Positioning for tech companies. Author of the best-selling books Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch.

April Dunford is the world's foremost authority on product positioning for B2B technology companies. As a consultant, April helps companies make complex products easy to understand and love. After a 25-year career as a VP of Marketing at various fast-growing technology firms, she has consulted with 300 technology companies, including Google, Epic Games, Postman, and others. April is the acclaimed author of the best-selling book, "Obviously Awesome," which delves into the art of positioning, and the newly released, "Sales Pitch," which unveils the secrets to crafting a winning sales narrative in the market.

ANNOUNCEMENT - The new updated and expanded Obviously Awesome is coming!!! 🎉 🎉 

I've been sitting on this one for a while, so I'm SUPER EXCITED to get this out into the world!! 

Almost 7 years ago, I published Obviously Awesome, my attempt at describing the process I use to position B2B tech products and companies. I didn't expect many people to read it. I was wrong. 

Since then, more than 100,000 people have bought the book, and countless companies have used the process. A few hundred did that with me directly, and many, many more of you worked through the process on your own using the book. I've learned a LOT over the past 7 years, and I decided it was time to bring those learnings back to the book. 

The new edition is coming in FEBRUARY (don't ask me for a specific date - it's Amazon's world, we're just living in it). Here's what's new:

📙 5 STEPS (not 10) - In the first edition, I describe 5 components of positioning and a 10-step process for doing it. Some of you really hated that the number of steps in the process wasn’t equal to the number of components. The first few steps were pre-work, and the final steps are work that follows the exercise. I have repositioned those steps (see what I did there), and we now have 5 components and 5 steps. 

📙 The PRE-WORK section has been expanded to include key decisions a team should make before beginning a positioning exercise. This is based on my work with clients, and I think it will greatly improve any team’s chances of success when following this process.

📙 I have included sections that are more relevant to MULTIPRODUCT companies grappling with how to position their products in a company with multiple offerings. 

📙 Some steps in the process have been significantly expanded—particularly the Differentiated Value step. Most teams told me they got stuck there. I hope this new, improved section helps to clarify the concept.

📙 The final section, What Happens AFTER a Positioning Exercise, has been greatly expanded. This new section reflects my current thinking on how best to create a sales pitch to test positioning and then turn that positioning into messaging.

📙 For the first time, there will be a HARDCOVER edition. Most of you won't care, but I have seen some seriously well-loved (but also beat-up and scraggly) paperbacks at conferences, and I decided some of you need a copy that’s a little more durable!

🎙️ To go with the book, I'm reviving the Positioning PODCAST and will release a new series of episodes that dive into the book's new material. 
✍ The same goes for the NEWSLETTER (always the best way to follow my stuff). 

A new podcast episode and newsletter article drop TOMORROW - links in the comments.

April Dunford

You don't want to start any positioning work before making a key set of decisions

1️⃣ Is now the right time? 
Do we have enough customer experience to understand how prospects make decisions? Have we worked with enough customers to know - at least at a high level - what makes a good-fit customer different from a bad-fit customer? If the answer is no, we might want to develop a positioning thesis and tighten our positioning after we have closed more business.

2️⃣ Are we clear who this positioning is for? 
Positioning for customers is not the same as positioning for investors or employees. If we start working on positioning and half the team thinks we are building a sales pitch, the other half thinks we are building an investor pitch, very bad things will happen. 

3️⃣ What exactly are we positioning?  
Are we positioning the company, a product, or a group of products? The answer to this question might require deeper thinking about your go-to-market strategy. Getting a clear answer to this question will save you from having to debate this point mid-way through your positioning work.  

4️⃣ Which persona are you positioning for? Teams outside the sales team may not understand what a deal champion is and may be overly focused on positioning for other personas. When we talk about "value," we need to be clear about who perceives it. 

If you don't make these decisions up front, I can guarantee you will regret it. I've seen many teams rush into positioning work, only to stop midway to debate these points and backtrack to redo work they have already started. 

(I'm covering this topic in more detail in the newsletter and the podcast this week - links in comments)

I am an experienced startup executive with a deep interest in how companies bring new offerings to market and get them into the hands of customers that are willing to pay for them. I have deep expertise in Market Positioning and have launched 16 products into market. I have experience creating new markets, expanding markets and positioning new products in existing established markets. 

I've held executive roles in a series of successful startups as CEO, COO, and VP Marketing. I've also held executive roles at global companies such as IBM where I launched and grew a new product division. 

I've done fundraising for several startups, and have worked through acquisitions both on the buy and the sell-side. I have acquired a SaaS business and have been an angel investor in several startups. 

I am the author of two books. My best-selling book on positioning "Obviously Awesome - How to Stand out in Noisy Crowded Markets," and the recently released "Sales Pitch - How to Build a Story to Stand Out and Win."

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