Our research framework for startup positioning and messaging
Without structured research and analysis, startups rely on ad hoc methods, personal experience and opinion for their positioning and messaging decisions. There’s a better way.
Over the course of working with hundreds of companies on positioning and messaging, including 80+ that were acquired or went public (so far), James Hannon and I arrived at a disciplined and effective way of gathering and analyzing information to support the collaborative work we do with our startup clients and often their agency teams. We call it P&M IQ. We’ve found that comprehensive,. organized research and discussions in a workshop setting helps keep efforts much more focused, objective and ultimately, more successful.
Here are the steps in our research approach:
1. Review solid analyst reports for the category (or categories) the company belongs to
2. Select 3 top competitors from the (or each) category and review/analyze their positioning and messaging from:
a. Web sites
b. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram Glassdoor pages
c. Social media profiles and posts
d. Ads running on social platforms
e. Videos on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
f. Search returns on company and important keywords
g. News search
Attempt to determine the clarity, authenticity and persuasiveness of the companies’ approach to describing aspects of the problem they solve, their positioning and their related messages around it. Make note of important observations and insights that could present an advantage to your company.
Here’s our positioning framework:
3. Create a draft Positioning & Messaging report with the highlights of your review and analysis of relevant analyst reports, along with your profiles and analysis of each competitor.
Here’s what a P&M IQ positioning report of ours looks like:
Here’s the structure of the competitor profile we use:
4. Review your draft report, then plot each category and related company in space with a diagram and analysis like this to see where everyone fits and where spaces for opportunity might exist. Once you’ve thought through where others are, and where your company actually sits, create a full report.
Here’s what a category visualization of ours looks like:
5. Once you’ve done your research and analysis, created a report, and shared it with your teammates and decision-makers, you should be able to create a first stab at positioning. Just follow the framework from Step 2 above. Then workshop with your team. We find that 3 sessions or so, each pressure testing and iterating on the thinking from preceding sessions, usually gets you to an agreement, or very close.
Taking a structured research approach to the front end of positioning will save you a lot of time and trouble in prepping your team to collaborate and generate ideas for positioning and messaging. You can read about our collaborative approach to positioning here.
Thanks for reading. I hope you found this helpful. Please get in touch with any comments, questions or additional thoughts.