Scott Salkin

Brand in the age of abundant content

What is positioning?

Positioning is the deliberate choice of how a company, product, or idea should be understood relative to the alternatives in the mind of a specific audience. Strong positioning clarifies who something is for, what meaningful problem it solves, why it is different, and why that difference matters.

In one sentence

Positioning gives buyers the right mental frame—and a reason to choose you within it.

Why it matters

Buyers do not evaluate products in a vacuum. They compare them with competitors, internal workarounds, spreadsheets, agencies, new hires, or doing nothing. Positioning supplies the context that makes a product’s strengths legible.

April Dunford defines positioning around how a product is different and better than alternatives for a particular set of customers, and treats it as the foundation for messaging, branding, lead generation, and sales strategy. That is why positioning belongs upstream of copy.

The core choices

  • What would the customer do if we did not exist?
  • Which capabilities are meaningfully different?
  • What value do those differences create?
  • Which customers care most about that value?
  • Which market frame makes the value easiest to understand?

Original example

A product described as an “AI content generator” enters a crowded frame where buyers compare output volume and price. The same product, built around governed company knowledge and coordinated GTM execution, might be positioned as a “marketing system of intelligence.” The second frame raises different expectations and competitors. It is only credible if the product and proof actually support it.

What people get wrong

Positioning is not a tagline, category label, or messaging document. Those express positioning. The strategic work is choosing the comparison frame and value that the company can own. Clever words cannot rescue a weak or unproven choice.

Scott’s take

Positioning should not end as a presentation everyone admires and nobody uses. It should become living context that guides product choices, sales conversations, marketing work, agent behavior, and customer experience. When positioning can travel through the company, brand starts acting like infrastructure.

Evidence and further reading

Related terms

Established concept

Written by Scott Salkin, a founder, operator, and former B2B software CMO. Published August 4, 2026. Last reviewed August 4, 2026.

Back to the full Field Guide →