# Positioning canvas Human Guide

## What This Is For
Use when asked to "position my product", "positioning canvas", "differentiate from competitors", "figure out our category", "repositioning", or "why customers should pick us". 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 canvas 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 canvas.
- 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 canvas 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
- Prospects don't understand what you are on first contact
- Sales calls require 3+ meetings before "the light comes on"
- You win deals but customers churn because expectations didn't match reality
- Different teams (sales, marketing, product) tell different stories
- It feels obvious — "of course that's what it is"
- Qualified prospects immediately understand why they should care
- Your differentiated value is clear against alternatives
- Everyone in the company tells the same story
- **Define or refine how you compete** — who are the real alternatives?
- **Articulate differentiated value** — why pick you over everything else?
- **Identify your best-fit customers** — who cares most about your value?
- **Choose or validate your market category** — what context makes your value obvious?

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: What It Is, When to Use It, When Not to Use It, Patterns, Critical (get these wrong and you've wasted your time), High Impact, Medium Impact, Deep Dives, Resources, Supporting file: patterns/_template.md.

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
- Prospects don't understand what you are on first contact
- Don't use Positioning Canvas when:
- | [starting-with-category](patterns/starting-with-category.md) | Don't start with market category — start with competitive alternatives |
- | [competitive-alternatives-vs-competitors](patterns/competitive-alternatives-vs-competitors.md) | Status quo and "do nothing" are often your real competition |
- Positioning is about focus. A narrow positioning that dominates beats a broad positioning that's "considered" but never chosen. Own a beachhead before expanding.
- > - Customers don't know what "Revenue Optimization Platform" means
- > 3. If Sarah doesn't see value → you never meet anyone else
- You win or lose with the champion. If your positioning resonates with the CFO but not the champion, you never get to pitch the CFO. Focus positioning on the champion, then arm them to handle everyone else.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Positioning canvas 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 wdavidturner/product-skills skill entry for `positioning-canvas`.

## 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 Canvas

## What It Is

Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering some value that a well-defined set of customers care a lot about.

**The core insight:** Positioning is not messaging. It's not your tagline. It's the fundamental strategic decision about how you win in the market — what you compete against, how you're different, what value only you can deliver, and who cares most about that value.

When positioning is weak:
- Prospects don't understand what you are on first contact
- Sales calls require 3+ meetings before "the light comes on"
- You win deals but customers churn because expectations didn't match reality
- Different teams (sales, marketing, product) tell different stories

When positioning is strong:
- It feels obvious — "of course that's what it is"
- Qualified prospects immediately understand why they should care
- Your differentiated value is clear against alternatives
- Everyone in the company tells the same story

**Credit:** This framework comes from April Dunford, author of *Obviously Awesome* and *Sales Pitch*, who has positioned over 200 B2B tech companies.

## When to Use It

Use Positioning Canvas when you need to:

- **Define or refine how you compete** — who are the real alternatives?
- **Articulate differentiated value** — why pick you over everything else?
- **Identify your best-fit customers** — who cares most about your value?
- **Choose or validate your market category** — what context makes your value obvious?
- **Align your team** — get sales, marketing, product, and leadership on the same page
- **Build a sales pitch** — translate positioning into a story that wins deals
- **Reposition after market changes** — your product evolved, competition shifted, or customers changed

## When Not to Use It

**Don't use Positioning Canvas when:**

- **You're pre-product-market-fit** — Keep positioning loose until you see patterns in who loves you and why. You need ~10+ happy customers to have enough signal.
- **You want to validate a hypothesis** — Positioning captures what's true today based on evidence, not what you hope becomes true.
- **You're only focused on messaging** — Positioning is an input to messaging, not messaging itself. Get positioning right first.
- **You're doing competitive research** — Positioning defines how you win, not a comprehensive market map.

**Early-stage exception:** If you're launching, create a positioning *thesis* — your best guess at all five components. Keep it loose, test with real customers, and tighten as patterns emerge.

## Patterns

Detailed examples showing how to apply positioning correctly. Each pattern shows a common mistake and the correct approach.

### Critical (get these wrong and you've wasted your time)

| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---------|-----------------|
| [starting-with-category](patterns/starting-with-category.md) | Don't start with market category — start with competitive alternatives |
| [competitive-alternatives-vs-competitors](patterns/competitive-alternatives-vs-competitors.md) | Status quo and "do nothing" are often your real competition |
| [features-vs-value](patterns/features-vs-value.md) | Capabilities aren't value — translate the "so what?" |
| [conference-room-positioning](patterns/conference-room-positioning.md) | You can't position without customer evidence |
| [misaligned-teams](patterns/misaligned-teams.md) | Positioning requires cross-functional alignment |

### High Impact

| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---------|-----------------|
| [too-broad-target](patterns/too-broad-target.md) | "Everyone" is not a target — get specific about who cares most |
| [undifferentiated-value](patterns/undifferentiated-value.md) | If competitors can claim it too, it's not differentiated value |
| [no-decision-loss](patterns/no-decision-loss.md) | 40-60% of deals die to indecision, not competitors |
| [category-creation-timing](patterns/category-creation-timing.md) | Category creation works after dominance, not before |
| [repositioning-triggers](patterns/repositioning-triggers.md) | Know when positioning needs a refresh |

### Medium Impact

| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---------|-----------------|
| [bowling-pin-strategy](patterns/bowling-pin-strategy.md) | Dominate a beachhead before expanding |
| [sales-pitch-feature-dump](patterns/sales-pitch-feature-dump.md) | Product demos should prove value, not expose features |
| [teaching-how-to-buy](patterns/teaching-how-to-buy.md) | Help confused buyers make confident decisions |
| [champion-vs-personas](patterns/champion-vs-personas.md) | Focus positioning on the champion, arm them for others |


## Deep Dives