do instead, not just direct competitors. Four buckets:

• Direct — does the same job a similar way (e.g., another design tool).
• Indirect — does the job a different way (e.g., hiring a contractor).
• Status quo / "do nothing" — spreadsheet, manual process, or living with the pain. This is usually the #1 competitor — name it explicitly.
• In-house build — for technical buyers, "we'll build it ourselves."