The landscape of B2B technology marketing has grown increasingly complex, making effective positioning more critical—and challenging—than ever. April Dunford, a leading authority on B2B tech positioning and author of "Obviously Awesome," brings decades of hands-on experience helping companies cut through market noise to articulate their unique value. Drawing from her journey from systems design engineer to renowned positioning expert, Dunford offers invaluable insights into developing and implementing effective positioning strategies.
The Journey to a B2B Tech Positioning Framework
"A lot of people are using a positioning statement to do positioning, which is stupid," Dunford states bluntly. "It might be a way to write down positioning, but how do we know what the answers are for the blanks? We're supposed to just make it up?" This frustration with traditional approaches led her on a years-long quest to develop a more systematic methodology.
The breakthrough came through synthesizing various influences, including the foundational work of Ries and Trout, Geoffrey Moore's technology adoption insights, and Clayton Christensen's jobs-to-be-done theory. What emerged was a comprehensive framework built around five core components: competitive alternatives, differentiated capabilities, differentiated value, best-fit customers, and market category.
Understanding True Competition
One of the most critical—and often misunderstood—aspects of positioning is identifying true competitive alternatives. "Every single day, a customer is making that choice. They're stacking you up with everybody else and they're choosing you," Dunford explains. "They're choosing you for a reason. Maybe you don't know what the reason is, or maybe you don't like the reason, but they're choosing you for a reason."
This understanding extends beyond obvious direct competitors. Dunford illustrates this with a striking example: "The competitor to Bugatti is actually not Ferrari or Porsche, it's actually yachts because at that price point, someone looking to buy a Bugatti is also looking to buy status, not transportation." This insight demonstrates how competition often transcends traditional category boundaries.
The Power of Market Leadership
Market leadership carries significant weight in B2B decisions, particularly in risk-averse enterprise environments. "There's noisy, noisy number two or number three around in market that starts looking like the market leader, even though the numbers might not be right," Dunford observes. "So one of the things you have to be very careful about if you are the market leader is to defend your perception of market leadership."
This perception of leadership becomes a crucial asset in complex B2B sales processes, where decision-makers often seek to minimize career risk. Choosing the market leader represents a "safe" decision, which explains why companies like Salesforce maintain such dominant positions in their respective markets.
The Value Imperative
A fundamental shift in effective positioning is moving from feature-focused to value-focused communication. Unlike consumer tech, where features might be readily understood (like megapixels in cameras), B2B solutions require clear articulation of value. Companies often fall into the trap of listing features and expecting customers to understand their value inherently.
"Product management was building all this super cool stuff and not talking to marketing or sales about it," Dunford notes, describing a common scenario. "So nobody understood it. So customers have figured it out in a very long sales process on their own, even though marketing is not marketing it and sales isn't selling it."
Implementing Effective Positioning
The implementation of positioning strategy often fails due to lack of cross-functional alignment. Dunford shares a crucial insight: "Sales would be in the room and go, 'yep, yep, yep,' and then leave the room and go right back to selling the old sales pitch." This disconnect between positioning strategy and sales execution represents a critical failure point for many organizations.
Successful implementation requires:
1. Full stakeholder involvement from the beginning
2. Clear articulation of differentiated value
3. Development of compelling sales narratives
4. Consistent reinforcement across all customer touchpoints
5. Regular review and adjustment based on market feedback
Best-Fit Customer Focus
Identifying and focusing on best-fit customers proves crucial for successful positioning. However, these aren't necessarily the biggest spenders. Dunford emphasizes the importance of looking at customers who truly value your differentiated capabilities:
What are the characteristics of a target account that make them really, really care a lot about the value they can only get from me?
She shares a compelling example of a company that narrowed its focus from a broad market to specifically targeting credit unions. While initially scary, this focused approach led to significantly better results because it aligned perfectly with the company's differentiated value proposition.
Common Positioning Pitfalls
Several common mistakes can derail positioning efforts:
1. Treating positioning as a marketing-only exercise
2. Failing to involve key stakeholders
3. Relying on superficial competitor analysis
4. Focusing on features instead of value
5. Attempting to be everything to everyone
The Path Forward
Effective B2B tech positioning requires a systematic approach that goes beyond traditional positioning statements. It demands deep understanding of true competitive alternatives, clear articulation of differentiated value, and careful consideration of best-fit customers. Most importantly, it requires cross-functional alignment and consistent execution across all customer touchpoints.
"What we need is something to use as a process that we can come in and do this in a repeatable way," Dunford emphasizes. "It isn't going to be exactly the same every time, but at least it gives me something to work with."
For B2B tech companies looking to strengthen their market position, the key lies in developing a clear, value-focused positioning strategy that resonates with best-fit customers and can be effectively executed across all customer-facing functions. Success comes not just from having great technology, but from ensuring that your target market understands exactly why your solution is uniquely valuable to them.
This comprehensive exploration of B2B tech positioning provides actionable insights for companies looking to strengthen their market position and better articulate their unique value. By following these principles and avoiding common pitfalls, organizations can develop more effective go-to-market strategies and achieve better market outcomes.
