Start from the alternative the buyer already has, then earn a category — not a slogan.
April Dunford positioning (from Obviously Awesome) is a five-component process for products that already exist. You do not start with a vision statement. You start with the thing the buyer would use if you disappeared, then work forward to value, customer, and category. Use it when a launched product is losing deals to “we already have X.”
Competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value (translated attributes), target customers who care, and market category. The order matters. Category last. If you pick the aisle first, you invent a story the sales call cannot defend.
Scribe sold content analytics and kept losing to “we have GA4.” Dunford forced a CRM-attribution frame instead of a vague AI aisle.
Scribe (content performance analytics)
| Field | Filled |
|---|---|
| Alternative | GA4 + an agency retainer |
| Unique attribute | URL-to-Salesforce opportunity join |
| Value | Prove which articles created pipeline |
| Best-fit customer | VP Marketing, mid-market B2B SaaS |
| Category | Content performance analytics |
Write what they use today: a spreadsheet, an agency, a rival, or doing nothing. If you cannot name it, you do not have positioning yet.
Capabilities you can demo this quarter that the alternative cannot copy in a quarter. Features everyone has do not go here.
Each unique thing must become an outcome a VP can say in a forecast meeting. “AI-powered” is not value.
The best-fit accounts are the ones who feel that value as pain this quarter — not the whole TAM.
Pick the aisle those customers already shop. Invented categories lose the room unless you have the budget to teach a new one.
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Starting with a category name | Category is output, not input. Alternatives first. |
| Ten unique attributes | Three you can demo. The rest is a feature list. |
| Target = “enterprise” | Name the role and the trigger that starts the search. |
No. Dunford is a process for finding the frame. Moore is a sentence that records the frame. Run Dunford, then fill the statement template.
A half-day with the people who hear objections, plus one follow-up to pressure-test the category. See the workshop agenda.
No. The alternative is then “do nothing” or a manual process. That is still a competitor.