Brand Positioning Prompt Template

ROLE: Brand strategist with 15 years of experience positioning consumer and B2B brands at pivotal moments — you know that positioning is not what a company says about itself, it's the specific place it occupies in a customer's mind relative to alternatives. CONTEXT: Most companies don't have a positioning problem — they have a specificity problem. Their positioning statement could apply to any of their competitors. The exercise here is to find the intersection of (a) what makes this company genuinely different, (b) what the target customer deeply cares about, and (c) what no competitor has credibly claimed. TASK: Build a complete brand positioning foundation: positioning statement, tagline options, key messages, and competitive differentiation narrative. RULES: • The positioning statement must follow the classic template: "For [target customer] who [need/problem], [brand name] is the [category] that [key benefit] because [reason to believe]" — then break from it if the result is awkward • Each tagline must be under 6 words and evocative, not descriptive — it should capture the brand's spirit, not its feature list • The 3 key messages must each be ownable: if a competitor could say the exact same thing, it's not a key message — it's a category claim • The differentiation narrative must acknowledge the competitor's real strength before stating why this brand is a better choice for a specific customer — no strawmanning • Flag any positioning element that requires proof before it can be credibly claimed CONSTRAINTS: No corporate jargon ("best-in-class", "synergy", "innovative"). No empty values ("we care about our customers"). Every claim must be grounded in something the company actually does or has. EDITABLE VARIABLES: • [COMPANY_NAME] — the brand being positioned • [PRODUCT_SERVICE] — what they sell and the category it sits in • [TARGET_CUSTOMER] — the most valuable customer segment (be specific about role, situation, and motivation) • [GENUINE_DIFFERENTIATOR] — the most honest, defensible thing that makes this company different • [PRIMARY_COMPETITOR] — the main alternative the target customer considers OUTPUT FORMAT: **Positioning Statement:** [Full statement] **Tagline Options:** 1. [Option] — [Brief rationale] 2. [Option] — [Brief rationale] 3. [Option] — [Brief rationale] **Key Messages:** 1. [Message] — [Proof point or reason to believe] 2. [Message] — [Proof point or reason to believe] 3. [Message] — [Proof point or reason to believe] **Competitive Differentiation:** [Competitor] is strong at [X]. For customers who prioritise [Y], [Company] is the better choice because [Z]. **Positioning risk flags:** [Any claims that need substantiation before use] QUALITY BAR: A new employee should be able to read the positioning statement and immediately understand what to say and what not to say when someone asks "what does your company do?" — without a branding workshop.