# The Positioning Playbook

> The exact process we've used with 150+ B2B businesses to go from 'we do lots of things' to 'we're the obvious choice'. Step by step.

Positioning is not a tagline. It's not a mission statement. It's the strategic decision about where you play, who you serve, and why you win. Get it wrong and everything downstream — your website, your content, your sales conversations — falls apart.

Most B2B businesses have a positioning problem they've misdiagnosed as a marketing problem. They're spending money on ads, content, and agencies, wondering why nothing moves the needle. The answer is almost always the same: nobody can articulate why anyone should choose you.

**Step 1: Define Your ICP (And Mean It)**

'We work with SMEs' is not an ICP. 'We help B2B SaaS companies with £2-10M ARR who've outgrown their founder-led sales model' — that's an ICP. The more specific you get, the more powerful your positioning becomes. If you're afraid of narrowing down, you haven't found your positioning yet.

**Step 2: Map The Landscape**

List every alternative your buyer considers — including doing nothing. Not just direct competitors. The status quo is your biggest competitor and most businesses forget to position against it.

**Step 3: Find Your Actual Differentiators**

Not what you think makes you different. What your best customers say makes you different. Call five of them. Ask: 'Why did you choose us over the alternatives?' The answer is your positioning.

**Step 4: Write Your Positioning Statement**

For [ICP], who [key problem], [your company] is the [category] that [key benefit], unlike [alternatives] who [their weakness]. This isn't for your website. It's your internal compass. Every piece of marketing should be traceable back to this.

**Step 5: Build The Messaging Hierarchy**

Your positioning statement feeds three things: (1) a headline — the simplest articulation of your value, (2) a value proposition — the expanded version with proof, (3) supporting messages — the detail that backs it up across different buyer concerns.

**Step 6: Test It**

Put your new positioning in front of 10 prospects who don't know you. If they immediately understand what you do and why it matters, you've nailed it. If they look confused or say 'so you're like [competitor]?', iterate.

Canonical: https://potentpositioning.com/resources/positioning-playbook