{"id":51704,"date":"2021-10-29T08:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=51704"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:20:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T16:20:28","slug":"product-positioning-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a Product Positioning Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-strategy\/\">product positioning<\/a> statement? What is the purpose of writing a product positioning statement for your business? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A product positioning statement is a description of your target customers and the value you provide to them. Marketing and sales teams use the product positioning statement to inform customer messaging and ensure all communication is consistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some tips on how to write an effective product positioning statement for your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Is Your Positioning Claim<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To design an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-successful-marketing-campaign\/\">marketing campaign<\/a>, you need to know what you want to communicate. Your message should be concise enough to pass the \u201celevator test,\u201d that is, to explain to a stranger during an elevator ride.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A successful elevator pitch implies your message can be conveyed effectively by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/word-of-mouth-marketing-strategy\/\">word of mouth<\/a>. Furthermore, it\u2019s simple enough to give customers and partner companies a clear picture of your product, so customers know what to expect and partners can see how your product would complement theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Has the Elevator Pitch Become Irrelevant?<\/strong><br><br>In his book <em>To Sell is Human<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/to-sell-is-human\/part-3\">Daniel Pink argues that the \u201celevator sales pitch\u201d is no longer relevant<\/a>. If Pink is right, then Moore\u2019s elevator test becomes more of a hypothetical test instead of a practical one.<br><br>Pink argues that the elevator pitch was designed to present condensed information to influential people who were difficult to gain a formal audience with long enough for a full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-presentation\/\">sales presentation<\/a>. However, according to Pink, executives are more accessible today, but are also overloaded with information. Thus, modern executives find impromptu, information-dense presentations both unnecessary and overwhelming.<br><br>This does not undermine Moore\u2019s point that your message needs to be simple and clear enough to be communicated by word of mouth, but if the format of effective word-of-mouth messages is changing, that could have implications for how you present your message.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Writing Your Product Positioning Statement<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Moore advises you to make a simple and definitive positioning claim for your product. He clarifies that your claim is not a slogan for your ad campaign, but rather a reference message that you design all of your marketing communications to agree with. He suggests you develop your claim by answering the following questions, expressing your answers in two or three sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What is your product name?<\/li><li>Who are your target customers?<\/li><li>What is your target customer\u2019s compelling reason to buy your product?<\/li><li>What is the market alternative you are seeking to displace?<\/li><li>What is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-alternatives\/\">product alternative<\/a>?<\/li><li>How are you as a company credible and reliable?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Template for a Product Positioning Statement<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/pitch-anything\/1-page-summary\"><em>Pitch Anything<\/em><\/a>, Oren Klaff recommends <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/pitch-anything\/chapter-4\">introducing your product with a standardized statement <\/a>to the effect of \u201cFor [you target customers] who are unsatisfied with [the market alternative], [your product name] provides [the customer\u2019s compelling reason to buy]. Unlike [the product alternative], [your product name] provides [these key features].\u201d<br><br>A statement like this concisely captures your answers to Moore\u2019s position questions, and Moore\u2019s theory tracks closely to this template, providing a straightforward and clear way to communicate the most important aspects of your product..<br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-1-page-marketing-plan\"><em>The One-Page Marketing Plan<\/em><\/a>, Allan Dib provides a similar template for creating what he calls a \u201cUnique Selling Proposition,\u201d or USP. Dib emphasizes that a concise problem-solution statement that compares your product to the alternative is important for effective positioning.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a product positioning statement? What is the purpose of writing a product positioning statement for your business? A product positioning statement is a description of your target customers and the value you provide to them. Marketing and sales teams use the product positioning statement to inform customer messaging and ensure all communication is consistent. Here are some tips on how to write an effective product positioning statement for your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,104,103],"tags":[512],"class_list":["post-51704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-marketing","category-sales","tag-crossing-the-chasm","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Create a Product Positioning Statement - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A product positioning statement is a key element of your marketing strategy. Here are some tips on how to write one for your business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Create a Product Positioning Statement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A product positioning statement is a key element of your marketing strategy. Here are some tips on how to write one for your business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T12:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T16:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-office-business-smile-person.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"How to Create a Product Positioning Statement\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-29T12:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T16:20:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\"},\"wordCount\":564,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-office-business-smile-person.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Crossing the Chasm\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Marketing\",\"Sales\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/\",\"name\":\"How to Create a Product Positioning Statement - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-positioning-statement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-office-business-smile-person.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-29T12:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T16:20:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"A product positioning statement is a key element of your marketing strategy. 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