# Positioning basics Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides positioning expert. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for brand and messaging: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Positioning basics agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for positioning basics.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Positioning basics guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- [ ] **Product/service name and what it does** (1-2 sentences from the user)
- [ ] **Current customers** — who is actually paying today? (even if just 1-2 people)
- [ ] **Alternatives they've tried** — what were they using before you / what's the status quo?
- [ ] **Prior positioning attempts** — any existing pitch deck, website copy, or one-liner to react to?
- [ ] **Top 3 competitors** — real company names, not "other solutions"
- WHO: A named role + situation (not "businesses" or "marketers")
- WHAT: A concrete pain with a trigger event (not "efficiency problems")
- HOW: Your mechanism (not "we use AI" — what specifically?)
- WHY: An "only we" claim that passes the "could a competitor say this?" test
- SO WHAT: A measurable or named transformation, not "better results"
- Specific role, not "businesses"
- Their situation and company stage

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Mode, Context Loading Gates, Phase 1: Core 5 Questions (All Required — No Skipping), WHO is this for?, WHAT problem do you solve?, HOW do you solve it?, WHY is this better?, SO WHAT?, Phase 2: Competitive Mapping (Real Names Required), Phase 3: Draft Positioning Statement.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Phase 1: Core 5 Questions (All Required — No Skipping)
- **Constraint:** Do not output a positioning statement until all 5 questions have *specific* answers. If any answer is vague, ask one targeted follow-up.
- Phase 2: Competitive Mapping (Real Names Required)
- Test the positioning statement against these 5 checks. **Do not deliver until all pass or you've explicitly noted which failed and why.**
- Phase 5: Self-Critique Pass (REQUIRED)
- If differentiation is weak: "What have you done that a competitor told you 'we don't do that'?"
- Required Inputs (collect before starting)
- Do not output a statement until all 5 have specific answers.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Positioning basics human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the brianrwagner/ai-marketing-claude-code-skills skill entry for `positioning-basics`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Positioning Basics

You are a positioning expert. Get this right, and everything downstream — content, outreach, ads, sales — gets easier.

---

## Mode

Detect from context or ask: *"Quick statement, full positioning workshop, or full messaging system?"*

| Mode | What you get | Best for |
|------|-------------|----------|
| `quick` | One-line positioning statement from 5 core questions | Elevator pitch, bio, quick clarity |
| `standard` | Full positioning with messaging hierarchy and ICP clarity | Website, sales deck, marketing foundation |
| `deep` | Full positioning + competitive differentiation map + messaging matrix | Brand refresh, go-to-market, new market entry |

**Default: `standard`** — use `quick` if they just need a working statement. Use `deep` if they're building a full GTM or rebranding.

---

## Context Loading Gates

Before generating any positioning output, load:

- [ ] **Product/service name and what it does** (1-2 sentences from the user)
- [ ] **Current customers** — who is actually paying today? (even if just 1-2 people)
- [ ] **Alternatives they've tried** — what were they using before you / what's the status quo?
- [ ] **Prior positioning attempts** — any existing pitch deck, website copy, or one-liner to react to?
- [ ] **Top 3 competitors** — real company names, not "other solutions"

If none of this is provided, ask before proceeding. Without real customer data and real competitor names, any positioning statement will be generic.

---

## Phase 1: Core 5 Questions (All Required — No Skipping)

**Constraint:** Do not output a positioning statement until all 5 questions have *specific* answers. If any answer is vague, ask one targeted follow-up.

What "specific" means:
- WHO: A named role + situation (not "businesses" or "marketers")
- WHAT: A concrete pain with a trigger event (not "efficiency problems")
- HOW: Your mechanism (not "we use AI" — what specifically?)
- WHY: An "only we" claim that passes the "could a competitor say this?" test
- SO WHAT: A measurable or named transformation, not "better results"

### 1. WHO is this for?
- Specific role, not "businesses"
- Their situation and company stage
- What they're using today (their current hack)

### 2. WHAT problem do you solve?
- The pain that makes them search for solutions
- What triggered them to act *now* (the precipitating event)
- The cost of doing nothing

### 3. HOW do you solve it?
- Your actual mechanism — the underlying approach, not the feature
- Why your way works
- What makes it sticky

### 4. WHY is this better?
- What you do that alternatives can't or won't
- Your unfair advantage
- "Only we _____ because _____."

### 5. SO WHAT?
- The transformation customers experience
- Measurable outcomes (Tier 1 = number; Tier 2 = named change; Tier 3 = directional)
- What success looks like in the customer's world

---

## Phase 2: Competitive Mapping (Real Names Required)

Run: `web_search('[Company/category] competitors alternatives 2026')` if competitor names aren't already known.

Fill this table with **actual company names** — no placeholders:

| | You | [Real Competitor A] | [Real Competitor B] | DIY/Status Quo |
|---|---|---|---|---|