Positioning is the most under-discussed product decision and the most expensive one to get wrong. April Dunford makes the stakes concrete: in B2B, a large share of deals — she often cites roughly a fifth to two-fifths — are lost not to a named rival but to “no decision,” meaning the prospect sticks with whatever they already use. Your real competitor is usually a spreadsheet and a habit, not the logo you benchmark against.
These 15 prompts apply Dunford’s five-component framework from Obviously Awesome — competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value and proof, target market, market category — to your specific product. They cover horizontal-to-vertical repositioning, new-category framing, and the hardest case: telling a sharp story when you look like 12 other products on the surface.
TL;DR
- Positioning is upstream of messaging. Get the five components right first, then write copy.
- Your top competitive alternative is almost always the status quo (a spreadsheet, a manual process, “do nothing”), not a named rival.
- Run the structuring and critique prompts (1, 4, 11) in Claude Opus 4.7 for rigor; run the copy-output prompts (8, 10) in GPT-5.5 for sharper headline variety. Both are strong; the split is about job, not winner.
- For the transcript-analysis prompts (12), paste 10+ calls at once — Opus 4.7 and Sonnet 4.6 both carry a 1M-token context as of June 2026, so you can analyze a full quarter of calls in one pass.
- AI structures and stress-tests positioning. It cannot invent it — the inputs must come from real customer interviews and lost-deal data.
Which model to run these in (June 2026)
| Prompt type | Recommended model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas, audit, critique (1, 4, 11) | Claude Opus 4.7 | Holds the five-component logic without drifting; cuts table-stakes claims honestly |
| Headline / hero / statement copy (8, 10) | GPT-5.5 | Strongest creative-writing variety for short hooks |
| Transcript and sales-call analysis (9, 12) | Sonnet 4.6 or Opus 4.7 | 1M-token context fits a full quarter of calls in one prompt |
| Quick first drafts on a budget | Gemini 3.1 Pro | 1M context, lowest API cost ($2/$12 per 1M tokens) |
Pricing as of June 2026: Claude Pro $20/mo (bundles Claude Code + Cowork), ChatGPT Plus $20/mo, Google AI Pro $19.99/mo. Any one of these tiers runs every prompt below.
Who this is for
Founders writing a v1 narrative, PMMs reworking the homepage hero, sales leads who keep losing winnable deals to better-positioned rivals, and product leads aligning the roadmap to a sharper story.
When not to use these prompts
Skip these for tactical messaging A/B tests — positioning sits above messaging and should change far less often. Skip them too when the product has no clear early-adopter segment yet; run customer interviews first, because every prompt below is only as good as the customer truth you feed it.
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 and refresh annually. Best in Claude Opus 4.7 (June 2026), which keeps the five components in Dunford’s dependency order instead of collapsing them into a feature list.
You are a product positioning consultant in the April Dunford tradition. For [product], output a 5-component canvas in dependency order: (1) Competitive alternatives — what users do today (not just rivals, but spreadsheets, status quo, hired help). (2) Unique attributes — capabilities only we have, derived from those alternatives. (3) Value and proof — what those attributes enable that matters, with how we'd prove it. (4) Target market — the best-fit segment that cares most about that value. (5) Market category — the frame that makes our value obvious. Then add a 6th line: one market trend that makes us more relevant now. 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’s week when that value becomes acute.” The 6th “relevant trend” line is Dunford’s bonus component — use it sparingly so it stays a tailwind, not a crutch.
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. Dunford argues the status quo (“no decision”) is the biggest competitor in most B2B markets, so a canvas that omits it is fiction. See her piece on a buyer-centric approach to competitive positioning for the reasoning.
- 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. With Sonnet 4.6’s 1M-token context, paste a full quarter at once instead of sampling.
- 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 sits in the “team messaging” category, but its target segment is far 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 wording. Change positioning rarely, messaging often.
- Which AI model should I use for these prompts?: As of June 2026, run the canvas and critique prompts in Claude Opus 4.7 for logical rigor, and the headline and hero prompts in GPT-5.5 for sharper copy variety. For pasting many sales-call transcripts, use Sonnet 4.6 or Opus 4.7 since both carry a 1M-token context.
- Can AI invent positioning for me?: No. AI structures and critiques, but positioning must come from real customer interviews, lost-deal data, and competitive truth. Feed it those inputs or you get plausible-sounding fiction.
- When should I reposition?: When you keep losing deals you should win, when sales descriptions diverge from the homepage, or when a rival 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, and analysts like Gartner will not recognize it until the market does.
- How long should a positioning doc be?: One page is enough. If it grows past three, it is no longer positioning — it is marketing fan-fiction.