When to Reposition a B2B Product
We worked out our positioning at launch. Why does it keep feeling wrong, and when should we change it?
Positioning with April Dunford · April Dunford
Published Updated
A B2B product is supposed to change its positioning as it matures. A consumer brand launches a new product for a new market. A B2B company grows one product into larger markets, so its positioning has to move with it. April Dunford's answer is to position for what you sell today, keep the long term vision out of the customer story, and review positioning on a schedule rather than waiting for it to break.
The positioning you launched with was right for then
You worked out your positioning when the product launched. It named the right buyer, the right alternative, and the right reason to choose you. It was accurate.
A few years later it feels wrong. Sales calls start with a correction. The website describes a product smaller than the one you now sell. Nobody can say when it went stale, because nothing broke. The product grew and the words stayed where they were.
That is not a failure of the original work. April Dunford, writing in her newsletter Positioning with April Dunford, argues it is what B2B products are supposed to do.
Why consumer brands rarely face this
Consumer products almost never reposition. Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum has held the same positioning since the 1890s. When Wrigley's wanted a mint gum, it did not make Juicy Fruit minty. It launched Double Mint. Bubble gum became Hubba Bubba, and sugar free gum became Extra.
A consumer company that wants a new market launches a new product. The old one keeps its place. Dunford names the rare exception, Arm & Hammer baking soda moving from a cooking ingredient to a deodorizer, and it is famous because it is rare.
That is why so much positioning advice assumes you set it once. The advice comes from a world where that is true.
B2B products grow into their markets
Dunford's point is that B2B works the other way. Most established B2B products have shifted their positioning several times. Often the shifts were planned, because the roadmap planned them.
Her example is a retail platform she worked on. The long term vision was one system to run a retailer's stores and its online business together. At launch the product could not replace what large retailers already ran, and no large retailer would bet its infrastructure on a young company. So the plan ran in stages. Assisted shopping for store staff first, then clienteling, then point of sale, then the wider omnichannel features. At each stage the positioning was expected to change, and each change aimed at a larger market.
One product, growing into bigger markets, with the positioning moving at every step. That is the normal B2B shape.
Position for what you sell today
The first consequence is the one founders resist most. Your positioning has to describe the product a buyer can use now.
The vision is real, and it is where the company is going. It is not why a customer chooses you today. A buyer compares you to the alternatives they have this quarter. If your positioning argues from the product you will have in two years, the buyer hears a promise where they needed a reason.
Your investors hear a different story
The second consequence follows from the first. Investors and lenders care about the vision, the roadmap, and the market you intend to win. Customers care about the problem you solve now.
Those are two stories, and Dunford treats that as normal for a B2B product. The mistake is letting the investor story leak into the sales conversation, or feeling that two stories means one of them is dishonest.
Put the review on a calendar
The third consequence is the practical one. If positioning is going to change, changing it needs a method, not a crisis.
Dunford sets out three things a team needs.
- A structured process for doing positioning, because you will do it more than once. Her own process is one option. Any process you trust is far better than none.
- A scheduled check in. In house, her teams reviewed positioning every six months, and called an extra review when something big happened, such as a new competitor, an acquisition, or a major release.
- A plan for the changes that flow downstream. When positioning moves, the sales pitch and the messaging move with it.
For a founder led company the third one is where the work usually stalls. The positioning gets updated in a document and the website, the pitch deck, and the sales emails keep saying the old thing.
So start with the calendar. Put a positioning review six months out, and write down what would trigger one sooner. When it comes, ask one question first. Does our positioning describe what a buyer can use today?