Marketing

Positioning: why being clear beats being clever

16 May 2024 · 5 min read

Ask ten businesses what they do and most will answer in language that sounds professional and communicates almost nothing. Solutions, synergy, world-class, end-to-end, bespoke. The instinct to sound impressive quietly defeats the actual job of positioning, which is to be understood instantly and remembered later.

Clarity is the rare advantage

Because clever and vague is so common, clear and specific stands out. Who exactly do you help, what problem do you solve, and why you rather than the alternatives. A prospect who understands your positioning in one sentence can repeat it to someone else, which is how word of mouth actually travels. A clever line they cannot quite explain dies in the room it was said in.

Narrow to stand out

The fear is that being specific turns people away. In practice, trying to appeal to everyone is what makes you forgettable, because a message aimed at everyone lands on no one. A sharp position aimed at the clients you most want to win is more attractive to exactly those people, and being memorable to the right few beats being vaguely acceptable to all.

How to test it

A simple test: could a happy client describe what you do, accurately, to a friend, without you in the room. If not, the positioning is not clear enough yet, however elegant it sounds to you. Say it to a few real clients and listen to how they play it back; their version is often clearer than yours.

Good positioning is not a clever line. It is a clear, honest, specific answer to who this is for and why it matters, said the same way every time until the market believes it.