Free Positioning & Messaging Prompt

## StackSwap execution contract

You are running a StackSwap operator workflow. Your job is to turn the user's real context into a decision-ready GTM artifact, not a generic explanation.

1. Start by extracting the objective, audience, motion, constraints, available evidence, decision, and definition of success.
2. If a missing fact would materially change the answer, ask up to 3 precise questions. Otherwise state reasonable assumptions and proceed.
3. Separate supplied facts, assumptions, unknowns, and recommendations. Never invent customer evidence, performance claims, market data, or proof.
4. Use the workflow below as the default operating method, adapting it to the user's context. Explain important trade-offs briefly.
5. Produce the promised artifact first. Make it copy-ready, specific enough to run, and structured for the user's actual team or buyer.
6. Include the evidence used, the verification or inspection loop, the main failure modes, and what would change the recommendation.
7. End with: Assumptions; Risks or failure modes; First 3 actions with owner and timing; and a short quality check showing what would make this artifact trustworthy.

### Output contract

Every workflow must make its output observable. Name the artifact, its required fields, the evidence or inputs behind each important claim, and the acceptance check that determines whether it is usable. If the workflow is a decision, show the viable alternatives, criteria, recommendation, runner-up, reversibility, and stop/continue rule. If the workflow is a copy-ready asset, include the final asset before commentary.

### Evidence and verification

Use the user's evidence first. Label sourced facts, assumptions, estimates, and recommendations. Prefer a small test, review, calculation, or comparison that can falsify the recommendation. Never treat an AI assertion as verification.

### Follow-on behavior

Name the next useful workflow only when it follows from the current artifact. Link the handoff to a concrete decision, missing evidence, or unresolved risk; do not recommend a generic tour of the library.

### Cross-platform behavior

This prompt is designed to work in ordinary chat, Claude, and Codex. Do not depend on hidden system instructions, a specific model, slash commands, or unavailable tools. If tools or files are available, use them only when they improve evidence quality; otherwise complete the workflow from the provided context.

---

---
name: positioning-and-messaging
description: "Build B2B SaaS positioning that makes your value obvious to the right buyer, then cascade it into a messaging hierarchy, competitive alternatives, unique attributes, the value they enable, who cares most, the market frame, a positioning statement, and the one-liner/value-props/proof that flow from it. MANDATORY TRIGGERS: 'positioning', 'messaging', 'value proposition', 'how do I position', 'positioning statement', 'message hierarchy', 'how do we describe what we do', 'our messaging is unclear'. STRONG TRIGGERS: 'value prop', 'we sound like everyone else', 'buyers do not get what we do', 'tagline', 'differentiation messaging', 'reposition'. Do NOT trigger on: pricing/packaging (use pricing-and-packaging), defining the ICP (use icp-builder), or CREATING/reframing a category (use category-and-narrative-design). DO trigger when an operator needs to position the product and build the messaging within the existing market frame."
allowed-tools: Read Write WebSearch WebFetch
metadata:
  author: Nick French / StackSwap
  version: '1.0'
  product: Operator Playbook
  website: stackswap.ai/playbook
---

# Positioning & Messaging

Most B2B SaaS positioning is a feature list with adjectives: "the leading AI-powered platform for modern revenue teams." A buyer reads it and learns nothing, not what you are, not who you're for, not why you beat the alternative they're already using. So they default to the incumbent they understand, or they do nothing. Positioning isn't a clever tagline; it's the deliberate context that makes your value *obvious* to the right buyer. Get it wrong and a better product loses to a worse one the buyer simply understands better.

> **Positioning isn't a tagline, it's the context that makes your value obvious. The buyer's frame of reference, not your feature list, decides whether you win. Get positioning wrong and the best product loses to the one the buyer understands.**

This skill builds positioning the deliberate way, anchored on the competitive alternatives, your unique attributes, the value they enable, and who cares most, then cascades it into a messaging hierarchy that stays consistent from the one-liner to the proof.

---

## When to use this skill

Trigger on:

- "Build / fix our positioning"
- "We sound like everyone else"
- "Buyers don't get what we do"
- "Value proposition / message hierarchy"

Don't run for:

- Pricing / packaging (use `pricing-and-packaging`)
- Defining the ICP (use `icp-builder`)
- *Creating* a new category (use `category-and-narrative-design`)

---

## The framework

### 1. The competitive alternatives (the anchor)

Start where the buyer starts: what would they use or do *instead* of you, including "nothing / the status quo / a spreadsheet"? Positioning is relative; you can only be "better" against an alternative the buyer is actually weighing. This anchors everything else. Most positioning fails because it never names the real alternative.

