Market Positioning: Find your place, or get lost in the crowd

We’ve already nailed Vision Design—getting crystal clear on where you’re going and why. Then we tackled Priority Mapping—how to execute with ruthless focus week after week. But even with purpose and priorities in place, none of it matters if the market doesn’t know who the hell you are. That’s where Market Positioning comes in. This is the third accelerator in the Founder Freedom Framework, and it’s the one that shifts you from chasing deals to attracting ideal clients. Get it right, and you become magnetic. Get it wrong, and you’re just another beige blur in a crowded market. Let’s sort that out, shall we?

In a crowded market, blending in is a death sentence. If you haven’t nailed your positioning, you’re not special—you’re just noise. And when customers can’t tell you apart from the competition, guess what? They buy on price. You become the cheapest option—or you lose. Either way, you bleed margin. So stop being vague. Get crystal clear on your edge and claim your spot—before someone else takes it.

Feeling uncomfortable? Good. You should be. Most founder CEOs kid themselves they’ve got a strategy—“We care more! We’ve got feature X! We’re the best!” From the inside, maybe. But from the outside? You look like a clone. Step back and actually look at your market. Can you spot the difference between you and your competitors? Or is it just wall-to-wall waffle—same pitch, same offering, same tired claims? My bet is the latter – countless companies all offering roughly the same thing, with only minor tweaks here and there.

Does your market know what you stand for?

Here’s a litmus test: Does your market know exactly what you’re about? In fact, bugger the market. Let’s start with YOU. Do you know, truly, why people buy from you or why they don’t? It’s shocking how often I pose this question to founders and get either a blank stare or a rambling, waffly answer. I’ll press, “Why are you different? Why do customers choose you?” and the reply is painfully vague. Sometimes they trot out something they think is unique – only to realise every competitor can say the same thing. If your ‘big claim’ could be copy-and-pasted onto one of your rivals’ websites, you don’t have a differentiator. You’ve got a problem.

If your so-called “edge” is true for everyone else, it’s not an edge—it’s wallpaper. You’re not special. You’re a commodity. And when you’re a commodity, there’s only one lever left: price. No unique value? Then don’t expect pricing power. Expect a race to the bottom.

Look, if you can’t articulate in one crisp sentence why a customer should pick you over all other options, you’ve got an identity crisis. You’re in the danger zone of positioning: undefined, unclear, and unable to command a premium. In practical terms, that means prospects overlook you, sales conversations revolve around discounts, and your marketing is the equivalent of a drunk old man shouting at clouds.

Think about it from the buyer’s perspective. Customers are inundated with choices – do you really expect them to remember your company if you sound just like all the rest? As April Dunford emphasised on a Curious Leadership podcast with me once, positioning isn’t just a marketing fluff exercise; it’s fundamental to your company’s survival. If you skip this step, no amount of growth hacking, ad spend, or sales training will save you. You’ll be executing tactics in a strategic vacuum.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Many founders fall into the trap of broad targeting, especially in the early days. I get it – you’re hungry for revenue, so you keep your pitch as wide as possible. “Hey, anyone with a pulse and a wallet can be our customer!” The logic sounds something like: if we cast a wide net, we’ll catch more fish. But the hard truth is, trying to be everything to everyone usually makes you special to no one.

This “all things to all people” approach is like trying to open a luxury boutique and a pound shop in the same building. Imagine walking into a shop that’s half Harrods and half Lidl – crystal chandeliers over here for £25,000 a pop, next to own-brand cola that tastes of regret and shattered dreams and retailing it 45p for two litres. Total confusion! You’d drive away both the high-end clientele and the bargain hunters. 

Yet that’s exactly what most startups do. They bloody waffle. One minute they’re banging on about premium quality, next minute they’re flogging discounts like it’s Black Friday every day of the week. Mixed signals everywhere. The market’s confused—and confused buyers don’t buy. Are you top-shelf or bargain bin? Harrods or Lidl? Pick a bloody lane. Both can work. But straddling the fence just makes you look daft (and leads to hard-to-explain splinters).

Undefined positioning is a silent assassin. It guts your business from the inside out. No clear story? Then you’re stuck in no-man’s-land—either slashing prices to win work or spaffing money on marketing that gets a lukewarm response at best. You’re on the back foot from the off. Prospects ghost you because they don’t give a toss. And when you do get someone interested, the whole thing turns into a haggle over pennies—because you’ve given them nothing else to go on.

