Positioning with April Dunford

In today’s episode, you’ll learn why understanding your competition is critical for positioning and how many people get it wrong. I share a story about the deceptive nature of data and why you need to carefully evaluate bad-fit customers. I talk about how to discover your true competitors and recount a story of a failed sales pitch that taught me the importance of clearly understanding your value from the customer’s point of view. I also dive into the story of Segway, why they failed initially, and why avoiding market categorization is a huge mistake. — In This Episode, I Cover: (00:00) Defining positioning (00:53) A story about how data can lie to us (05:25) Lessons on “bad fit customers” (06:52) How to think about competition (09:26) How to discover who your real competitors are (11:50) The question all customers ask (13:24) The benefits of great positioning (13:49) A failed sales pitch, and what it taught me about the importance of understanding your product’s value (20:45) Why avoiding categorization is a massive mistake (21:49) A story about Segway and why you need to position your product in a market category (25:37) Thanks for listening — Where To Find Me: Podcast Website: https://www.positioning.show/ Personal Website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprildunford/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/

Join me for our first episode, where I share how a simple shift in positioning saved a product from failure, igniting my passion for positioning. I’ll explore Clayton Christensen's Jobs To Be Done Framework and how it revolutionized my approach. I'll walk you through my 5-step methodology and outline exactly how I got here. I'll also reveal why the methodology alone isn't enough to nail your positioning and what you can expect more of on this podcast. — In This Episode, I Cover: (00:00) Welcome early adopters! (00:50) A story about the first product I ever worked on, Watcom SQL (09:11) How a shift in positioning saved Watcom’s product (09:57) What I learned as VP of Marketing (12:02) The positioning statement (14:18) How I approached positioning as a multi-year engineering problem (14:42) The 5 pieces of positioning (15:31) How to solve for the best answer (17:19) How I got started (and why you shouldn’t approach positioning this way) (19:11) Clayton Christensen’s Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework (20:03) The famous milkshake story and what it taught me (22:26) The steps to nail your product positioning (24:09) Why this methodology won’t take you all the way there (25:39) Feedback and thanks — Where To Find Me: Podcast Website: https://www.positioning.show/ Personal Website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprildunford/ — Referenced: Crossing the Chasm: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 Competing Against Luck: https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/

The podcast delves into practical positioning strategies for tech companies, offering real-world examples and experiences to help entrepreneurs and marketers improve their approach to standing out in the market.