Why the classic approach fails
Teams often spend weeks hunting for a “unique selling proposition” and land on “quality” or “care.” People buy fast, from a handful of brands that come to mind first in a specific situation.
So strong positioning answers two questions:
What scientific marketing says
- Brands grow through penetration. Big brands are big mainly because more people buy them. Fan loyalty matters far less.
- Most of your buyers are “light.” They buy you rarely and barely think about you. The position has to be simple and clear for them.
- Mental availability is built through category entry points (CEPs). These are situations that trigger need: “a quick lunch on the go,” “a gift for a colleague.” The more CEPs linked to the brand, the more often it is chosen.
So a position is a network of associations between the brand, the category, and buying situations — plus distinctive assets.
JTBD: why people “hire” you
People “hire” products to make progress in a concrete situation. In the famous morning milkshake case, the drink competed with bananas and bars: the job was “not to get hungry or bored on the way to work.”
A job has three dimensions: functional (what to get done), emotional (how to feel), and social (how to look to others).
Bob Moesta adds four forces that shape the switch decision:
| Force | Pull | Example (grocery delivery) |
|---|---|---|
| Push of the situation | for change | “After work I have no energy for the supermarket” |
| Pull of the new | for change | “I can order in 5 minutes from my phone” |
| Anxiety | against | “What if they bring wilted vegetables?” |
| Habit | against | “I always go to the store near home” |
5 steps to a strong position
01Define the category and competitors through the job
People must instantly understand what you are. Then ask: what else do they hire for the same job? A café by the metro also competes with energy drinks at the kiosk.
02Run switch interviews
10–15 conversations with people who recently bought you or a competitor. Don’t ask “what do you like” — reconstruct the decision story: what happened, what they tried before, what they feared, what convinced them. Patterns are your jobs and forces.
03Translate jobs into entry points
Break each job into situations: why, when, where, with whom, how the person feels. For a ready-breakfast brand that might be “overslept and still need to eat” or “a snack between calls.” Quantify which situations are most common and still unowned by a leader.
04Write the position
For people who [situation], when they want [progress], [brand] is the [category] that [reason to believe], unlike [current alternative].
This is an internal compass for product, design, and media. The slogan is written separately.
05Make the position recognizable and noticeable
- Distinctive assets. Color, shape, character, and sound should point to you instantly. Score them on fame and uniqueness, and don’t change them without need.
- Broad reach. Speak to all category buyers, including those who buy you rarely.
- Consistency and balance. Per Binet and Field (IPA), on average about 60% of budget on branding and 40% on activation works best.
- Physical availability. The product must be easy to buy exactly when the need appears.
Common mistakes
- Chasing uniqueness instead of distinctiveness.
- Narrowing the audience to an “ideal customer.”
- Describing product attributes instead of human progress.
- Inventing a position without interviews and data.
- Changing identity with every new team.
Takeaway
Strong positioning is a clear place for the brand in the category, tied to real human situations and backed by distinctive assets and broad presence. JTBD explains why people choose you; scientific marketing explains how to make them choose you more often.