Positioning Angles Skill

Trigger keywords: positioning, angles, differentiation, hooks, unique selling proposition, USP, value proposition, competitive advantage, messaging, positioning strategy, find angle, market positioning, how to stand out, what makes us different

Find the angle that makes something sell. Apply 8 positioning frameworks simultaneously to discover 3-5 high-impact angles — each with psychological reasoning and headline directions. The output becomes the messaging foundation for every downstream skill: Direct Response Copy, Lead Magnet, SEO Content, Email Sequences, and Ads.

Brand Memory & Research Data Protocol

Before executing, scan the project for existing context.

Brand Memory Check

Check for the brand-memory/ directory in the project root.

If positioning.md already exists and is populated:
- Show the user a summary of existing angles
- Ask: "Update your existing positioning, or start fresh?"
If voice-profile.md exists: load it — all generated angles must match this tone
If audience.md exists: use it to pre-fill target audience context
If brand-memory/ doesn't exist: create the directory and proceed

Research Data Detection

Scan the project for research files: research/ folder, market analysis .md files, competitor research, or any files generated by Perplexity MCP, Firecrawl, or similar research tools.

If research files found: Auto-load and extract:
- Competitor positioning and messaging
- Market gaps and white space opportunities
- Customer pain points and emotional triggers
- Pricing models and service comparisons
- Use this data as context when applying frameworks
If no research found: Proceed with user input only, but show this tip:

"Tip: Positioning works best on top of research. If you haven't already, consider running market research first — competitor analysis, audience pain points, and market gaps will produce significantly stronger angles."

Input Collection

Ask the user for these 4 essentials. If research data was loaded, pre-fill what you can and ask the user to confirm or adjust.

1. Product/Service "What do you sell? Describe your product or service in 1-2 sentences."

2. Target Audience "Who is this for? Be specific — industry, company size, role, pain points."

3. Transformation "What does life look like before and after someone buys from you? Describe the change."

4. Competitors "Who would your customers buy from instead of you? What are the main alternatives?"

Optional — ask only if relevant:

Current positioning (if they have one and want to improve it)
Price range / business model
Unique process, technology, or methodology
Output language (default: English)

Collect all inputs before proceeding. Do not start generating angles mid-conversation.

The 8 Positioning Frameworks

Once all inputs are collected, apply all 8 frameworks simultaneously. Do not run them one at a time in separate conversation turns. Analyze the business through every lens in a single pass and produce the full candidate set at once.

Framework 1: Transformation

What does the customer's life look like before and after?

Guiding questions:

What emotional shift happens? (fear → confidence, chaos → control, uncertainty → clarity)
Can you quantify the change? (time saved, revenue gained, costs cut)

Angle pattern: "From [painful before] to [desirable after]."

Example: "From chasing work to selecting work. From hoping the phone rings to controlling when it rings."

Framework 2: Competitive Landscape

Where do competitors cluster, and where is the white space?

Guiding questions:

What do all competitors claim? (that's the crowded zone)
What position does nobody own? (that's your opportunity)

Use a 2x2 positioning map. Pick the two most relevant axes for this market:

Price vs. Capability
Ease of Use vs. Power
SMB vs. Enterprise Focus
Point Solution vs. Platform
Innovative vs. Established

Identify the underserved quadrant. That's your angle.

Framework 3: Unique Mechanism

What makes your approach technically or methodologically different?

Guiding questions:

What is your proprietary process, technology, or method?
Why does it produce better results than the standard approach?
Can you name it? (named processes feel more credible)

Angle pattern: "[Named method/technology] that delivers [specific result]."

Example: "AI responds to leads in minutes not hours — first response wins 35% of jobs."

Framework 4: Anti-Positioning

What are you explicitly NOT? Define yourself by rejection.

Guiding questions:

What does your audience hate about the current options?
What industry norms do you intentionally break?
What would your audience cheer if you said "we will never do this"?

Angle pattern: "Not another [hated thing]. Instead, [refreshing alternative]."

Example: "No fluff. No BS. No 6-month contracts. Just the work that matters."

Framework 5: Emotional Framing

What deep emotional triggers does your audience carry?

Use the narrative analysis structure to find the emotional core:

Villain: What enemy are you fighting? (status quo, complexity, gatekeepers, wasted money)
Hero: Who is the hero? (the customer — always)
Transformation: What does victory look like for the hero?
Stakes: What happens if they don't act?

Guiding questions:

What keeps your target audience up at night?
What is their deepest frustration with the current situation?
What would they feel if your solution actually worked?

