Don't rebrand for the sake of it. A successful rebrand should be a deliberate move to signal a fundamental shift in your business, such as an expansion, a new mission, or a deeper commitment to core values like sustainability. It's an external reflection of an internal change.

Marketers over-index on crafting the perfect positioning framework. The real work is in collaborating with sales and demand gen to ensure the messaging is understood, tested, and consistently used across the company.

Tenable's successful shift to its "Tenable One" platform was driven by making it an all-encompassing company effort. Co-CEO Mark Thurmond emphasizes that product, marketing, finance, and support must be in perfect sync with sales, with consistent messaging drilled down from the executive level in every meeting.

For companies with multiple products, positioning cannot begin until the go-to-market strategy is set. You must first decide if you have a lead "wedge" product with add-ons (like early Salesforce) or if you're selling an integrated platform. This foundational business decision precedes any messaging work.

The "PLG Trap" occurs when founders assume moving upmarket is just a pricing change. In reality, shifting from PLG to enterprise sales requires a difficult, company-wide transition across product (e.g., SOC 2 compliance), organization (e.g., sales engineers), and culture.

Do not confuse positioning with product strategy. Strategy is the multi-year plan for what to build. Positioning is a tactical exercise to win against current competitors with the product you have right now. Positioning evolves as your strategy progresses.

Instead of debating whether Product Management or Product Marketing "owns" positioning, teams should treat it as a critical point of shared alignment. It's a collaborative space where the entire team agrees on the product's value and market strategy.

To successfully position your product, first determine the core beliefs a customer must adopt or abandon. If a prospect's existing mindset is incompatible with your value proposition, they will fail to see your unique worth. The sales process must focus on shifting these fundamental beliefs to unlock your value.

Many founders conflate their brand with their first product. A successful company requires a broader brand positioning that can accommodate future products. This prevents the business from getting stuck as a single-product entity and enables long-term growth and category expansion.