Playbook
This is a
working document.
Not a reading document. Every section has two parts: concepts and exercises. The concepts are short. The exercises are where the work happens.
What You'll Build
- A clear picture of the market you're competing in (and why it matters)
- A specific, researched profile of your best-fit buyer
- A positioning statement you can actually use, not a generic template
- A messaging framework that covers every touchpoint
- A one-liner that makes people say "tell me more"
- Five ready-to-use templates, filled in as you go
Plan for 3 to 5 hours of focused work. You can spread it across sessions or push through in one sitting. Either way, finish each section before moving to the next. The parts build on each other.
Before You Start
Positioning is not a marketing exercise. It's a strategic exercise. Bad positioning isn't just a messaging problem. It's a revenue problem.
When people don't understand what you do, who it's for, and why it's different, they don't buy. Or they buy the wrong thing. Or they churn because their expectations didn't match reality.
Good positioning fixes all of that upstream.
How the Playbook Is Structured
- Parts 1–7: sequential exercises that build your complete positioning system
- Templates: five reference documents you fill in as you complete each section
- Print or save: use the Print button in the sidebar to save your completed work as a PDF
Category Design
Every product lives in a category. Sometimes the category already exists. Sometimes you have to create it. Your goal is to be in a category where you can win.
What Category Are You In?
A category is the mental bucket your buyer puts you in the moment they encounter you. It answers one question. What kind of thing is this?
Here's why this matters. Buyers don't evaluate products in isolation. They evaluate them relative to other options in the same category. If you're in the wrong category, you're competing against the wrong things.
The Three Category Traps
- Too broad. "Marketing consultant." "Business coach." Buyers can't evaluate you against clear alternatives. You compete on price and vibes.
- Too narrow. If no one is searching for your category framing, it doesn't help you get found.
- Borrowed. Use the same language as everyone else and you get compared to every option in your space.
The sweet spot is specific enough to be meaningful, broad enough to be searchable, and framed in a way that naturally leads to you.
Find a category framing that's both accurate and advantageous.
That's Part 1 of seven.
You've seen the Category Design module in full. The complete Positioning Playbook continues through Ideal Customer, Differentiation, the Positioning Statement, Messaging Architecture, the Messaging Audit, and putting it all together. Plus the five reference templates.
Every field auto-saves to your device and prints cleanly. It comes with the Clarity Kit, alongside five templates, video walkthroughs, and a live 30-minute strategy session.