New Thinking on Market Categories
From Positioning with April Dunford by April Dunford
March 19, 2026 · 24 min · Season 2 · Episode 21
About this episode
April Dunford discusses the complexities of market categories and how to align them with differentiated value for better customer understanding.
In today’s episode, I explore why companies overcomplicate market categories, how starting with the wrong category leads to confusion, and what the job of a market category actually is. I break down how to align your category with your differentiated value so customers immediately understand what you do. You will also learn the three positioning strategies and how to choose the one that gives you the best chance of winning in your market. You will learn: (00:00:00) Understand why starting with an aspirational market category leads to weak positioning and customer confusion. (00:03:29) Discover the true role of a market category as a tool to guide customer understanding, not replace messaging. (00:05:02) Identify how the wrong category creates false assumptions that sales and marketing must constantly undo. (00:10:16) Break down the three positioning strategies and when each one makes sense for your business. (00:18:00) Recognize the long-term risks and challenges of creating a brand new market category. — Connect with April Dunford and learn about practical positioning that accelerates marketing and sales: Work with April: https://www.aprildunford.com/contact April’s newsletter…
People in this episode
Host: April Dunford
Topics covered
- market categories
- positioning strategies
- customer understanding
- differentiated value
- brand challenges
Keywords
- market categories
- positioning
- customer confusion
- differentiation
- marketing strategy
- aspirational categories
- sales
More episodes of Positioning with April Dunford
- Post Positioning - Testing and Execution · April 2, 2026 · 26 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
- Decisions to Make Before a Positioning Exercise · January 22, 2026 · 27 min
- Positioning, Value, and Objection Handling · February 27, 2025 · 25 min
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