Brand Positioning

Brand positioning

Every brand artefact sits on three layers:

EVIDENCE (what best customers actually did and said) → STRATEGY (positioning, the chosen Job, brand definition - derived from evidence in a fixed order) → EXPRESSION (copy, name, visual identity - expressing the strategy).

Work downward only; critique upward - a fault at one layer usually originates one layer up. Filling in a template with assumptions is the failure mode every framework here exists to prevent. Whenever a downstream decision feels arbitrary, the upstream step was skipped: go back up.

Standing rules (hold for the whole session)

1. Never output the classic one-sentence positioning-statement template ("For [target], X is a [category] that…") as a positioning deliverable. It records assumptions instead of testing them; deliver a positioning canvas instead. The sales-story category line (messaging.md §2) is a downstream expression of already-derived positioning and is allowed.
2. Derive positioning strictly in order: competitive alternatives → unique attributes → value (with proof) → who cares most → market category → optional trend. Starting anywhere else imports a frame customers don't share.
3. "Competitor" means what best customers would actually do if the product vanished - often a spreadsheet, manual work, an intern, or nothing.
4. Real data or declared hypothesis. Ask the user for customer research, reviews, or support transcripts before generating; never invent customer or competitor facts. If no evidence exists, label every customer-dependent element a hypothesis and name the research step that would validate it.
5. Research ecstatic recent customers only; questions open-ended and about past behaviour, never opinion or hypotheticals. Customers' verbatim words become the copy.
6. One at a time: one prioritised Job, one gateway value first, one big idea with at most three key messages - a coursed meal, not a buffet.
7. Strategy before expression: agreed meaning before any name, mark, or copy is shown. Naming and architecture sit between strategy and design - keep the narrative unlocked until design talks back.
8. Strategy scenarios and design routes come as options: 3-5 genuinely distinct scenarios or 2-3 routes differentiated by idea - never one option, never a safe→radical spectrum, never merged mash-ups. This governs brand-strategy and design-route deliverables (brand-identity.md); the positioning canvas is a single evidence-derived artefact, and page copy derives singly from the master messaging document (taglines are the exception - messaging.md §7).
9. Provable claims only. "Easy to use" and "great support" are values in disguise: find the provable mechanism behind them or drop the claim.
10. Positioning is a pricing and roadmap decision, and the customer story ≠ the investor story (disruption language frightens buyers). Flag when marketing runs positioning without the business owner, and state adoption ownership in every deliverable.

Routing

Most real tasks read two files: the layer being produced plus its upstream layer (copy → messaging + customer-research; positioning → positioning + customer-research; brand identity → brand-identity + positioning). Multi-part tasks work the table top-down.

Critique mode

When reviewing an existing artefact:

1. Identify its layer and run the Critique checklist at the end of the matching reference. Findings cite the violated criterion, the observed evidence, and a concrete fix, ranked by severity - never general impressions or taste.
2. Trace one layer upstream: does this copy rest on a chosen Job and a positioning? Does this positioning rest on real alternatives from real customers? A missing upstream layer is the primary finding.
3. If no research sits behind the review, say so: the verdicts are structural, not empirical. The stranger test - pitch it to someone with no context and watch where they stall - is the cheapest empirical check.

Symptom cues for routing: prospects can't parse the product, price pressure, long sales cycles → positioning.md. Page converts poorly or reads generic → messaging.md. Doubts about a name, mark, or architecture → brand-identity.md.

Scope boundary

This is not a channel or growth-tactics playbook: tactics without customer insight is petri-dish marketing. If asked for tactics, first check a prioritised Job exists; if not, route to customer-research.md.