Why do some B2B products take off while others, even those with superior features, struggle to gain traction? The difference often isn’t in the product itself but in its positioning.
As April Dunford, world-leading B2B product positioning expert, explains:
“When we get positioning wrong, everything sucks. And when we get it right, we all make all kinds of money.”
In today’s crowded B2B marketplace, effective product positioning isn’t just a marketing exercise—it’s the foundation that drives every aspect of your go-to-market strategy, from marketing messages to sales conversations to product development priorities.
This comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know about B2B product positioning to transform how your product is perceived in the market and drive sustainable revenue growth.
What Is B2B Product Positioning (And Why It’s Essential)
Before diving into the how-to, let’s clarify what B2B product positioning is—and what it isn’t.
April Dunford offers a clear definition:
“Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering some value that a well-defined set of companies care a lot about.”
Positioning encompasses:
- What alternatives your product competes against
- How your product is different from those alternatives
- What unique value your product delivers that others can’t
- Who cares deeply about that value
- What market category you intend to win
Unlike its consumer counterpart, B2B product positioning isn’t just about creating catchy taglines or eye-catching advertisements. It’s about creating clarity for potential buyers who often navigate complex purchase decisions involving multiple stakeholders.
When B2B product positioning is done right, it:
- Accelerates the sales cycle by making your value obvious to potential buyers
- Improves marketing effectiveness by ensuring all communications are aligned and resonant
- Enables premium pricing based on your differentiated value
- Reduces the “no decision” problem (which accounts for about 40% of lost B2B sales)
- Creates internal alignment across product, marketing, and sales teams
Dunford states:
“Really, really great positioning just feels like, ‘Yeah, it’s so clear. It’s so simple. Of course that’s what it is. Of course. And of course we need one of those.'”
The 5 Critical Components of Effective B2B Product Positioning
Powerful B2B product positioning consists of five essential components that build upon each other logically. Understanding each component will help you create positioning that resonates with your target market and drives purchasing decisions.
1. Competitive Alternatives
The first and often overlooked component of effective positioning is understanding what alternatives customers would choose if your solution didn’t exist. This includes not just direct competitors but also:
- Status quo solutions: The current methods customers use (spreadsheets, manual processes, hiring interns, etc.)
- Short-list alternatives: Other solutions that typically make it to the final decision stage
April Dunford emphasizes the importance of this step:
“Status quo is who you gotta beat. Competing with the intern is hard because the intern is very easy to use… But the intern is bad at a bunch of stuff. The intern makes mistakes. The intern quits on you. The intern doesn’t know the whole history of every interaction.”
Understanding these alternatives provides the foundation for articulating your differentiation.
2. Differentiated Capabilities and Value
Once you’ve identified what you’re positioning against, you need to articulate:
- Unique capabilities: What features, functionalities, or company capabilities do you have that alternatives don’t?
- Differentiated value: How do those capabilities translate into valuable outcomes for customers?
Importantly, this value must be something that your alternatives can’t deliver. As Dunford notes:
“Take a customer’s viewpoint on this. Let’s think about how customers buy… Nobody’s gonna just go back to their VP and say, ‘I just like the rep better, man.’ You’ve got to go back and tell your boss why you made a smart choice.”
Your positioning must justify why choosing you over alternatives is the smart decision.
3. Best-Fit Customers
Not every potential customer will value your differentiation equally. The third component is identifying the characteristics of organizations that will care deeply about your unique value.
As Dunford explains:
“Sometimes what you’ll find is, ‘Oh, these folks over here love me this way, and these folks over here love me this way.’ There’s some commonality in that.”
By defining these characteristics (industry, company size, specific tech stack, particular business processes, etc.), you create a profile of your ideal customer that marketing and sales can use to focus their efforts.
4. Market Category
The market category is the context in which customers understand your product. It shapes expectations about:
- What your product does
- What alternatives to compare you against
- What value to expect
- What price range is appropriate
Dunford describes this component as:
“What’s the context I position this thing in that makes my value kind of obvious to the people I’m going after?”
