Symptom of poor positioning: Confused contractors

Sure, it might seem like confused contractors are the least of your worries if all your potential customers are giving you blank stares. Nonetheless, if you hired a marketing agency to re-do your website and they can’t seem to get the copy right, it could point to a larger problem. If they are a marketing agency that specializes in the software engineering space and still can’t get it right, chances are the problem is with the way you’re communicating.

The people you work with day-to-day are likely to buy in to whatever positioning you, as founder, have settled on, even if it doesn’t make sense. They have so much time with the product and with the company that they drink the Kool-aid. They become so close to the product that, like you, they aren’t able to step back and see what doesn’t make sense to an outsider.

Note: Prospective customers are also outsiders.

If you’re working with marketing or sales contractors — or a PR firm — and they seem to be really struggling or can’t get it right, it could be a positioning problem. I’d especially consider this if the problem keeps recurring with different contractors and/or it seems like new employees take a while to get it. These contractors are charged with communicating what your product is, what its unique value is and the pain points it solves — if you do not have clarity on this as a founder and/or are unable to communicate it to them, they will fail.

Good positioning means everyone ‘gets it’ immediately, whether it’s a journalist, contractor, prospective customer, VC or new team member. If you’re spending too much time explaining why your product matters to any of those groups, take a hard look at how the product is positioned and make sure there are no problems.