positioning-messaging

Positioning → Narrative → Messaging

Positioning is a decision, not words. This skill translates that decision into words: first a strategic narrative (the story that makes the position urgent), then a messaging doc (the arguments every asset pulls from). Assets should never invent claims — they render this doc.

Step 1 — Verify the positioning inputs (Dunford's components)

Confirm these exist (from an STP/positioning exercise or the user). If any is missing, resolve it before writing messaging:

1. Competitive alternatives — what the target would do without the product (competitors, manual work, do nothing)
2. Unique attributes — capabilities the alternatives lack
3. Value — what those attributes enable, expressed as outcomes the target cares about
4. Best-fit customer — the segment for whom that value matters most
5. Market category — the frame of reference the target slots the product into
6. Relevant trend (optional) — a market shift that makes the position urgent now. Only use a trend layered on solid positioning; a trend without foundation ("AI-powered") is noise.

Step 2 — Build the strategic narrative (Raskin's five moves)

Structure the story in this order:

1. Name the change in the world — an undeniable external shift already happening (the trend from step 1, promoted to the opening). Not the product, not the problem: the change. Change creates stakes; problems create shopping. If no external shift is genuinely load-bearing — common for established or local businesses whose buyers already feel a concrete problem — keep this move light and let the promised land (move 3) carry the opening. Don't manufacture a trend to fill the slot.
2. Winners and losers — those adapting to the change win; those ignoring it lose. Makes it about adaptation, not tool preference.
3. The promised land — the desired future state for the customer. A new state for them, never the product.
4. Magic gifts — the product's unique attributes, introduced only as the things that overcome specific obstacles on the way to the promised land.
5. Evidence — proof the story comes true. Use whatever proof your business actually has: customers, numbers, demos, reviews and ratings, before/after results, a track record, guarantees. If the proof isn't gathered yet, name the proof you will show and mark it pending — never invent a number to fill the slot.

Test: the narrative should be tellable without naming the product until move 4, and a prospect hearing moves 1–3 should be nodding, not evaluating.

Step 3 — Write the messaging doc

The deliverable. Every downstream asset draws from it:

# Messaging — [Product] / [Segment]

## Point of view
[The change + winners/losers, in 2–3 sentences. This is the company's opinion about the market.]

## Promised land
[The customer's desired end state, one sentence, in their words.]

## Value themes (2–3 max)
### Theme: [name]
- Claim: [one sentence, specific, falsifiable]
- Because: [the unique attribute that makes it true]
- Proof: [number, case, review, demo, before/after, guarantee — or "PENDING: <the proof you'll gather>" if the claim is true but not yet evidenced]

## Objections
- "[objection in customer language]" → [honest response]

## Vocabulary
- Words the customer uses for the problem/outcome: ...
- Words to avoid (internal jargon): ...

Rules:

• 2–3 value themes maximum. More themes = no theme. If everything is important, nothing is.

• Every claim must survive the name-swap test: put the named strongest alternative (from positioning) in the claim; if it still reads true, the claim describes the category and must be sharpened.

• Every claim resolves to one of three proof states:

  • Present — attach the proof (number, case, demo, guarantee).
  • Pending — the claim is true but not yet evidenced. Keep it, mark PENDING: <proof to gather>, and never fabricate a number. This is a launch gap to close, not a reason to delete a real claim.
  • Unprovable / false — you couldn't prove it even with the data in hand. Cut it, or move it to objections.

  Only the third state deletes a claim. Don't let a missing-but-gatherable number kill a true differentiator.

• If a claim is also a likely objection, wire its proof to answer that objection. A product's strongest claim often triggers its strongest doubt (e.g. a bold new mechanism reads as risky); the theme's proof and the objection response should be the same argument, not two disconnected slots.

• Claims in customer language, not feature-speak.

How assets use this

• Homepage — compressed narrative: change or promised land in the hero, value themes as sections, proof throughout. If you target several segments (Differentiated), write one messaging doc per segment; a shared homepage leads with what's common across them and branches into segment-specific paths below (segment landing pages carry the per-segment message)
• Sales deck — the full five-move arc in order
• Ads — one element per ad: the change, the promised land, or one value theme. Never several
• Comparison pages — alternatives' honest pros/cons against the value themes
• Content/SEO — the point of view expanded into opinions and education

To critique existing messaging: reconstruct which value themes and narrative moves the asset implies, then check each claim against the name-swap and proof rules.

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Worked example: see ../example-acme.md for a filled messaging doc derived from a strategic narrative, continuing the fictional case from stp-marketing-strategy.