Ask a few people on your team who the company is for, and you may hear a different answer from each of them. Your website copy and your sales conversations then drift apart, and prospects can’t tell why they should choose you over the competitor down the street.
Writing a positioning statement corrects that drift by giving everyone one short paragraph to work from. The positioning statement examples below belong to fictional B2B service firms, so you can study the format without borrowing anyone’s real strategy. By the end, you’ll have two sentences your team can repeat and a method for testing them with clients before they go into your brand guidelines.
What Is a Positioning Statement?
A positioning statement is a short internal summary of your target customers and the need your company meets for them. It also names the category you compete in and the reason a buyer should choose you over the alternatives. Some marketers call it a brand positioning statement, and the two terms are interchangeable.
Your brand position is the place you want to occupy in a buyer’s mind, such as the specialist in their exact problem. The statement records that position in plain language for your employees and agencies, so clients rarely read it word for word. Your marketing strategy and your website copy both start from it.
Michael Porter’s 1996 Harvard Business Review article, “What Is Strategy?”, describes strategic positioning as choosing different activities from rivals’, or carrying out similar ones in different ways. His example is Ikea, which targets young furniture buyers who want style at low cost and then shapes its activities around that choice. Your statement needs the same foundation: a competitive claim your daily operations can prove.
Positioning Statement vs Value Proposition, Mission Statement, and Tagline
These four terms are easy to confuse, since each one describes the company in a sentence or two. The quickest way to settle the value proposition vs positioning statement question is to ask who reads each one.
- Your positioning statement is an internal document. It tells employees and freelance writers where you stand, so their marketing efforts point in the same direction.
- A value proposition is customer-facing. It names the result a client receives from one offer, and it appears on your homepage and in proposals.
- Mission statements explain why the company exists and what it’s working toward, with no reference to competitors.
- Taglines are short public slogans that suggest your position without stating it outright.
You write the positioning statement first, and the other three, along with your marketing materials, borrow from it. When a designer asks what the homepage headline should say, the answer is already documented.
The Five Parts of a Positioning Statement in the 5-Box Format
In a 5-box positioning statement, the work divides into five fields you complete one at a time, so no part of the argument goes missing.
- Your target market, described narrowly enough that a stranger could name one real client.
- What they need, in their own words, such as “I’m tired of chasing my bookkeeper for reports.”
- The market category buyers would file you under, like managed IT provider or bookkeeping firm.
- How you help, stated as a measurable result with a number or a date attached.
- Why they should believe you, with a difference the alternatives can’t claim and a fact that proves it.
Put together, the five boxes complete this positioning statement template, which you can copy into a document today:
For [target client] who [need], we are the [category] that [result]. Unlike [main alternative], we [difference], and we can prove it with [proof].
Aim for two sentences and fewer than 50 words in total, although a third sentence is acceptable when the proof needs room. Each extra clause is one more detail your team has to remember.
Positioning Statement Examples for B2B Service Firms
Each of these positioning statement examples is illustrative: we invented the firms, their numbers, and their claims. All three are B2B service firms, so each statement addresses a business buyer.
A Bookkeeping Firm for Dental Practices
Picture a nine-person bookkeeping firm that works only with dentists, whose founder might write the statement below. “For owners of independent dental practices who spend evenings matching insurance payments to claims, we are the bookkeeping firm that closes your books by the 10th of every month. Unlike general bookkeepers, we work only with dental offices and have closed books for more than 60 of them.”
Notice the deadline: a brand promise like “by the 10th” is a monthly commitment the team can measure and prospects can hold the firm to.
An IT Provider for Law Firms
Here’s an example positioning statement for a 12-person IT company with legal clients. “For partners at 10- to 40-attorney law firms who can’t risk a locked file on deadline day, we are the IT provider that answers every call within 15 minutes. Unlike national help desks, we give each firm two named technicians.”
Partners worry about filing deadlines, while paralegals want to know who answers the phone. In a B2B sale, the partner who signs the contract and the employees who use the service can be different people, so the statement has to address both.
A Commercial Landscaping Company for Property Managers
Our third fictional firm employs a 20-person crew that maintains lawns and plantings for commercial clients. “For property managers of three or more office parks who hear about problems from tenants first, we are the landscaping company that sends photos after every visit. Unlike crews you have to call for updates, we log each job in a shared portal.”
Small businesses that sell to consumers can use the same template with fewer stakeholders. A homeowner hiring a painter can be the only decision maker, so a B2C statement can address one person and the result they’ll see when the job is finished.
How to Write a Positioning Statement in Five Steps
Block two hours for the first draft, then allow a week of client testing before anyone calls it final.
1. Talk to Five Recent Clients
The Small Business Administration’s market research guide says learning about customers helps you find them, while sizing up competitors shows how to set yourself apart. Combined, the SBA says, they point you to a competitive advantage. Its suggested ways to research customers directly include surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. To write an effective positioning statement, five 20-minute calls with recent clients are a reasonable starting point.
