Frequently asked questions (FAQ).

A positioning document is an internal strategic framework that defines how a company or product wants to be perceived by its target market in comparison to its competitors. The positioning framework typically covers:

• Target audience: The targeted group of people or businesses the product serves.
• Market Category: The industry space or category where the offering competes. For example Data Optimization.
• Unique Value and Benefits: The primary advantage that the vendor delivers, via products and/or services.
• Differentiation: The advantages this vendor and its products bring to market that differentiate them from their competition - this is the distinct reason why customers should choose this option over alternatives.

A positioning document creates strategic unity, message coherence wherever buyers encounter you, faster execution because the brief is already written, and a clear reason to choose you over the alternatives.

• Internal Alignment: Keeps marketing, sales, and product teams on the same page.
• Messaging Foundation: Acts as a baseline for creating external slogans, campaigns, and content (in alignment with a unified story).
• Decision Filter: Helps teams decide which features to build or how to price products based on core values.

A complete positioning document typically covers:

• Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Ideal Partner Profile (IPP)
• Buyer and user personas
• Relevant verticals and segments
• Company trust signals: certifications, awards, background, expertise
• Brand overview and voice
• Product name and category
• Target customer segmentation
• Compelling reasons to buy
• Competitive alternatives and how you compare
• Differentiated features and capabilities
• Value proposition
• Messaging guidance and guidelines

The depth and format depend on your stage. An early-stage startup needs a different document than a Series B company preparing for a category-defining launch.

The Value Proposition Canvas is a framework for ensuring your product actually fits your customer's needs. It has two sides.

Customer Profile: what jobs your customer is trying to do, what pains they experience, and what gains they're hoping for.

Value Map: what products and services you offer, which pain relievers you provide, and which gain creators you enable.

Fit happens when your value map directly addresses the customer profile. Positioning work is largely the work of finding, articulating, and proving that fit.

In practice for product positioning: the PMM usually owns the positioning document; positioning itself is usually co-owned by the PMM and product manager or head of product.

For the company - value proposition usually is based on the brand, the mission and vision, company values and the product suite offered. All of this should ideally be included inside the positioning document as well. But, things get sticky here sometimes depending on how your business is organized and who's on which team etc. In any case, the positioning itself is typically a collaborative effort between the founders or head of the company and the marketing leaders, including product marketing. This cross-functional output requires sign-off from product, marketing, sales, and leadership.

For early-stage, regardless of the "kind" of positioning, I firmly believe the PMM should run the process, synthesizes the inputs, writes the document, and maintains it as the company evolves. At early-stage companies without a PMM, the founder usually owns it by default, which works until it doesn't. The positioning document is often the first thing a founding PMM inherits and the first thing they have to fix.

Finally, for any kind of positioning, critical stakeholders should always be involved in the collaboration and discussions: Sales/Revenue, customer success, and so on.

A positioning document should be a living, breathing document, reviewed at minimum twice a year, and revisited any time the market shifts significantly, a major competitor moves, you expand into a new segment, a product pivot changes what you're actually selling, and yes - even when you release a significant product or a major (Tier 1) feature.

If your positioning document was written more than 18 months ago and hasn't been touched, assume it needs work - but more importantly - assume the teams need updates in order to stay aligned with the direction the company is taking.