The vast majority of "formal" advice on how companies can distinguish themselves from the competition tends to be based on the tenets set forth in 1981 by Al Ries and Jack Trout.
Virtually every guide will tell you to locate a vacant space on a perceptual map, write an attention-grabbing promotional tagline and twiddle your thumbs, waiting for customers to flood your business.
Those strategies have been made obsolete because of the increasing volume of internet use in which more than 60% of Google searches conclude with a user leaving the search page without ever clicking on the website link.
For example, many users are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide quick answers to their inquiries before they ever reach the bottom of the results page, where they might have found your website.
Why the Old Brand Positioning Strategy Fails Today
The way you convey your message should not be based on how it was done in 1981, in longitudinal 'paragraph' form with lots of general promises.
If you are conveying your message in that manner, you are guaranteed to be dismissed by those buyers. You need to create a brand positioning strategy that accurately portrays your business' position in a way that is going to work in the marketplace as it exists today.
To put it succinctly, the old way of effectively conveying a message has changed, nullifying the "who, what, why" formula as a means of securing attention.
The marketplace has become inundated with identical models, as so clearly illustrated by the examples of top-rated marketing blogs by Nulab and Smartsheet.
The vast majority of blog postings consistently present the basic principles of "identifying your target audience, identifying the unique value that you offer and mapping the strategies of your competitors" as a solid foundation upon which to build; however, the business practices discussed in those blog posts do not adequately express how purchasers purchase today.
Purchasers are not concerned with what the mission statement of your business is; rather, they desire to obtain fast answers and results validated through experience.
If you wish to be the victor in this hyper-competitive marketplace, you must shift your foci and position your offering differently in your targeted market.
The most effective way to set your business apart from others is to target very specific moments in the purchaser journey process.
Smaller businesses, such as Matt Haycox, have found success in capitalizing on the hyper-specified phase-based approach to acquiring and maintaining customers compared to large brands who focus on creating brand loyalty through establishing a broad category.
Being a "CRM for freelance designers" is more monetarily rewarding than attempting to establish oneself as a generic "CRM for small businesses."
How to Build a Modern Brand Positioning Strategy
No longer should your emphasis be solely on achieving high rankings on search engine results pages; you should now be concerned with occupying the most digital and mental real estate possible.
How to Win When People Don't Click
Your company must be prepared to deal with the limitations imposed by AI Overviews.
This means that, when people use search engines, the most relevant information will show up in the form of a snippet at the top of the page, and your messaging must be crystal clear and concise enough for an AI to read and comprehend it within three seconds.
If your core value isn't articulated clearly, using clever marketing language, an AI will skip right over you.
On your website, use straightforward, question-based headings and describe what you do in bullet points.
By removing extraneous content, you provide AI platforms with the easiest path to feature your brand; therefore, provide consumers with an easier way to purchase from you.
Finding the Exact People Who Want to Buy
Thinking Big is a Mistake! Analysis from Matt Haycox and others show that niche brands are winning in small, hyper-targeted markets.
Stop Trying to Compete with Massive Companies! Target a finite segment of the marketplace, and develop messaging specific to their exact challenges.
Once you’ve established your authority within that specific niche, you will be able to expand.
How to Know If Your Strategy is Working
The Numbers Don't Lie! Find Out If You’re Getting It Right. You won’t be left wondering if your strategy is working!
When a business makes changes to its brand positioning strategy, the data demonstrates tangible and quantifiable improvements to its overall business operations.
How It Actually Makes You Money
How a company presents itself to customers ultimately affects how much money it generates through product sales and services sold.
According to Nielsen, companies that change to use-case positioning attract 58% more likely customers to their business when they are in the purchasing stage.
When Gartner studied problem-solution positioning, the results showed that positioning itself through the solution-to-problem cycle will decrease the average size of the sales cycle by 41%.
G Fuel used data from SmashBrand to demonstrate these same results in the consumer space by changing the target audience of their brand from the general consumer population to the gamer demographic, resulting in the company achieving $350 Million in revenue annually.
Brand messaging isn't just an important element of brand awareness; it directly affects revenue growth and overall company performance.
The Difference Between Selling to Businesses and Everyday People
Making the assumption that all business buying customers will act in the same way as everyday consumers is an enormous mistake.
By definition, business buyers will go through the Jobs-to-be-Done matrix to find the best solutions for their business issues. Business buyers often work with higher-ranking executives and are charged with managing budgets.
Business buyers also look to vendors to provide solutions that help to solve a business' economic problems.
On the other hand, consumer brands are more likely to form connections with their customers based on identity; consumers typically buy premium beverages based on how they "feel" when consuming those beverages, while a business buyer will purchase a particular software solution based on its ability to reduce costs.
Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Most businesses do not differentiate themselves from their competitors due to making certain repeatable and predictable errors.
1. The Trap of Faking a Good Cause
Recent studies indicate that consumers are becoming increasingly distrustful of generic, vague mission statements. According to Deloitte, companies that focus on their purpose tend to grow 46% faster.
However, if you claim to be saving the world but only sell plain old software, customers will see through it. When writing about your purpose, stay true to reality and describe the real, tangible benefit you provide to customers.
2. Copying Boring Fill-in-the-Blank Forms
Guidelines for SaaS companies, like those from Qualtrics, often include very simple fill-in-the-blank templates.
These templates are good for helping internal teams stay coordinated, but are terrible for promoting your company externally. Do NOT take any of your raw positioning statements and put them on your homepage; they will sound like they were written by robots.
Use the template to help you identify the angle for your messaging, and then write your message for the audience as a human being.
How to Test Your Ideas Without Spending Much
There is no need to spend a lot of money to find out if your company's brand positioning strategy works.
1. The 14-Day Test
Stop wasting six months on your marketing research.
Run a validation sprint using one marketing person and $5,000-15,000. Create two different landing pages that have two different angles and run paid traffic to them for two weeks.
Review the metrics to see which message converts better. The market will reveal exactly which message is more effective.
Time is your ally.
2. How to Change Your Message Without Scaring Customers
Changing your messaging could potentially scare off current customers.
Testing is the best way to minimize churn. Do NOT change your entire website in one go without first testing it.
Segment your audience into two groups, the first group gets the old messaging and the second group gets the new messaging. Keep track of their Net Promoter Score and follow their buying patterns.
If the new messaging keeps the same or higher NPS, apply the new messaging to the rest of your customers.
Final Thoughts: Focus on What You Do Best
Standing out in a crowded market does not mean creating a new category.
It means identifying the intersection of your strengths and the pain points of your customers. Companies that will prosper in 2026 will not be companies that have the best tagline.
Companies that will prosper will be those that have removed the corporate fluff; optimized for no-click searches; and provided real data that demonstrates their value.
Quit using the same old template for your brand positioning strategy. Start validating real messaging with real customers.