Framework 6: Speed / Convenience

How do you save time or remove friction compared to alternatives?

Guiding questions:

How long does the current solution take? How long does yours take?
What steps do you eliminate?
What can the customer start doing immediately?

Angle pattern: "[Fast timeframe] instead of [slow timeframe]."

Example: "What takes agencies 3 months, we ship in 3 weeks." Example: "Get started in 5 minutes, not 5 weeks."

Framework 7: Specificity (Niche-Down)

What narrow segment can you own completely?

Guiding questions:

What is the tightest niche you can serve better than anyone?
What does the customer gain from choosing a specialist over a generalist?

Consider the category strategy:

Create new category: You do something genuinely different — name it, own it
Reframe existing category: Change evaluation criteria to favor your strengths
Niche within category: Own a specific segment, use case, or audience

Angle pattern: "The [category] built specifically for [narrow audience]."

Example: "We only work with [specific niche]."

Framework 8: Contrarian

What industry assumption do you challenge?

Guiding questions:

What does everyone in your industry believe that you think is wrong?
What conventional wisdom do you reject — and have evidence to back it up?
What counterintuitive truth have you discovered through experience?

Angle pattern: "Everyone says [common belief]. We think [opposite] — here's why."

Example: The Boring Marketer's own positioning — "boring is differentiated" challenges the assumption that marketing must be flashy.

Angle Generation

After applying all 8 frameworks, produce 8-12 candidate angles. For each angle, include every field below. No exceptions — this is what makes angles actionable, not just clever.

For each candidate angle:

### [Angle Name] (2-4 memorable words)
- **Framework**: [which framework produced this]
- **Core message**: [one sentence — what this angle says about the business]
- **Headlines**:
  - "[headline/tagline option 1]"
  - "[headline/tagline option 2]"
  - "[headline/tagline option 3]"
- **Psychology**: [why this resonates with the target audience — the emotional or logical trigger]
- **Best for**: [which channels/assets this angle works best on — landing page, ads, email, content]

Scoring & Selection

Score each candidate on 5 criteria (1-10 scale):

Criteria	Question
Resonance	Does this hit an emotional or practical nerve for the target audience?
Differentiation	Would a competitor struggle to make this same claim?
Believability	Can the business back this up with evidence, experience, or results?
Scalability	Can this angle extend across landing pages, ads, emails, and content?
Brand Fit	Does this match the tone in voice-profile.md? (Skip if no profile exists)

Present scores in a table. Select the top 3-5 angles based on total score.

Expert Review via Task Agent (Recommended)

For higher-quality selection, spin up a separate task-based agent to review the candidates with fresh context. This separates generation from evaluation — which produces better judgment.

Save the candidate angles to a file (e.g., positioning-candidates.md), then suggest:

"Your angle candidates are ready. For a sharper selection, I recommend spinning up a task agent for expert review."

Task agent prompt template:

You are a positioning and niche strategy expert.
Review the positioning angle candidates in [file path].
Context: [business description], targeting [audience].

For each angle, evaluate:
- Target audience resonance
- Competitive differentiation strength
- Believability and evidence potential
- Scalability across channels

Pick the #1 recommended angle and explain why.
Rank the rest. Suggest which angles pair well for a multi-channel strategy.

If the user prefers not to use a task agent, proceed with the skill's own scoring to make the final selection.

Positioning Pitfalls

Before finalizing, check the selected angles against these common mistakes:

Positioning against competitors instead of for customer needs — your angle should promise something to the customer, not just attack a rival
Claiming too many differentiators — pick 1-2 that matter most; more dilutes the message
Using category jargon the customer doesn't use — match their language, not yours
Positioning on features instead of outcomes — "what it does for them" beats "what it has"
Being different just to be different — differentiation must connect to something the audience actually values

Output Format

Language rule: 섹션 헤더와 테이블 컬럼명은 영어로 유지합니다. 본문, 셀 값, 설명, 분석 텍스트는 사용자가 지정한 언어로 작성합니다. 언어가 지정되지 않으면 English로 작성합니다.

Present the final angles to the user, then save to brand-memory/positioning.md in this format:

# Positioning Angles

> Auto-loaded by all Vibe Marketing skills.

## Context
- **Business**: [description]
- **Target audience**: [specific audience]
- **Key differentiator**: [core differentiator]
- **Positioning statement**: For [target audience], [product] is the [category] that [key benefit] because [reason to believe].