5. Relevant Trends
While not always included in positioning frameworks, contemporary best practices include identifying market trends that make your solution particularly relevant now.
Highlighting these trends can create urgency and demonstrate that your solution isn’t just valuable but timely.
Common B2B Product Positioning Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Even sophisticated B2B companies make positioning mistakes that can significantly impact their market success. Here are the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them:
Mistake #1: Assuming There’s Only One Way to Position Your Product
Many founders and product teams become so attached to their original vision that they miss opportunities for more effective positioning.
April Dunford shares a common scenario:
“The founder of the company gets an idea for a new product and it comes from their own pain… they make it, right? And then they’ll get a first version out and customers will say, ‘Well, I like this part and I don’t like this part.’ So they’ll add a bunch of new features… But customers are looking at it and they’re like, ‘Yeah, but isn’t it really more like [something else]?’ We are so close to it, we can’t see it.”
How to avoid it: Remain open to different positioning possibilities, especially based on how customers use and value your product.
Mistake #2: Misidentifying Your True Competition
Many B2B companies focus exclusively on direct competitors with similar features while overlooking the “status quo” solutions that often represent the biggest competition.
Dunford provides this example:
“We just lose to no decision. No decision. So, but the customer still has the problem. So how are they solving it? ‘Oh, they’re just using a spreadsheet, or they’re hiring an intern to do it.’ So your real competition is the intern.”
How to avoid it: Always include the status quo in your competitive analysis and ensure your positioning addresses why customers should change from their current solution.
Mistake #3: Treating Positioning as a Marketing Department Project
When positioning is delegated solely to the marketing team, it often fails to gain traction across the organization.
Dunford explains:
“We cannot do positioning as a little project in the marketing department. If we do that, it will fail. The founder has an idea what the positioning is, but then you go to the marketing department and it’s a little bit different… And then you sit in on the sales pitch and that’s a little bit different again. And then you walk over to the product team and they’re thinking about it slightly differently.”
How to avoid it: Make positioning a cross-functional exercise involving product, marketing, sales, customer success, and executive leadership to ensure organizational alignment.
Mistake #4: Positioning for the Wrong Customer
Sometimes companies position themselves for customers who might like their product but aren’t the best fit for their solution.
How to avoid it: Focus your positioning on customers who will derive the most significant value from your unique capabilities, not just any customer who might buy.
Mistake #5: Creating Positioning That’s Too Generic
Generic positioning that could apply to multiple products doesn’t help customers understand why they should choose you specifically.
How to avoid it: Be specific about your unique value and how it helps particular customers solve specific problems in ways your competitors can’t.
A Step-by-Step Framework for Developing Your B2B Product Positioning
Now that we understand the components and common mistakes, let’s explore a methodical approach to developing effective B2B product positioning.
Step 1: Identify Your Competitive Alternatives
Begin by answering the question: “What do we have to beat in order to win a deal?”
This includes:
- Status quo solutions: What are customers currently using to solve their problem?
- Short-list alternatives: What other solutions typically reach the final decision stage?
Document both the status quo and likely short-list competitors for a complete picture of what you’re positioning against.
Step 2: Identify Your Differentiators
Next, list the capabilities that differentiate your product from the alternatives you identified in Step 1. These could include:
- Product features and functionality
- Performance characteristics
- Business model differences
- Company capabilities (support, implementation, domain expertise)
- Ecosystem advantages
For each capability, document how it’s different from what alternatives offer.
Step 3: Determine Your Value Themes
Translate your differentiators into customer value by asking: “So what? Why does this matter to customers?”
Dunford describes this process:
“We have this great feature, so what? Like, why does a customer care about it? What is the value that feature enables? And when I do that mapping over to value, what generally happens is I end up with two or three value buckets or value themes.”
These value themes should represent outcomes customers care about and that alternatives can’t deliver as effectively.
Step 4: Define Your Best-Fit Customers
Next, identify the characteristics of customers who care deeply about the value you deliver. As Dunford notes:
“What are the characteristics of a target account that make them really, really care a lot about that value?”
