E279 | Mastering Product Positioning with Expert Insights from April Dunford
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CastBoxDo you feel your marketing efforts are not getting you the desired results? Are you frustrated by the lack of customer engagement and differentiation in the market? But what if there’s a better way to achieve clear differentiation and increased customer engagement? That will be a failure in your product positioning. Listen and learn.
This week on The Melting Pot, we invited the world’s foremost authority on product positioning and author of the books Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch, April Dunford. In this episode, April delves into the significance of effective positioning in marketing and its impact on the success or failure of tactical execution. She shares her journey of learning about positioning and the frustration she faced when existing resources did not provide a clear process for implementation, leading her to develop her own methodology.
April emphasises the critical role of positioning in marketing and the need for a clear and effective process to determine and implement positioning strategies. Her insights provide valuable guidance for companies struggling with positioning and developing impactful sales pitches, highlighting the importance of understanding markets, competition, and customer value.
Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
- Mastering the art of product positioning for marketing success.
- Crafting compelling sales pitches that win over clients.
- Tailoring product value to meet customer needs effectively.
- Uncovering untapped niche markets through experimentation.
- Streamlining the process for clear and impactful positioning.
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Who is April Dunford
April Dunford is the world’s foremost authority on product positioning. With her expertise as a consultant and author, April helps companies make complex products easy to understand and love. Boasting an impressive 25-year career as a VP of Marketing at various rapidly developing technology firms, she has collaborated with hundreds of growing technology companies such as Google, Epic Games, Postman, and others. April is also the acclaimed author of the best-selling book, Obviously Awesome, which delves into the art of positioning. Stay tuned for her upcoming book, Sales Pitch, which unveils the secrets to crafting a winning sales narrative in the market.
What you’ll learn from April
02:34- The trap of ‘features’ in the tech world
04:34 – How to nail product positioning
07:45 – Positioning VS go-to-market strategy
10:31 – Uniqueness and differentiated value
12:19 – Translating Positioning into a Sales Pitch
17:02 – Philosophical Alignment in Sales Pitches
17:49 – CRM for investment banks: from $2 million to $80 million in 18 months.
28:03 – Thinking long-term in marketing and sales
29:48 – Favourite Positioning Examples
36:44 – Building Positioning Bottom-up
39:47 – The Importance of Positioning From the Beginning
40:34 – Understanding Customer Decision-Making
41:24 – The Importance of Unique Combinations
41:46 – Telling the Contextual Story
42:47 – The Lack of Positioning Process
43:10 – The Impact of Market Shifts
43:33 – Developing a Methodology for Positioning
44:33 – The Importance of Product Marketing
46:52 – The Role of Positioning in Marketing
47:50 – The Need for Market Understanding
48:47 – The Impact of Positioning on Tactical Execution
50:26 – Recommended Books
52:48 – Helping Customers Make Decisions
Book recommendations
Positioning The Battle For Your Mind