How do you update your positioning statement as your product evolves and the market changes?

I’ve found it helpful to include a positioning statement within a broader product messaging brief or source messaging doc to streamline feedback collection. It should fit within the broader messaging context or else other teams will get confused on which doc is the “source of truth”.

The context must be clear as well. I've had situations where I had to position a product or solution within the market but also within our own portfolio to prevent confusion about competing with ourselves and giving a false impression that we're sunsetting a product for the new shiny object.

Before any of this, THE #1 most important thing is to truly understand the problem you address from the perspective of your audience. That means more than just the problem itself. It's also: - The effects of that problem - The feelings from those effects - The lingo your audience uses - How your audience addresses the problem right now - How your offering is different (positively and negatively) Gathering this intel up front leads to far more clarity at the end of the process. Because if your position is not clear, nothing else will be either. #BOOMshockalocka ????????

IMO, the first step should be seeing what's changed with your ICP and the market at large, and also diagnosing how well your current positioning is performing. What trends are causing the market to shift? What are competitors doing? Are win rates high? Is sales cycle length low? Answering these questions gives you the insight you need to understand where your product fits in. Of course, the product is evolving as well, but it only matters in the context of the market at large. Changing your positioning based on a new feature or updated product alone is a losing game. I know because I've tried it before.

You should add a comment about the ‘why’ - why do customers have to solve this problem now in light of some macro issue that’s getting in their way? You have to build urgency into your positioning to give people a good reason to ditch the status quo. It’s usually negatively worded, which is psychologically more action-inspiring than positive wording. That’s because people fear change even if they know they have to.

Great positioning starts with research to discover 1. the most relevant features and benefits 2. meaningful category emotivators. 3. how your brand rates on each vs competition (U and A study or other research) Strategic decision is required given the company’s strengths where on these factors the company can win. Then the positioning is created and guides the brand brief for all creative.

A tool I recommend for SWOT analysis is Chat-GPT. The prompt I ask is: "Can you help me generate a SWOT analysis for <insert name of business here>?" Chat-GPT can then provide a framework for conducting a SWOT analysis by generating prompts for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The AI can offer insights into areas such as market trends, customer preferences, and competitive landscape that can help businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as potential opportunities and threats. The use of an AI-powered tool like Chat-GPT can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on manual research and analysis.

Be prepared to ditch your assumption ‘baggage’ at the door and think freshly. Get out of your own echo chamber and challenge your assumptions to make sure your historical bias preventing you from seeing a need to pivot or adjust.

I would add that positioning in IT/B2B markets must include a clear understanding of what role your product category plays in the broader ecosystem delivering the solution. It is completely different to position the platform delivering the solution versus a component. Differentiation must include this component of positioning.

Changing a positioning statement is not the final step. In fact, the hard work begins after you've changed it. Now you have to get the entire org aligned and using it, have to enable the sales team with the positioning statement and underlying research, and get the market to notice!

I've leveraged Notion templates, Guru, Dock, and other tools to keep a central source for consistent positioning and messaging. We'd update it frequently based on new testing via Wynter, and then schedule meetings with the marketing and sales team to refine and enable. A statement on it's own isn't helpful unless it's distributed clearly and consistently.