These characteristics might include:
- Industry
- Company size or growth stage
- Geographic location
- Business model
- Organizational structure
- Technology environment
- Specific business processes
- Regulatory requirements
The goal is to create a specific profile to guide marketing and sales efforts.
Step 5: Choose Your Market Category
Finally, determine how to frame your product within the market. This could involve:
- Positioning within an established category
- Creating a subcategory
- Defining a new category
Dunford explains:
“The best market category is the context I position my product in such that this value is kind of obvious to these people.”
Your category choice should make your unique value obvious to your best-fit customers.
The Power of Cross-Functional Alignment
To implement this framework effectively, gather representatives from sales, marketing, product, customer success, and executive leadership. Each brings a valuable perspective:
- Sales: Understands what happens in the trenches with customers and competitors
- Product: Has deep knowledge of capabilities and differentiators
- Marketing: Understands how to communicate value effectively
- Customer Success: Knows what value customers actually realize
- Executives: Provide strategic context and decision-making authority
As Dunford advises: “If we’re going to do positioning well and then actually have that positioning stick and get adopted the way we want it to across the company… it needs to be a group effort. It’s a team sport.”
How to Tell if Your B2B Product Positioning Is Working
Unlike many marketing initiatives, the impact of effective positioning can be difficult to measure directly. However, several signals suggest that your positioning is on target—or needs work.
Signs Your B2B Product Positioning Is Working
- Prospects quickly understand your value: They “get it” without extensive explanation
- Sales cycles shorten: Decisions happen faster because your value is clear
- Win rates improve: You convert more opportunities, especially against specific competitors
- Price sensitivity decreases: Customers focus on value rather than cost
- Marketing content performs better: Higher engagement rates across channels
- Internal alignment improves: Sales, marketing, and product teams tell the same story
Signs Your B2B Product Positioning Needs Work
April Dunford identifies several red flags that indicate positioning problems:
- Confusion during sales calls: “You’ll hear things like customer comes on, your sales rep comes on… and they’ll get a certain way through the pitch and you can see the customer’s just like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just back it up and pitch it to me again.'”
- Mistaken identity: “You’ll get people say, ‘Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re just like Salesforce.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, actually, no, we’re nothing like Salesforce.'”
- Value disconnect: “People will say, ‘Well, I get it. I mean, I totally get it. I totally get what you do. I just don’t get why anyone would pay for that. I can do that in a spreadsheet.'”
- High rates of “no decision”: When prospects understand your offering but don’t see enough value to change from status quo
- Post-purchase disappointment: Customers churn because the product doesn’t deliver what positioning promised
If you notice these signals, it’s time to revisit your positioning.
Translating B2B Product Positioning into Revenue-Driving Sales Narratives
Even the best positioning fails if it isn’t translated into compelling sales narratives that sales teams can use in customer conversations.
From Positioning to Sales Narrative
Dunford recommends creating a storyboard that outlines:
- The opening context: Market trends that make your solution relevant
- The problem statement: Challenges your best-fit customers face
- Current approaches: How alternatives (including status quo) fall short
- Your approach: How you solve the problem differently
- Proof points: Evidence that your approach delivers superior value
- Call to action: Clear next steps for the prospect
This narrative should be documented as a pitch deck, demo script, or other resources that sales teams can adapt for customer conversations.
The Help Scout Example
Dunford provides a real-world example with Help Scout, a customer success platform competing in a crowded market dominated by Zendesk:
“The way Help Scout delivers the story, if you come in, you’re a qualified prospect, it starts with this idea that customer success is a growth driver. Like modern e-commerce companies see customer success as a way to deepen customer relationships, increase repeat buying, show it as a growth driver. And they have a bunch of great stats that prove that this is true.”
“And then they go, ‘Look, look at all your other alternatives. All your other alternatives treat your people like a number. They give them a number. They try to drive them to low-cost channels. They try to do these things. They are not treating this like a growth driver. They’re treating it like a cost center.'”
This narrative directly connects Help Scout’s differentiators to its target customers’ priorities, making the value obvious.
