Positioning worksheet

Fill this before a designer picks a typeface. Positioning is four lines a buyer can repeat. Adjectives are not positioning.

Write bad first drafts. Then cut until a stranger could say the unique value proposition (UVP) after one read.

If two services fight for the hero line, pick one for 90 days. The other can live in the nav.

flowchart TD
    Who["Who"] --> Job["Job"]
    Job --> Alt["Instead of"]
    Alt --> Why["Why us"]
    Why --> UVP["One sentence"]

The four lines

LineWrite it hereFail if
WhoEveryone, or “SMEs” with no size or trigger
JobA list of deliverables instead of an outcome
Instead ofA rival you made up, or “bad designers”
Why usPassionate, innovative, full-service
  • Who: role + situation

    Export brand marketing lead whose site cannot close the identity they already paid for.

  • Job: what changes for them

    Brand system and conversion site as one engagement, so campaigns and the URL match.

  • Instead of: the default they will pick if you vanish

    A logo vendor plus a separate web shop, or waiting another year.

  • Why us: a constraint you actually keep

    Indexable HTML, named process, work they can click.

The sentence

Pattern: We help [who] [job] so they can [outcome], unlike [alternative]. Then delete words until it fits on a homepage without shrinking the type to 14px.

  • UVP drafted in one sentence
  • Read it to someone outside the company. They can repeat the job
  • Homepage hero can use this sentence without a second paragraph of apology
  • One URL that proves it (work piece, article, live site)

Refuse list

  • Who we will politely decline this quarter
  • Claims we will not print (awards we do not have, results we did not measure)
  • Visual cousins we will not resemble (name three live sites)

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