Be the magnet, not the megaphone

Let’s talk about the flip side – what it looks like when you nail your market positioning. If the nightmare scenario is being “just another face in the crowd,” the dream picture is striding onto centre stage, owning it, and having the crowd roar in recognition. It’s about clear, standout positioning that resonates with your ideal clients. When you achieve THAT, you’re not begging customers to notice you; the right customers seek you out.

So what does good market positioning actually look like? One word: focus. The businesses that scale fastest aren’t the ones chasing every warm lead—they’re the ones with laser sights on a specific customer and a specific problem. They don’t faff about trying to be all things to all people. They say, “We solve this problem for these people—and we’re bloody brilliant at it.” And guess what? That audience will pay a premium. Because finally—finally—someone’s actually solving the thing that’s been pissing them off for years.

Think of it like a magnet. When your positioning is dialled in, it becomes magnetic to the people who matter most to your business. Your marketing starts speaking your customers’ language. Your messaging hits their pain points so directly that prospects’ eyes widen and they say, “This is exactly what we need!” Suddenly, sales cycles shorten, referrals increase, and you can even charge more without pushback.

Here’s a real example. In the early days of my coaching practice, I was guilty of the broad approach. I’d work with any business leader hungry for growth – industry, size, focus didn’t matter. Not surprisingly, the leads coming in were all over the shop.

The turning point came when I took my own medicine and narrowed our focus. We looked hard at where we delivered extraordinary value and who benefited most. Our biggest successes were all with founder-CEOs scaling up from around 50 to 250 employees. That’s not exactly a massive surprise, seeing as that’s where I enjoyed most success in my own career. So we made the call to double down on that ICP and politely turn away other business.

The impact was instant. The founders calling us were exactly the ones we could help the most – and they knew it too. By getting specific about who we serve and why, we suddenly stood out like a beacon in a fog of generalists.

And remember the fear that narrowing your focus will limit opportunities? Total bollocks. Saying “no” to the wrong customers didn’t shrink our business; it helped us grow faster. Focus hasn’t been limiting at all – it’s been liberating. When you resonate deeply with an ideal client, they not only come to you, they stick with you, spend more, and tell their friends.

How to define your edge (and own it)

So how do you actually get there? It starts with a mindset shift: from being founder-centric to customer-centric. Too many founders define their business by the product they’ve built rather than the problem they solve. Flip that around. Ask yourself, “What customer pain are we truly the best in the world at solving?”

One practical exercise: fill in the blanks of this sentence – “We help [X type of customer] who struggle with [Y problem] by providing [Z solution].” Simple, but powerful. For example, “We help small restaurant owners who struggle with food delivery logistics by providing an on-demand fleet management platform.” Notice what this does: it identifies a specific who, a specific problem, and your offering in relation to that problem.

Do your bloody homework. Get under the skin of your competitors. No, not so you can copy them – the complete opposite. It’s so you can do whatever it is they’re NOT doing. If they’re banging on about speed, maybe you lead on reliability. If they’re all cheap-as-chips, maybe you own the premium space. The goal is to find the white space—the bit no one else is brave or smart enough to claim. And when you plant your flag there, you stop competing. You stand alone. No need to discount, no need to beg for attention—because you’re offering something no one else is. And that, my friend, is when you name your price and get it.

You’re not for everyone – so stop acting like you are

I’ll leave you with this: in today’s hyper-competitive world, middling positioning is death. If your customers can’t remember you, they won’t buy from you. Simple as that. The good news is, no matter how muddy your positioning is today, it can be fixed. But you’ve got to do the work. Figure out what you’re world-class at, what your ideal clients are crying out for, and what your competitors can’t touch. That sweet spot? That’s your edge. Own it—or get eaten.

Yes, it takes guts to narrow your focus and declare, “This is who we are for, and this is who we are NOT for.” It can feel like you’re turning away opportunity. But in reality, you’re ditching the tyre-kickers and time-wasters. You’re trading shallow, fickle interest from everyone for deep enthusiasm from the right ones. And they’re the ones who stick around, spend more, and drive real, profitable growth.

So ask yourself, what do you want to be known for in your market? Being “average” is a choice – and it’s the wrong one. Instead, be bold. Be distinct. Maybe you’ll be the Fortnum & Mason of your industry, maybe you’ll be Greggs – that’s your call. Greggs do better sausage rolls though. But whatever you pick, pick it on purpose. Stand for something. Own it. Because if you don’t claim your space in the market, someone else will shove you out of it. So get off the fence, crank up the volume, and show your market exactly why you matter. 

Stand out—or get lost.

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Written by business coach and leadership coaching expert Dominic Monkhouse. Contact him to schedule a call here. You can order your free copy of his book, Mind Your F**king Business here.