The co-working kitchen smelled faintly of burnt toast and whiteboard ink. A founder fielded the classic breakfast question, so what do you do? Three minutes later we had heard features, funding, roadmaps and a nod to AI. A designer at the table paused, then said, you help chefs order produce without phone calls. Heads nodded. That was the line that stuck. A positioning statement exists to make that moment happen on purpose.
What a positioning statement is, and why it matters
A positioning statement is one or two sentences that set your place in a buyer’s mind. It is not a slogan. It is an internal tool that anchors decisions about product, pricing, messaging and where to focus. Good positioning reduces waste. It spares your team from chasing every audience and saying yes to every feature. It gives customers a reason to remember you when the real decision arrives.
A simple scaffold you can use
For [specific audience] who [context or problem], [brand or product] is the [category] that [primary benefit], because [proof or differentiator].
Write this in plain language. Avoid jargon you would not use in a lift. Then tune each bracket so it reflects real moments and real evidence.
Audience and context
Pick a tight slice. Not adults, not small business, but the person at a specific moment. Examples may include new parents who get groceries up two flights, or cafe owners who order at closing time. A clear moment trims needless words and points your benefit at something people actually feel.
Category
Name the shelf where you want to live. Use the words buyers already use. Coffee subscription, not beverage experience platform. If you invent a category, you take on the cost of teaching it before you sell it. Most young brands do better by choosing a familiar shelf and standing out on benefit and proof.
Benefit
Choose one practical outcome. Save time, reduce errors, sleep better, more space at home, fewer returns. Pick the thing people notice after using you once or twice. A focused benefit travels faster through word of mouth and sticks in a busy mind.
Proof
Back the benefit with something someone cannot copy overnight. It can be a mechanism, a policy, a resource or a promise you can keep. Examples include certified materials, same day support, a specialist network, proprietary data, a no questions asked return window, or a process other teams would find hard to build.
Working it from rough to ready
Start messy. Write three versions that change only one element at a time. Read each aloud. Cut any adjective that could apply to a rival. Keep verbs and nouns that describe what really happens.
Rough: For busy parents in small apartments who struggle with clutter, our storage service is the home organisation subscription that creates space without fuss, because we supply modular bins and pick up what you no longer need each month.
Now trim and sharpen the proof.
Tight: Home organisation for small apartments that swaps clutter for space, backed by modular bins and monthly pick ups you do not need to schedule.
The tight line reads closer to an external sentence. Keep both. Use the full scaffold internally to make choices. Lift the tight line into places where brevity helps, such as a website hero, a sales deck opener or a PR pitch.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
- Too broad. Fix it by narrowing to one moment or use case. When you try to speak to everyone, you give no one a memory hook.
- Feature soup. If your sentence lists functions, you have not named a benefit. Ask what the feature allows a person to do faster, cheaper or with less stress.
- Buzzword fog. Words like innovative, next generation and seamless do not earn trust. Swap them for concrete language that a buyer would use without thinking.
- Category confusion. If buyers cannot place you, they cannot compare you. Pick a known category, then specify the twist that makes you the right choice for your audience.
- Proof mismatch. If the proof does not support the benefit, it weakens both. Align them so the reader moves smoothly from need to outcome to evidence.
How to test it
- Rival test. Could a close competitor claim the same line tomorrow? If yes, strengthen the proof or tighten the audience.
- One breath test. Read it aloud. If you run out of air, it is doing too much. Split ideas, pick the strongest and cut the rest.
- Mirror test. Hand it to someone outside your team. Ask them to repeat it in their own words. Listen for drift. Rewrite until their version matches your intention.
- Moment test. Drop the line into a real buying moment, such as a cold email opener or the first sentence on a feature page. Watch for replies and questions that show understanding without extra context.
Where it goes to work
Use the statement to brief designers, guide sales training and shape product trade offs. It should influence pricing, packaging and which partnerships you pursue. It also helps hiring. Candidates can self select when they read a crisp statement of who you serve and why you exist.
Two short examples you can adapt
For independent cafes that lose time on supplier calls, our ordering app is the hospitality procurement tool that cuts admin and errors, because it standardises orders and syncs with accounting.
For midlife runners returning from injury, our physio led program is the training plan that rebuilds distance safely, because it blends strength sessions with weekly form checks.
These are plain, specific and testable. They point to moments and evidence that you can prove in a demo or a first visit.
A final check before you publish it internally
Keep it simple enough to fit on a sticky note near your monitor. If it feels almost too simple, you are close. Complexity often hides uncertainty. Clarity gives your team permission to say no. When the next brief lands, hold it against your statement. If the audience, category, benefit and proof do not line up, you have your answer.
Return to the breakfast table in your mind. You will know the statement is right when a stranger can repeat it, another can picture the moment it matters, and a third can see why you, not a rival, should win that work.
