Creating Product Positioning at Leap
Product positioning provides context to customers and a foundation to create market messages from. Without positioning, customers won’t understand how a product improves their life and messaging and become muddied.
April Dunford is one of the industry leaders in Product Marketing and wrote Obviously Awesome to guide product marketers through the process of positioning a product so the target market is ready to buy.
An example of the power of positioning from Obviously Awesome:
“I invented Cake 2.0. It’s like a small piece of cake that you can eat with your hands. I’ve managed to put a handle on it, will it’s a stick really, so you don’t need a fork. What I have is an amazing innovative cake on a stick!”
April Dunford is one of the industry leaders in Product Marketing and wrote Obviously Awesome to guide product marketers through the process of positioning a product so the target market is ready to buy.
An example of the power of positioning from Obviously Awesome:
“I invented Cake 2.0. It’s like a small piece of cake that you can eat with your hands. I’ve managed to put a handle on it, will it’s a stick really, so you don’t need a fork. What I have is an amazing innovative cake on a stick!”
What you invented is fundamentally not cake… Yes, your product contains a cake, but it’s the stick and the shape that make it amazing… If you position your product as a lollipop, suddenly the stick and ball belong.
A cake pop is easy to understand and, for coffee-drinking grownups on the go, it’s a big improvement over your run-of-the-mill lollipop intended for kids.
A cake pop is easy to understand and, for coffee-drinking grownups on the go, it’s a big improvement over your run-of-the-mill lollipop intended for kids.
The Five Components of Effective Positioning from April Dunford
This framework was used to create Leap's product positioning. The positioning was used to relaunch the website, position each package, create sales assets and continues to be used as a foundation for current marketing efforts.
This is the process used to create the positioning for the different packages which informed the overall Leap Platform messaging.
- Competitive alternatives: Both direct competition as well as what customers would use to solve the problem if the category didn’t exist.
- Unique attributes: What you have that the competition and alternative lack. What makes you solve problems better than anyone else.
- Value and proof: The benefit your features offer to customers and why they should care. Bundle benefits into themes to set messaging pillars.
- Target market: The characteristics of a group of buyers that make them really care about your product offering.
- Market category: The market your product is in to provide context to the customer.
This framework was used to create Leap's product positioning. The positioning was used to relaunch the website, position each package, create sales assets and continues to be used as a foundation for current marketing efforts.
This is the process used to create the positioning for the different packages which informed the overall Leap Platform messaging.
Plan Positioning - Essential
Leap Essential is the base plan for Leap and is built to be the first CRM for solopreneur just starting their business.
Market Frame of Reference:
Market category frame of reference
Target Persona
One person handling everything in the business, from sales and marketing to production and customer service. They want to present a professional image to his customers without spending a lot of time in front of a computer.
Motivation
Fear
Unique Attributes + Value & Proof
What are the features that make us stand out? What value do they deliver to our target persona?
Market Frame of Reference:
Market category frame of reference
- CRM -> Home improvement / Construction CRM
- Gmail
- Monday.com
Target Persona
One person handling everything in the business, from sales and marketing to production and customer service. They want to present a professional image to his customers without spending a lot of time in front of a computer.
Motivation
- Make every cent count
Fear
- Losing their dream of owning their own business
Unique Attributes + Value & Proof
What are the features that make us stand out? What value do they deliver to our target persona?
Feature |
Benefit |
Value to reaching goal |
Lead intake and management |
Capture leads and check for potential duplicates. |
Never let a lead slip through the cracks and always have an understanding of their needs before the first meeting. |
Digital Estimating |
Enter a product and a price into a digital estimate, as well as add tax and margin to arrive at a job price. |
Create digital estimates that automatically include taxes and margins so you can meet the customer's price point without underselling. |
Product Pillars and Brand Message
After going through this process for each of the plans Leap offers, I was able to better understand what the true value we deliver to our customers are. This helped shape the overall product brand by grouping each of the features and benefits into value groups to arrive at our three product pillars:
These pillars became the basis of how we messaged our product benefits, including on our homepage:
- Improve efficiency
- Excellent customer experience
- Wider margins & higher revenue
These pillars became the basis of how we messaged our product benefits, including on our homepage:
Using the pillars and what we know about how our solutions solve problems, I created our boilerplate brand messaging.
Platform short description:
The Leap platform helps contractors large and small grow their business, scale operations, create repeat and referral customers, and protect their margins.
Platform long description:
The Leap platform is a comprehensive home improvement technology solution offering CRM, project management, and point of sale functionality. Providing a unified platform to manage customer interactions, track project progress, and automate the sales process.
One Liner: The Complete Platform for the Professional Contractor
These pillars were then integrated into our messaging, including the headline at the very top of our website:
Platform short description:
The Leap platform helps contractors large and small grow their business, scale operations, create repeat and referral customers, and protect their margins.
Platform long description:
The Leap platform is a comprehensive home improvement technology solution offering CRM, project management, and point of sale functionality. Providing a unified platform to manage customer interactions, track project progress, and automate the sales process.
One Liner: The Complete Platform for the Professional Contractor
These pillars were then integrated into our messaging, including the headline at the very top of our website:
While our homepage messaging has shifted since May 2023, the basis of who we are as a company and how we present ourselves is still rooted in the product messaging I developed through this exercise.