During each call, ask what problem prompted their search, which other providers they considered, and what would make them leave. Record their exact phrasing, because that language becomes your need box.
2. List What Clients Would Do Without You
Name your competitors by product line or service and by market segment, as the SBA suggests, and include indirect or secondary ones. For a service firm, the alternatives can include doing the work in-house, hiring a freelancer, or leaving the problem unsolved. Your “Unlike” sentence has to describe an advantage over a real option on that list.
3. Fill In Each Box Separately
Draft three versions of every box before you combine anything. Writing the boxes separately prevents a strong result from disguising a vague audience.
4. Cut It to Two Sentences
Read the combined draft aloud, and delete generic words like “innovative” and “best-in-class” that any competitor could also use. Keep editing until it fits in two sentences you can say in one breath.
5. Write Down the Proof and Store It
Under the statement, list the evidence behind each claim, such as the client count or the average response time, and name the person who verifies it. Save all of it in your brand strategy document, which is separate from the brand identity rules for how you look and sound. Our post on brand style guide examples explains the same distinction between those two documents.
Testing Whether Your Positioning Statement Works
Run two tests before you approve the final version: a client preference survey reveals which wording sounds right, and a recall test measures whether your team can remember it.
Run a Client Preference Test in Google Forms
- Go to forms.google.com and click Blank form.
- Click Add, then choose Multiple choice to the right of the question title.
- Paste two or three versions of the statement as the answer options, and turn on Required.
- In the bottom right of the question, click More, then Shuffle option order, so no version wins by being listed first.
- Add a Paragraph question that asks what, if anything, sounds off.
- When replies come in, click Responses at the top, then Summary, to see a chart for each question.
Google’s help page on how to edit your form shows where the Add, Required, and shuffle settings are located if your screen looks different. Decide on a pass mark before you review the results, such as two out of three clients choosing the same version.
Worked Example: A 12-Person Firm Tests Two Versions
Say the fictional IT provider above sends two versions to 15 clients. Version A runs 61 words and leads with “cutting-edge security,” while version B is the shorter statement shown earlier, with the 15-minute response time up front. Eleven of the 15 clients choose B, a 73% preference rate that clears a two-thirds pass mark. Four of those 11 add a comment saying A “sounds like every IT company.”
Next, each of the 12 employees writes down from memory who the firm serves and why clients choose it. Ten of 12 name law firms (83%), but only five mention the two named technicians. Those results tell the founder the difference box needs work, so the second draft moves the technicians into the first sentence.
Sign-Off Checklist
- A stranger could name one real client who fits the audience box.
- Language in the need box came directly from client interviews.
- Buyers would recognize the category and could type it into a search bar.
- Each result is measurable, with a number or a deadline a client can verify.
- Nothing in the difference box is true of the alternatives you listed in step two.
- Documented proof supports the difference, such as a client count or an average response time.
- At least two out of three clients preferred it in your survey.
- Your team can repeat the audience and the difference from memory.
When to Update Your Positioning Statement
Consistency is a large part of a positioning statement’s job, so leave it unchanged for long stretches. Review it annually, and rewrite it sooner when one of the following happens.
- You add a service line, or discontinue one that used to generate a large share of revenue.
- Your best clients now come from a different industry or company size than the one in your statement.
- A competitor starts making your claim, and your proof no longer sets you apart.
- Lost deals keep citing the same objection, such as pricing or response time.
- You’re planning a rebrand, and the design process hasn’t started yet.
Once it’s finished, use the positioning statement to guide smaller decisions as well, such as naming a new service, by checking each option against it. For a full rebrand, our rebranding checklist covers the rest of the work. If you can’t tell whether the market has moved, start with what founders miss in a brand audit, which opens with positioning built on assumptions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Should a Positioning Statement Be?
One to three sentences is plenty, and about 50 words is a sensible maximum. Anything longer can mean two competing positions share the same paragraph, so keep the one your clients confirmed in testing.
What Is a Good Positioning Statement?
Good ones name a narrow audience, a real need, and a difference you can prove, in words your clients would use themselves. If a competitor could paste your statement onto their own website without changing a word, it needs another draft.
Can a Positioning Statement Be Two Sentences?
Yes, and two sentences is a practical length for a statement your team has to memorize. The first sentence covers your audience, their need, your category, and the result. A second sentence then explains why a client should choose you over the alternatives.
What Is the Difference Between a Positioning Statement and an Elevator Pitch?
Positioning statements are internal documents that guide decisions. An elevator pitch is spoken to a person, so it can be warmer and can change to suit whoever is listening. Both should communicate the same audience and the same competitive difference.
Draft Your Statement Before Your Next Proposal
Book the five client interviews this week, and fill in the positioning statement template the day after the last one, while their wording is still in your notes. If you’d like a team to run the interviews and the testing with you, see our company branding and positioning work.