How To Develop Positioning That Resonates
15 Sept 2024
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Thought Leadership
Defining your positioning is essentially an exercise in defining who your company serves, how you will serve them, and why they should care about you.
It's the first step in creating a go-to-market strategy, and it'll serve as the foundation for what you'll need to do to find product-market fit and scale your SaaS business.
For that, we'll take the following steps:
Define your target audience
Develop your messaging
Craft your story
We'll go over each one individually below. 👇
1) Define your target audience
We can only know what to say if we know who we're talking to, which is why the first step is to define the target audience. We can do it in three steps:
A) Identify the type of company that would benefit the most from using your product:
These are commonly referred to as ICP companies, which represent your ideal customer profile.
This can be a simple assumption, or you can find this out by doing customer research or by looking at your 10 best customers and identifying similarities among them.
Examples of firmographic criteria: company size, location(s), sector, what tools they use, what kind of product they sell, bootstrapped vs. VC-backed, market size, etc.
B) Identify the buying committee:
Who might be involved in, or have an influence over, the purchase and use of your product?
Don't just consider those who might impact the decision-making process. Consider those who, regardless of their level of seniority, may suggest using the product internally.
Examples of buying committee members: budget holders, influencers, decision-makers, and users. Some personas may assume different roles simultaneously.
C) Identify the target persona:
You need to choose the persona(s) you want to target from the buying committee.
Essentially, who do you want to speak with?
You can choose to target multiple personas at the same time, but I would strongly advise focusing on just one as a starting point and keeping the process simple.
Examples of persona criteria: job title, seniority, function, team leader vs. IC, team size, who they report to, job changes, etc.
2) Develop your messaging
You probably have a lot to say, but how can you structure it so that it resonates with the persona to whom you're speaking?
You can structure your messaging in three to four major steps:
A) Define your value proposition:
Who do you help, what do you help them with, and how do you help them? Think of this as your short elevator pitch.
The following example is from a mileage tracking app where I was the Marketing Lead.
Example: Autotrip helps field sales teams claim their mileage expenses by automatically tracking their trips.
We help X = field sales team
Do Y = claim mileage expenses
By Z = automatically track their trips
B) Define your positioning:
How do you differentiate yourself from others? What's the unique benefit of using your product that your prospects can't get elsewhere?
Remember that positioning is always defined from the perspective of your prospects. This is why defining your target audience as the first step in the process is critical.
Example: Our mobile app is the only mileage tracking software that accurately tracks every single mile you drive.
Our Offering = mobile app
Is the only one in the Category = mileage tracking software
that offers Unique Benefits = Accurately tracks every single mile
C) Flesh out your messaging pillars:
These are the three major themes, benefits, or selling points that make your product unique, as well as the talking points that support them, which are typically product features.
In other words, how do you deliver the unique benefit that your prospects cannot obtain elsewhere?
Example: How does Autotrip ensure that every single mile driven is accurately tracked, which is its unique benefit?
Automatic trip edition: the app automatically patches and edits trips when the signal is lost.
It's based in the UK: there's a local support team that ensures the app is always HMRC compliant.
It comes with a physical device: it's always on, and it's compatible with any vehicle.
For 90% of SaaS businesses, simply defining this would be sufficient; however, if you want to create an irresistible proposition, you must also craft a story that demonstrates why prospects should care about all of this now, which is not addressed by the above.
3) Craft a compelling story
We've defined your target audience and how we can help them, but why should they care?
This is where having a compelling story comes into play. You need to tell a story that persuades your prospects that now, not tomorrow, is the time to act.
The status quo and resistance to change will be your strongest adversaries, not your competitors.
You must show your prospects that the world is changing and that new behaviors are required to succeed. That is the most effective way to instill urgency in your prospects and get them to act.
There are numerous storytelling frameworks available for this, but I recommend using Andy Raskin's narrative.
Here's a short example for Autotrip if the app was still available in 2022:
Growth at any cost is no longer an option, and field sales teams must now be efficient in order to thrive. Those who automate admin work so they can spend more time selling will be the ones succeeding in this new environment. This is where Autotrip comes in.
In the old days, sales reps could afford to spend half a day manually logging their trips in a spreadsheet. But in this new world, sales reps can install a GPS device in their vehicles that does all of the work for them. In this way, sales reps can reclaim half a day per week for what truly matters. Sales.
This is exactly how we helped ClientXYZ increase productivity by 20% and sales by 10% in 6 months while every other sales team was cutting headcount, and we might be able to help you achieve the same.
As you can see, we're building a story based on the previous work we did in defining our target audience and how we can best help them.
When you have an external speaking engagement, an internal all-hands meeting, or an investor presentation, you now have a story to tell to begin the conversation and situate the need for your product and why it was built the way it was.
Multiple versions of the same story are also possible. You can connect it to a personal experience of yours or one of your customers. What matters is that you find a way to demonstrate that you have a strong why and that your story is relatable to your audience.
4) What now?
With the above in place, you can now clearly articulate what your SaaS business does and why people should care about it.
You now have the foundation in place to create a compelling website and sales collateral, develop an opinionated content marketing strategy, and start reaching out to your prospects more effectively.
If you'd like to use this process to define your company's positioning or want to discuss this topic in general, please reach out to Nuno via LinkedIn or email, or book a free consultation call with him.
