Here are 4 steps to building a positioning strategy + bringing it throughout your GTM:

In the spirit of being an “open source consultancy,” this the latest version of our positioning and messaging canvas.

Anyone who has followed us for some amount of time has probably seen various versions of this asset.

As we put these canvases through their paces, we inevitably find flaws in our logic and have to adjust accordingly.

This version solves a lot of problems of previous canvases we’ve built and includes some larger philosophical shifts.

For example, this canvas helps you build a true positioning narrative – with a one sentence explanation of your company, a longer elevator pitch, and then an even longer story that could be told on something like a homepage or in a sales deck.

This builds on recent updates to our methodology around the concept of “primary anchors” and “secondary anchors.” These have been a game changer with our last 20 to 30 clients.

Additionally, we’ve moved from a “capability-first” messaging approach to a “differentiation-first” messaging approach. Sometimes, you may want to lead with a capability... other times a feature, and others a benefit or outcome.

"Differentiation" is relative to the anchor and it's associated problem (which may be against an internal process, a competitive vendor, a different category, etc.)

The goal of this canvas is to be even more flexible for various edge cases that may appear.

Would love to hear any feedback on what is or isn’t clear in this explanation.

I will be sharing another version in the coming days using a software company to show what that narrative looks like, but I thought with our business it could be a helpful starting point for those familiar (or unfamiliar) with FletchPMM.