## Primary Angle: [Name]
- **Framework**: [source framework]
- **Core message**: [one sentence]
- **Headlines**:
  - "[headline 1]"
  - "[headline 2]"
  - "[headline 3]"
- **Psychology**: [why it works]
- **Best for**: [recommended channels/assets]

## Supporting Angle 2: [Name]
- **Framework**: [source framework]
- **Core message**: [one sentence]
- **Headlines**:
  - "[headline 1]"
  - "[headline 2]"
- **Psychology**: [why it works]
- **Best for**: [recommended channels/assets]

## Supporting Angle 3: [Name]
[same structure]

## Angle Pairing Guide
- **Landing Page**: [Primary] as hero message + [Angle X] for social proof section
- **Ads**: [Angle best suited for short-form, high-impact]
- **Email sequences**: [Angle best suited for relationship building]
- **Blog / SEO content**: [Angle best suited for educational content]
- **Multiple landing pages**: Create one page per angle to test which converts best

## Rejected Angles
- [Name]: [why it was cut — low differentiation, hard to prove, poor brand fit, etc.]

Saving & Chaining

Save to Brand Memory

After the user approves the angles:

Write to brand-memory/positioning.md
If the file already exists, show what changed and ask for confirmation
Confirm:

✅ Positioning angles saved to brand-memory/positioning.md All marketing skills will now reference these angles automatically.

What's Next — Skill Chaining Bridge

Don't just say "you can use other skills now." Provide ready-to-run prompt templates:

→ Direct Response Copy (single landing page)

Use the Direct Response Copy skill.
Positioning angle: [PRIMARY ANGLE NAME]
Brand voice: Reference voice-profile.md
Target audience: [AUDIENCE]
Write landing page copy with:
- 3 headline options based on this angle
- Hero section, Problem/Solution, Social proof, CTA

→ Multiple Landing Pages (one per angle)

For each positioning angle, create a separate landing page:
- [Angle 1 name] → targeting [segment A]
- [Angle 2 name] → targeting [segment B]
- [Angle 3 name] → targeting [segment C]
Test which angle converts best.

→ Lead Magnet

Use the Lead Magnet skill.
Positioning context: [PRIMARY ANGLE]
Target audience: [AUDIENCE]
Generate 3-5 lead magnet concepts aligned with this positioning.

→ Ad Creative

Create ad variations testing different positioning angles:
- Angle 1: [NAME] — [core message]
- Angle 2: [NAME] — [core message]
Generate 3 ad concepts per angle.

Example (Abbreviated)

Input:
- Product: AI marketing agency
- Target: Boring local businesses ($2-10M revenue) — plumbers, HVAC, roofers, electricians
- Transformation: From chasing work to selecting work
- Competitors: Traditional marketing agencies ($5-10K/month, 6-8 week timelines)

Output (top 3 of 8+ candidates):

### The Overlooked Champion
- Framework: Anti-Positioning + Specificity
- Core message: Marketing excellence for the industries "cool" agencies ignore
- Headlines:
  - "AI marketing for the industries the 'cool' agencies ignore"
  - "Your industry isn't sexy. Your marketing can be."
  - "Finally: AI marketing that speaks manufacturer."
- Psychology: These business owners feel dismissed by the marketing world.
  Being seen and valued triggers loyalty and trust.
- Best for: Landing page hero, brand messaging, LinkedIn content

### The Speed Weapon
- Framework: Speed/Convenience
- Core message: Agency-quality marketing in days, not months
- Headlines:
  - "What takes agencies 3 months, we ship in 3 weeks"
  - "You've fired enough marketing agencies. Try the one that delivers in days."
  - "Get weeks of work done in days — at a fraction of the cost."
- Psychology: Time-to-value is the #1 frustration with agencies.
  Speed + cost savings is a rational-emotional double trigger.
- Best for: Ads, comparison landing pages, sales emails

### The Revenue Ceiling Breaker
- Framework: Transformation + Emotional Framing
- Core message: Stop leaving money on the table from slow responses and missed leads
- Headlines:
  - "From hoping the phone rings to controlling when it rings"
  - "Every hour you wait to respond, a competitor wins the job"
  - "Turn your $4M business into a $6M business — with the leads you already get"
- Psychology: Loss aversion — showing revenue they're already losing
  is more motivating than promising new revenue.
- Best for: Lead magnets (calculators), email sequences, retargeting ads

Business Type Reference

For industry-specific positioning patterns (proven angles, unique challenges, and pitfalls by business type), see:

skills/positioning-angles/references/business-type-angles.md

Covers 4 business types: Info/Education, Consulting/Agency, E-commerce, and SaaS — each with battle-tested angle patterns from real-world examples.