Product Positioning Framework

April Dunford's "Obviously Awesome" methodology: a structured, repeatable process for defining how your product is the best in the world at delivering something a well-defined set of customers cares a lot about. Positioning determines what customers compare you to, which features they notice, and ultimately whether they buy.

Core Principle

Positioning is not messaging. Positioning is context.

Positioning defines the context within which customers evaluate your product -- what category they place you in, what alternatives they compare you against, and how they judge your value. Customers always evaluate relative to alternatives; there is no absolute product perception -- a product that seems expensive in one context seems cheap in another. Deliberately choose the context that makes your unique strengths obvious: get it right and messaging, sales, and pricing become dramatically easier; get it wrong and no amount of clever copywriting will save you.

Scoring

Goal: 10/10. Rate any product's positioning 0-10 using the bands below, and always state the current score with the specific improvements needed to reach 10/10.