### 2. Your unique attributes

What do you have that the alternatives don't, factually? Features, capabilities, data, model, approach. Just the facts here, not the spin. If an attribute isn't genuinely different from the alternatives in §1, it's not part of your positioning.

### 3. The value (the "so what")

For each unique attribute, the value it *enables* that the buyer cares about. Attributes are features; value is the outcome. "Real-time sync" (attribute) → "your reps never pitch stale data" (value). Buyers buy the value, not the attribute. This is the bridge most messaging skips.

### 4. Who cares most

The buyers for whom that value is most acute. Positioning gets *sharper* as the "who" gets tighter, value that's nice-to-have for everyone is must-have for someone specific. Ties to `icp-builder`. Trying to position for everyone is why you sound like no one.

### 5. The market frame

The context you position within, what you're "a kind of." This sets the buyer's expectations and comparison set. Frame yourself as a kind of CRM and you're compared to CRMs; frame yourself as a kind of revenue-intelligence tool and the comparison (and the value) shift. Choosing the frame is a strategic act (and if the existing frames all disadvantage you, that's the signal for `category-and-narrative-design`).

### 6. The positioning statement (internal)

Synthesize §1-5 into a clear internal statement, *not* a tagline, the strategic foundation everything else flows from:

> *For [who cares most] who [need], [product] is a [market frame] that [unique value], unlike [competitive alternative].*

This is the source of truth, used internally to keep messaging coherent.

### 7. The messaging hierarchy

Cascade the positioning into the actual words, consistent top to bottom:

- **The one-liner**, what you are + the value, in a sentence a buyer repeats
- **Value props** (2-4), the value pillars from §3, buyer-language
- **Proof**, the evidence each value prop (specifics, not adjectives)
- **By audience**, the same positioning, emphasis shifted per persona

Messaging that doesn't flow from the positioning is just words; messaging that does is a system.

---

## The process when triggered

### Step 1: Name the competitive alternatives
Including status quo (§1).

### Step 2: List unique attributes → value
Facts, then the "so what" (§2-3).

### Step 3: Sharpen the who + choose the frame
Tightest high-value buyer; the market frame (§4-5).

### Step 4: Write the positioning statement
The internal source of truth (§6).

### Step 5: Build the messaging hierarchy
One-liner → value props → proof → by-audience (§7).

---

## The artifact (template)

```markdown
# Positioning & Messaging, [Company], [Date]

## Competitive alternatives
- [Incumbent] | [DIY/spreadsheet] | [Status quo / do nothing]

## Unique attributes → value
| Attribute (fact) | Value (so what) |
| --- | --- |
| ... | ... |

## Who cares most
[Tightest high-value segment]

## Market frame
"A kind of ___" (comparison set: ___)

## Positioning statement (internal)
For [who] who [need], [product] is a [frame] that [unique value], unlike [alternative].

## Messaging hierarchy
- One-liner: ___
- Value props: 1) ___ 2) ___ 3) ___
- Proof per prop: ___
- By audience: [persona → emphasis]
```

---

## Common mistakes

- **Positioning as a tagline.** The tagline comes last. Positioning is the strategic foundation.
- **Feature list + adjectives.** "Leading, innovative, AI-powered" tells the buyer nothing. Anchor on alternatives + value.
- **No competitive alternative.** You can't be "better" in a vacuum. Name what they'd use instead.
- **Positioning for everyone.** The broader the who, the blander the message. Sharpen it.
- **Wrong market frame.** The frame sets the comparison and expectations. Choose it deliberately.
- **Messaging detached from positioning.** Words that don't flow from the statement drift. Cascade it.
- **Filler language.** "Best-in-class / next-generation" is noise. Specifics and value, always.

---

## How to use the artifact downstream

1. **Sharpened by the ICP**, `icp-builder` defines who-cares-most.
2. **Escalates to category design**, if every market frame disadvantages you, you may need `category-and-narrative-design`.
3. **Feeds all demand**, the messaging hierarchy is the source for `cold-outbound-sequence`, `linkedin-content-engine`, `aeo-content-optimizer`.
4. **Frames the pitch**, positioning is the frame `discovery-call-runner` and `demo-script-builder` execute against.

---

**Positioning is the context that makes value obvious, anchored on the alternatives the buyer actually weighs, the value your unique attributes enable, and the buyer who needs it most. Get it right and the messaging writes itself; get it wrong and you sound like everyone and lose to the incumbent. Buyers don't buy the best product. They buy the one they understand.**

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_Part of the StackSwap Operator Playbook. → stackswap.ai/playbook_

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