alexe-ev Define Strategic Positioning
Purpose
Help teams make deliberate choices about where to play and how to win — translating product-market fit insights and competitive context into a positioning that guides strategy, roadmap, and GTM decisions.
Skill type
Conceptual skill
Use this skill when
- The product is trying to be everything to everyone and losing focus
- Strategy discussions lack a clear "who we're for and who we're not for"
- A positioning review is needed before a major investment or launch
- Competitive pressure requires sharpening the market position
Do not use this skill when
- The goal is customer-facing messaging and copy (use develop-positioning-messaging)
- The goal is competitive analysis (use analyze-competitive-landscape)
Required inputs
- Target segment (or candidate segments)
- Product capabilities and strengths
- Business goals
Optional inputs
- Product-market fit assessment
- Competitive landscape
- Win/loss data
- ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) definition
Upstream context
Works best when:
- Vision and mission are defined
- PMF assessment exists
- Competitive landscape is mapped
If upstream context is missing
Produce a positioning hypothesis clearly labeled as assumed. List what data would validate or refute it.
Downstream handoff
Output can feed:
- frame-competitive-differentiation (positioning informs differentiation story)
- develop-positioning-messaging (internal positioning → external messaging)
- build-portfolio-roadmap-strategy (positioning constrains portfolio choices)
Instructions
- Identify the target segment (be specific — who is this for, and who is it explicitly not for).
- Identify the frame of reference (what category or alternative does the product compete with?).
- Identify the point of differentiation (what makes this the right choice for the target segment?).
- Identify the reason to believe (what evidence supports the differentiation claim?).
- Draft a positioning statement using: "For [segment], [product] is the [category] that [differentiation] because [reason to believe]."
- Stress-test: does this positioning exclude the wrong customers and include the right ones?
Output
Provide:
- Target segment (with explicit exclusions)
- Frame of reference
- Point of differentiation
- Reason to believe
- Positioning statement
- Positioning trade-offs (what this positioning sacrifices)
- Confidence level: provisional / context-informed / validated
Risks / caveats
- Positioning that tries to include every segment has no real position
- The point of differentiation must be something the target segment actually cares about
- Positioning is a strategic choice, not a description — it requires saying no to things