5 steps to great product positioning strategy in B2B SaaS
Creating great positioning requires a delicate balance of understanding quantitative and qualitative customer insights with staying true to the CEO’s vision for the company/product. Identifying the exact place where customer delight and product vision intersects. Measuring someone’s expertise and excellence in product marketing strategy should start with measuring their understanding of product positioning.
Before we dive into what I’ve learned about positioning, let’s start with what positioning is not. Positioning is NOT something you do to your product. Positioning is something you do to the mind of your target customer with a product (and your message). In other words, your brand/product holds a certain position in a person’s mind – or a perception – and positioning is the act of either reinforcing that perception or trying to change it.
In summary, the goal of great positioning is to make your value undeniable.
Here are 5 tips I’ve learned over the years on how to develop a killer SaaS positioning strategy:
Step 1: Let go
Let go of the past, if you are still clinging on to old and outdated notions of who you are and what you bring to market. This could be diluting, confusing and weakening your current positioning. It’s product marketing’s job to make sure old phrases and descriptions are not holding you back, putting you in the wrong marketplace, or in direct competition with a strong competitor. If you truly understand your unique and differentiated value to customers, you shouldn’t feel in direct competition with another company.
Step 2: Identify what makes you unique
What is the feature(s) or value proposition that sets you apart? You might have a business model, a set of supply chain relationships, a proprietary process or intellectual property that you and you alone can deliver. Remember that even complex/hard to understand features can add value to specific personas in the right context. Make a list of all your unique offerings.
Step 3: Identify the value of your features
A trap many PMMs fall into is listing out features without really telling customers what is the value/benefit these features are providing them. What’s the end game that these features will positively affect in the daily working life of the people who will use it? Use sentences such as
“your sales reps will be able to [INSERT VALUE] while on the phone to customers”
“Your financial analysts will be able to [INSERT VALUE] which will save them XX amount of time”
Step 4: Ask and answer “who really cares?”
Think hard about who really cares about your unique offerings. The fastest way to maximize revenue is to focus on customers who are very likely to buy. This is especially important for startups, who have limited marketing budgets. Break it down like this:
“We want to sell to [CUSTOMER SEGMENT] who need to [PROBLEM THEY NEED SOLVED]”
“We can sell within [INSERT TARGET INDUSTRY] because we provide [VALUE PROPOSITION] which is very valuable to [TARGET PERSONA]
“We should focus our efforts on [CUSTOMER SEGMENT] in [IDENTIFY MARKET LOCATION” because….
Step 5: What market frame of reference makes you stand out?
This is the hardest part of the process. Be prepared for this to change from the market you started out in when you first launched. Be careful about what market you state you are a part of, as customers will make assumptions about what your product does and doesn't do based on this.
There is a misconception that your product can only be positioned in one market. The reality is that there are probably multiple spaces where you can add value, but you are not shouting about it loud enough. You do not have to remain in the same space you originally started out in, pivoting your positioning is needed and normal in the early stages of a startup. If you are in an established brand, do not become complacent and take your eye off the shifting landscape that you are in.
When you change your positioning, you should also consider the downstream internal impacts of that as well. For example, you will likely need to re-evaluate your product roadmap. Ask yourself what features you will need to help customers succeed in your marketplace. Marketing, sales, engineering, support will need to adapt to align to your new positioning/strategic narratives.
BONUS Tip: Revisit your positioning every 6 months
Product positioning is key to your success and in hyper-growth SaaS markets, it needs to be revisited frequently. Start by asking yourself these questions every 6 months:
Has your product changed?
Has your competitive landscape changed?
Has your customer base changed?
If you are answering yes to any of these questions…. it’s time to revisit and refresh your positioning strategy.