When to Revise Your B2B Product Positioning
Positioning isn’t a one-and-done exercise. Several triggers should prompt you to revisit and potentially revise your positioning:
1. Early-Stage Product Evolution
Your initial positioning for new products is just a thesis that needs validation. Dunford uses a fishing analogy to explain:
“It’s like I designed a fishing net. And my thesis is this thing’s amazing for tuna. It’s a tuna fishing net. So I could launch that and say, ‘It’s just for tuna, only tuna. Don’t use it if it’s not tuna.’ But maybe it works for tuna, maybe it doesn’t, right? A better way I think is we know internally that it’s the tuna fishing net. That’s why we built it. But let’s just, at the beginning, let’s put it out there and keep it a little loose.”
Keep positioning somewhat flexible for early-stage products and watch for patterns in who adopts your product and why.
2. Significant Product Changes
Major feature additions, product expansions, or pivots may require repositioning to reflect your new capabilities and value accurately.
3. Competitive Landscape Shifts
When new competitors enter your market or existing competitors reposition themselves, you may need to adjust your positioning to maintain differentiation.
4. Market Evolution
Changes in customer priorities, industry regulations, or technology trends can create opportunities for new positioning angles.
5. Growth Plateaus
If growth stalls despite effective execution, your positioning may no longer resonate with your target market.
As Dunford notes:
“Positioning is somewhat like messaging in some ways in that it’s not a static thing. It changes over time. Your product itself, it doesn’t stay the same. The market doesn’t stay the same, and so things will shift over time.”
Regularly reviewing your positioning—ideally annually, but sometimes more frequently in dynamic markets—ensures it continues to drive revenue growth.
Communicating Your B2B Product Positioning Through Educational Content
Once you’ve established your positioning, educational content becomes one of the most powerful vehicles for communicating it to your target market. This is especially true for complex B2B solutions where the purchase decision involves multiple stakeholders and extensive research.
The Role of Educational Email Courses
Educational email courses are particularly effective for reinforcing B2B product positioning because they:
- Build trust over time: Multiple touchpoints establish your expertise and understanding of customer challenges
- Educate on your differentiated value: Sequential lessons can progressively highlight the unique aspects of your approach
- Address objections methodically: Each email can tackle a specific concern or misconception
- Speak to multiple stakeholders: Different emails can address the priorities of different decision-makers
- Guide prospects through the decision process: From problem recognition to solution evaluation
When creating educational email courses that support your positioning:
- Start with content that establishes the problem context and why traditional approaches fall short
- Introduce your differentiated approach and the unique value it delivers
- Provide evidence and case studies that validate your positioning claims
- Address common objections that arise during the sales process
- Include content tailored to each key stakeholder in the purchase decision
Align All Content with Your Positioning
Beyond email courses, ensure all your content—blog posts, webinars, videos, case studies, sales enablement materials—consistently reinforces your positioning.
As Dunford emphasizes:
“If we’re going to fix this in a tech company, it needs to be a cross-functional exercise… because if they’re not, the positioning, you know, you might come up with gorgeous positioning. It’s never gonna stick.”
Educational content that consistently communicates your positioning helps create that alignment internally while also shaping market perception externally.
Conclusion: Positioning as a Strategic Advantage
In today’s crowded B2B marketplace, product positioning isn’t just a marketing exercise—it’s a strategic advantage that shapes how customers perceive, evaluate, and purchase your solution.
By following the framework outlined in this guide—identifying competitive alternatives, articulating differentiated value, defining best-fit customers, choosing your market category, and translating positioning into sales narratives—you can create positioning that makes your unique value obvious to the customers who care most about it.
As April Dunford says, “When we get it right, we all make all kinds of money.”
With thoughtful, deliberate positioning, your B2B product can stand out in even the most competitive markets, shortening sales cycles, commanding premium prices, and driving sustainable revenue growth.
Need help translating your B2B product positioning into educational content that resonates with your target audience? Contact us to learn how our ghostwritten educational email courses can help communicate your unique value to prospects and move them through the buyer’s journey.
Sources:
- Interviews with April Dunford on various podcasts, including The Business of Story and Lenny’s Podcast
- Dunford, April. “Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It.” (2019)
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