What is a positioning statement? A template, a worked example and three tests

What is the positioning statement template?

Fill in each bracket with something you can back up:

For [the buyer] who [the need or problem], [product] is a [category] that [the main benefit]. Unlike [the alternative they would otherwise choose], we [the difference that matters to them].

The format is adapted from the one Geoffrey Moore set out in Crossing the Chasm (1991). It has lasted because every blank forces a choice.

How do you write a positioning statement?

1. The buyer. Name one group precisely enough that you could list ten of them. "Small businesses" is too wide. "Owner-run UK accountancy firms with two to twenty staff" is a buyer.
2. The need. Use the words your customers used when they first came to you. Ask your last five new customers what they were trying to fix.
3. The category. The shelf a buyer would look on. If you invent a new category, buyers have to learn it before they can want it.
4. The benefit. What changes for the buyer, not what the product does.
5. The alternative. What they would really do without you, which is often a spreadsheet, a hire or doing nothing, rather than a named competitor.
6. The difference. One thing that is true of you and not of the alternative, with proof you can show.

A worked example: Track by Outfly

Our first draft began "For founders and leadership teams at startups, scale-ups and established SMEs". It failed the buyer test above: that is three groups, not one. Track by Outfly works with all three, so its site-wide description stays broad, and each campaign gets a narrower statement for one group. This is the one for established businesses:

For managing directors of established UK SMEs whose website still describes the business they were five years ago, Track by Outfly is a six-month, fixed-price growth programme that finds their buyers from real data, sharpens the proposition, then builds the pages and runs the campaigns that prove it. Unlike hiring a fractional CMO for direction and an agency for delivery, it puts the senior direction and the execution in one team, at one fixed price with no day rates.

Every part is checkable on this site: the prices and term, how it works, and the comparisons with a marketing hire and a fractional CMO. For the proof test, see the track record.

How do you test a positioning statement?

1. The swap test. Put a competitor's name in place of yours. If the sentence still works, it is generic.
2. The proof test. Point to evidence for each part. Any part with no evidence is a guess to test first.
3. The repeat test. Read it to someone in the market who does not know you. If they can say it back and tell you why it matters, it works.

What is the difference between a positioning statement, a value proposition and a tagline?

A positioning statement is internal. It guides every page, pitch and campaign, and customers rarely see it word for word. A value proposition is the customer-facing version, usually the headline and first lines of the homepage. A tagline is a short line for the brand. Write the positioning statement first, and the other two follow from it.

How many UK companies have generic positioning?

31 percent of the UK company websites Outfly assessed had positioning rated generic or unclear (195 of 624 rated), and 24 percent had positioning rated sharp (148). Established SMEs had the highest share: in the UK, 46 percent of 179 established SMEs had positioning rated generic or unclear, against 30 percent of 323 UK startups. The full figures are in the report. If your business has changed since the website was written, see how to rewrite a proposition the business has outgrown. If visitors arrive and leave without acting, the message is often why: see they find you and leave.

How does Track by Outfly write a positioning statement?

Track by Outfly is a six-month, fixed-price growth programme from Outfly Innovation Ltd, London. Co-pilot costs £5,000 a month and Pilot £10,000 a month, both plus VAT, with no day rates and ad spend on top. The positioning statement is the second part of the go-to-market plan Track by Outfly builds with every client. It is tested against what real buyers do in the first two months, before any campaign money is spent on it. Book a call and we will draft a first FlightPlan for your business, yours to keep either way.

Figures from Outfly's Growth Gaps 2026 report: an AI-assisted assessment on 21 September 2026 of 820 operating companies with live websites, 628 in the UK, drawn from Outfly's own prospect list, so not a representative sample. Positioning was rated by an AI model on four levels: sharp, clear, generic, unclear. Each figure counts only companies where a value was known. Full method.