Position or Be Ignored
Two lessons on deciding what you stand for — and seven brands that already did.
13 pages. Seven brand teardowns, and the exercise that turns them into your position.
These two lessons are pulled straight from Built to Sell, my 12-week program — unedited. So a couple of things will sound like what they are: I'll mention a “Signal File,” which is just the collection of things your customers actually say — reviews, DMs, comments. Use whatever you've already got. And at the end I'll say “post it in the thread.” There's no thread here. Just do the exercise for yourself.
Position or Be Ignored
Decide what you stand for, or the market decides for you — and it never picks something flattering.
You'll leave with a positioning statement, a named villain, and an honest read on whether your store can actually back the claim.
- The two ways brands disappear: trying to be for everyone, or being boring
- The Sameness Map — why “high quality,” “female-founded,” and “for the modern woman” mean nothing
- Hero, villain, ally — your customer is the hero, you are not
- Position-by-type templates for Fix, Result, Expression, and Curated Taste
- Repelling on purpose: if no one's not for you, no one's truly for you
- The alignment test — proving your assortment, pricing and experience back the claim
Positioning in the Wild
Seven brands whose whole business backs the position they chose.
You'll see exactly how seven ordinary products became brands people care about — and the three moves you can steal.
Nobody sells the object. Everybody sells the feeling.
These two lessons are Phase 2 of six.
Positioning is the second thing Built to Sell fixes. Before it comes your actual numbers — what you make, what you keep, what your goal really takes. After it comes your content, your website, your campaign. Twelve weeks, six phases, one business you can explain and measure.
See Built to Sell →