Positioning is the most under-discussed product decision and the most expensive one to get wrong. These 15 prompts apply the April Dunford framework — competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value, market frame, target segment — to your specific product. They handle horizontal-to-vertical repositioning, “from new category” framing, and the hardest case: telling a strong story when you look like 12 other products on the surface.
Who this is for
Founders writing a v1 narrative, PMMs reworking the homepage hero, sales leads who keep losing winnable deals to better-positioned competitors, and product leads aligning roadmap to a sharper story.
When not to use these prompts
Skip these for tactical messaging A/B tests — positioning is upstream of messaging. Skip too when the product still has no clear early-adopter segment; do customer interviews first.
Prompt anatomy / structure formula
A positioning prompt should always carry six elements:
- Role: who the AI plays (senior PM / solo founder / product designer / indie dev / growth lead).
- Context: stage (idea / MVP / growth / scale), team size, traffic or ARR, platform (web / iOS / Android), audience, constraints.
- Goal: one concrete deliverable — one PRD section, one user-story set, one experiment design, one launch post.
- Constraints: timeline (this sprint / this quarter), scope cuts, must-not-break (existing flows, billing, compliance).
- Output format: table, checklist, ticket-ready JSON, or labeled blocks you can paste straight into Linear / Notion / Jira.
- Examples / signal: 1-2 reference docs or competitors you like, plus 1 anti-example you want to avoid.
Best for
- V1 narrative for a new product
- Homepage hero repositioning
- Vertical positioning of a horizontal product
- Re-anchoring after a competitor pivot
- Internal alignment doc for the team
15 copy-ready prompt templates
1. April Dunford 5-component positioning canvas
The default. Run this once per product, refresh annually.
You are a product positioning consultant in the April Dunford tradition. For {product}, output a 5-component canvas: (1) Competitive alternatives — what users do today (not just competitors, but spreadsheets, status quo, hired help). (2) Unique attributes — capabilities only we have. (3) Value — what those attributes enable that matters. (4) Target market — best-fit segment with characteristics. (5) Market category — the frame we sit in. Each component 2-4 bullets.
Context: {paste product brief}Variables to swap: product brief, target customer, competitors
Optimization: If the value section is generic, add: “For every value bullet, name the moment in the user week when that value becomes acute.”
2. “What is the obvious category” check
For {product}, propose 3 alternative market categories we could position into. For each: who would we be compared against, what would buyers expect, what would we be measured on. Pick one and explain why it gives us the strongest position.
Context: {paste}3. Competitive alternatives ladder
List the 5 things users currently do instead of buying {product}. Rank them by frequency, not by sophistication. For each: what it does well, what it fails on, where {product} clearly wins. Be ruthless about including "do nothing" as an alternative.4. Unique attributes audit
Below is our claimed list of unique attributes for {product}. For each, judge: actually unique (no competitor has it), table-stakes (everyone has it), or marketing claim (cannot be verified). Cut the table-stakes and marketing claims. End with 3 attributes a competitor truly cannot copy in 12 months.
{paste attributes}5. Target-segment narrowing
For {product}, narrow the target segment 3 times. Each pass cuts who we serve by adding a constraint (stage, industry, role, behavior, frequency). End with a segment where we are obviously the best fit, even if it is much smaller than current targeting.6. Vertical positioning of a horizontal product
Our product is horizontal ({describe}). Recommend 3 verticals to position into. For each: why we win here, what we would emphasize, what we would mute, what landing page changes. Pick the strongest and write the new hero line.7. “From X to Y” repositioning frame
Frame our repositioning as "from {old category / target / value} to {new}". Output: what changes for the buyer perception, what changes for the team, what stays the same. End with the 3 sentences we use at all-hands to announce it.8. Positioning statement (one paragraph)
Compress our positioning canvas into a 4-line positioning statement: "For {target}, who {pain}, {product} is a {category} that {key benefit}. Unlike {alternative}, we {differentiator}." Then write a 30-word version and a 10-word version of the same.
