Decisions to Make Before a Positioning Exercise
From Positioning with April Dunford by April Dunford
January 22, 2026 · 27 min · Season 2 · Episode 17
About this episode
April Dunford discusses the critical decisions teams must make before starting a positioning exercise.
In today’s episode, I dive into the decisions teams need to make before they ever start a positioning exercise. I explain why positioning readiness matters, how unlaunched products lead to positioning theses rather than true positioning, and why clarity around audience, scope, and personas is essential. Also, this episode sets the foundation for a new mini-series tied to the second edition of my book, Obviously Awesome, focusing on what I’ve learned after hundreds of positioning workshops. You will learn: (01:34) Why I decided to release a second edition of Obviously Awesome after six years of client feedback. (04:35) How the positioning methodology has evolved from ten steps to five steps and five components. (08:38) Why unlaunched products should focus on a "positioning thesis" rather than a final positioning strategy. (09:58) The benefit of keeping your positioning loose before launch. (13:00) Why it’s vital to distinguish positioning for customers from positioning for investors. (15:59) Why single-product companies should treat company and product positioning as the same thing. (17:51) Strategies for deciding whether to position a lead wedge product, a platform, or a suite of…
People in this episode
Host: April Dunford
Topics covered
- positioning exercise
- product positioning
- audience clarity
- positioning methodology
- marketing strategy
Keywords
- positioning readiness
- unlaunched products
- positioning thesis
- audience personas
- marketing workshops
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Obviously Awesome
More episodes of Positioning with April Dunford
- Post Positioning - Testing and Execution · April 2, 2026 · 26 min
- New Thinking on Market Categories · March 19, 2026 · 24 min
- A New Chapter on Differentiated Value · March 5, 2026 · 23 min
- Competition in a Positioning Exercise · February 19, 2026 · 29 min
- Preparing for a Positioning Exercise · February 5, 2026 · 27 min
- Positioning, Value, and Objection Handling · February 27, 2025 · 25 min
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