Here’s a common (and fatal) positioning mistake startups make:

They try to differentiate against multiple competitive alternatives AT THE SAME TIME.

In other words, they aim to create a universal set of positioning and messaging to drive their go-to-market strategy.

This approach is flawed.

Because it assumes that the entire market is dealing with the exact same problem.

That’s not reality.

Markets are nuanced because people are nuanced.

Different teams at different companies struggle with different challenges.

They have unique priorities, tools, processes, and perspectives on their problems.

So, what happens to this “universal messaging”?

It falls flat—because it doesn’t fully resonate with any part of the market.

Take Clay, for example. (See image)

They operate in the data enrichment space (use case), where there are many ways to enrich target account lists—and a variety of tools to do it.

Take note of how their messaging will differ depending on the competitive alternative they’re up against.

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The takeaway for startup founders:

Competing across an entire market is foolish — especially in the early stages.

To create messaging that resonates, you must choose your competition.

Otherwise, you’ll end up competing with everything.

And good luck with that.

#positioning #differentiation #messaging