Canvas: {paste}9. Sales conversation litmus test
Stress-test our positioning by simulating a 5-minute sales conversation with a skeptical buyer in {segment}. Buyer asks 6 hard questions ("Why not X?", "Why now?", "Why this category?"). Write the answer for each. Flag any answer that sounds rehearsed or evasive.10. Homepage hero rewrite from positioning
Given this positioning canvas, write 3 homepage hero variants: (a) category-led, (b) outcome-led, (c) anti-status-quo. Each: 8-12 word headline, 20-30 word subhead, single CTA. Mark which variant fits which stage of company (early, growth, scaling).
Canvas: {paste}11. Positioning critique pass
Critique this draft positioning on 7 dimensions from "Obviously Awesome": (1) clear competitive alternatives, (2) defensible unique attributes, (3) value tied to attributes, (4) target market specific enough, (5) category obvious, (6) story coherent, (7) free of buzzwords. Score each 1-5.
{paste positioning draft}12. “Hidden positioning” extraction
Below are 10 recent sales call transcripts. Infer the positioning the team is ACTUALLY pitching (not the one in the deck). Compare with our stated positioning. Where do they diverge? Recommend either updating the doc or retraining the team.
{paste transcripts}13. New-category framing exercise
We want to create a new category called {name}. For this to work: (1) what existing category does it replace, (2) what does it make obsolete, (3) what 3 attributes only fit the new category, (4) what would a leading analyst (Gartner / Forrester) require to recognize it. Recommend yes / no with reasoning.14. Repositioning rollout plan
We are repositioning {product}. Produce a rollout plan: internal alignment (week 1), website + materials (weeks 2-4), customer comms (week 5), sales enablement (weeks 5-6), public launch (week 7). For each phase: deliverables, owner, success signal, kill criteria.15. Long-term position vs near-term hook
For {product}, separate the long-term positioning (where we want to be in 3 years) from the near-term hook (what gets us our first 100 customers). These can diverge. Output a 2-column doc and explain the bridge between them.Common mistakes
- Treating positioning like messaging — positioning is upstream and rarely changes; messaging follows it.
- Listing competitors but skipping “do nothing” and spreadsheets as alternatives — they win most deals.
- Unique attributes that are actually table-stakes (SSO, mobile app, integrations).
- Target segment so broad you cannot name 5 real customers in it.
- Choosing a category just because it has high searches — the category must be one you can win.
- Updating the homepage without updating sales talk tracks — internal misalignment kills credibility.
- Trying to create a new category before owning the existing one.
How to push results further
- Always include “do nothing” and “the spreadsheet they currently use” as competitive alternatives.
- Refresh positioning annually; the market moves around you even if your product does not.
- Sales-call transcripts (template 12) are the truth source — what the team says is what users hear.
- Run the litmus test (template 9) with a real skeptical buyer, not just internally.
- Pair every positioning change with a 30-day rollout — sudden changes break sales.
- Memorize the 10-word version (template 8) — if leadership cannot, it is not sharp enough.
- Distinguish category from segment — Slack is in “team messaging” category, but its target segment is way narrower.
- Once positioning is sharp, align price shape to message with our guide on generating pricing hypotheses with AI before launch — message and price either agree or both lose.
FAQ
- How is positioning different from messaging?: Positioning is the foundation: category, alternatives, segment, value. Messaging is the surface-level wording. Change positioning rarely, messaging often.
- Can AI invent positioning for me?: No. AI can structure and critique, but positioning must come from real customer interviews, sales-loss data, and competitive truth.
- When should I reposition?: When you keep losing deals you should win, when sales descriptions diverge from the homepage, or when a competitor pivots into your space.
- Should I try to create a new category?: Almost never for a young company. Win an existing category first. Category creation costs millions and years.
- How long should a positioning doc be?: One page is enough. If it grows past 3, it is no longer positioning — it is marketing fan-fiction.