A positioning framework is useless until it's translated into website copy. All key audiences—customers, investors, future employees—judge your company by its website. Founders who say "don't look at our website" are admitting their positioning is failing in its most critical application.
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Instead of starting with a sales deck or homepage design, write the core company story in a simple Google Doc or script. This forces leadership to align on the narrative itself, separate from the distractions of format, ensuring consistency across all future assets.
Buyers don't follow a neat journey on your website; they're actively shortlisting. With 78% of B2B buyers shortlisting just three vendors for a demo, your website’s primary function is to provide the right information to ensure you make that crucial cut, not to tell your entire story.
Don't waste resources on advanced CRO tactics like personalization if your website's foundation is weak. If your messaging is unclear, your value proposition is confusing, or you lack social proof, these core issues must be addressed first. Advanced tactics on a cracked foundation will inevitably fail.
Positioning involves high-level strategic decisions about your market and competitors. Messaging is the critical next step: crafting the core sentences that bring that abstract strategy to life and direct all subsequent copywriting.
By the time a buyer reaches your website, they've likely already been informed by AI. If your site doesn't immediately provide clear, 'answer-first' content that matches the AI-generated narrative, the buyer will experience a disconnect and leave. Old-school marketing jargon will be penalized; structured, direct answers are now mandatory.
Effective homepage positioning (the H1/H2) must connect the two sides of the product-market fit equation. Combine a market-side element (e.g., persona, problem) with a product-side element (e.g., category, capability) to create a clear, compelling message that resonates.
Misapplying the "sell the outcome" advice, most B2B websites lead with vague benefits like "Product growth unlocked." This fails because a buyer's primary question is "When would I use this?", which requires explaining the product's capability, not just its abstract outcome.
The 'About Us' page is typically the second most-visited page. Instead of burying your origin story, feature it prominently. A compelling narrative about the founder's struggles and motivations, like a co-founder losing $100M, creates a powerful emotional connection that product features cannot.
Lacking a clear, defensible position (e.g., best, cheapest, fastest) makes a brand forgettable and is a foundational business failure. Many owners are unable to answer, "Why should a customer choose you over a competitor?" which reveals a critical lack of strategic differentiation.
Leadership often dismisses positioning as a "marketing thing." To get buy-in, connect it directly to sales failures. When prospects are confused on calls ("What are you again?") or miscategorize you, it’s a positioning problem that kills pipeline. Highlighting this revenue impact gets executive attention and resources.