Positioning Is About Perception, Not Your Product

It’s important to remember that positioning is not about your product or service.

It’s about your buyer’s perception. 

Al Ries & Jack Trout said it best in their seminal book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: “Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.”

Question to ponder:

👉 Are we focused on positioning our product or our buyer's perception?

Have a great weekend!

CQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't positioning really about the product or service itself?

Because positioning happens in the buyer's mind, not in the product itself. As Al Ries and Jack Trout put it, "positioning is not what you do to a product, positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect."

What does it mean to focus on buyer perception instead of product features?

Shaping how a buyer thinks about and categorizes an offering, rather than just describing what the offering technically does. Perception is what actually determines how a buyer responds, not the feature list itself.

Why does this distinction matter for agency positioning specifically?

Because agencies often describe their services in detail without considering how that description actually lands in a buyer's mind. Positioning success depends on that mental impression, not just accurate self-description.

How can an agency check whether it's focused on the right thing?

By asking directly whether current efforts are describing the product or shaping buyer perception. Those are two different exercises, and confusing one for the other can leave positioning efforts missing the mark.

What's the core idea from Ries and Trout's book relevant here?

That positioning is a battle fought in the mind of the prospect, not a description applied to a product. Effective positioning requires understanding and shaping perception directly, not just refining what's being offered.