The Positioning Framework That Changed How I Think About Products

I used to think positioning was just "how you describe your product." Then I read April Dunford's Obviously Awesome and realized I had it completely backwards.

Positioning isn't a tagline. It's not your homepage hero text. It's the context you set that determines how people perceive everything else about your product.

The Five Components

Dunford's framework breaks positioning into five interconnected components:

1. Competitive Alternatives — What would customers use if you didn't exist?
2. Unique Attributes — What features do you have that alternatives don't?
3. Value — What benefit do those unique attributes enable?
4. Target Customer — Who cares most about that value?
5. Market Category — What frame of reference makes your value obvious?

The order matters. You can't determine your market category until you know who values your uniqueness.

Why Most Positioning Fails

Most founders start with the market category. "We're a CRM for small business." Then they try to fit everything else into that box.

But what if small businesses don't actually care about your unique features? What if your real value resonates more with mid-market teams who've outgrown basic tools?

Starting with the category constrains your thinking before you've done the work.

Turning It Into an AI Skill

When we built the Positioning Expert skill, we didn't just summarize the book. We encoded the actual methodology:

• Step-by-step questions that force you through each component in order
• Real examples from companies that nailed (or failed) positioning
• Templates that capture the output in useful formats
• Anti-patterns so the AI knows what to avoid

The AI doesn't just know what positioning is. It knows how to help you do it well.

The Output Difference

Generic AI prompt: "Help me position my project management tool"

Response: A vague mission statement about "empowering teams to do their best work."

With the Positioning Expert skill loaded:

"Help me position my project management tool"

Response: A systematic walkthrough that uncovers your competitive alternatives (Asana? Spreadsheets? Nothing?), identifies your unique capabilities, maps them to specific customer value, and suggests a market category that makes your strengths obvious.

That's not theory. That's useful strategy.

The Positioning Expert skill is part of ClawFu's Strategy collection. Get access →