Mid-Year Positioning Overhaul

It’s July. 🎆

You’ve learned a lot since the beginning of the year.

It’s time to step back, reflect, and put your learnings to work.

Ask the Foundational Positioning Questions

Don’t settle for the same old answers. Really take the time to think about these questions, and note any distinct differences in how you answer today versus how you’ve answered in the past 6+ months.

What Are You Solving?

• Has the fundamental challenge your product solves changed over time?

• Is the challenge more or less important now?

• What market factors are impacting these challenges?

Why Does It Matter?

• Who cares about the challenge you’re solving and has that persona’s job changed?

• What opportunities are there for other challenges to solve that may be more important?

• Don’t be afraid to be honest about this!

How Are You Solving It?

• Has the product changed over the past several months?

• Why were those changes made?

• How do the product changes better benefit users?

Why Choose You?

• How has your product and organization improved?

• How have you taken on competitors?

• What plans do you have to better beat your competitors?

What New Information Can You Draw From?

Think of all of the info you’ve captured since the beginning of the year. Sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it?

Start in smaller chunks (ideas Iisted helpfully below) and tackle major insights and takeaways from each category first. Then you’ll be able to put your insights and takeaways together into a more cohesive message.

• Customer Insight - what are customers saying about your product? How is it helping them? Use NPS and reviews, as well as customer calls and customer success teams to capture this info.

• User Insight - how are users engaging with the product? What are you learning from their actions? What are you learning from their journeys? Engage heavily with the product / growth teams here.

• Win/Loss Data - have you won new business? Have you lost big deals? Have you churned customers? Why? Engage with the sales team for their insight.

• Market and Competitor Landscape - this will help you better answer the foundational questions above. How has the landscape changed since the beginning of the year? What new competitors have entered the market? What have your competitors released?

How Will You Communicate This Updated Positioning?

• Update Foundational Messaging and Collateral - easier said than done. Start by ranking the most-used messaging and collateral and work down from there.

• Update Education and Sales Enablement - good old fashioned change management!

• Collaborate - work with your product and marketing partners to share learnings, collaborate on changes, and get new perspectives.

• Fill in the Gaps - now what’s missing? Do you need a new sales presentation? A new landing page for a new problem you’re solving?

Socialize, Socialize, Socialize! 

Your work matters, and the organization needs to hear about it. Share your learnings with everyone!