7 product positioning templates for PMs
The way that people perceive your product is critical to its success. Where does your product or service fit in the marketplace? How do you want it to be known long-term? These are important questions that every product manager should be asking — you want the unique value of your product to be clearly articulated. Product positioning helps you define and capture exactly that.
Product positioning is a strategic exercise intended to define how you can present your product or service in the best possible way to different target audiences. It can be a complex and comprehensive exercise or a more lightweight practice. This depends on what you are using it for, the maturity of your product, or where your organization is in the product lifecycle.
For a robust positioning strategy, try capturing it in Aha! Roadmaps — as shown in the screenshot below.
Set product positioning with Aha! Roadmaps — free for 30 days.
The example above is a positioning template in Aha! Roadmaps. We also offer a whiteboard template that is similar.
What is product positioning?
Positioning is typically written for internal teams. It is the basis for all of your product marketing — from pricing decisions to competitive analysis to brand messaging.
Developing product positioning is a collaborative effort that involves product management and product marketing teams. The goal is to align the broader team around how to communicate the value of your product to customers.
The key components of product positioning are:
Vision — the overall direction of where your product is headed
Mission — how your vision will become a reality
Market category — your market and key customer segments
Tagline — the slogan used to describe your company or product
Customer challenges — primary pain points felt by your customers
Company and product differentiators — the unique qualities of your company or product that bring value
Brand essence — the core aspects you want your company or product to be recognized for
Mature product organizations use a collaborative web-based tool like Aha! to capture product positioning. If your team is not ready for purpose-built software, you can download the free templates below to craft your positioning.
Types of product positioning templates
Here are a few templates you can use to capture the key components that will help you define your product positioning. You can jump ahead to different templates here:
Product positioning template on a whiteboard
The first is a positioning template on an Aha! whiteboard — designed to help you articulate top product benefits and the customer challenges you plan to solve.
