Use the statement to make choices, not to write an advert
A positioning statement gives a team a compact way to discuss fit. It should help a designer, writer or salesperson decide which parts of the offer to foreground and which claims need more support. It does not need to sound polished to a customer, and it may need adapting before it works as a homepage headline.
A weak statement can sound confident while hiding a meaningful decision: ‘We help businesses grow with innovative solutions.’ It does not identify which businesses, which problem, what kind of solution or why the claim should be believed. A useful statement narrows the conversation enough to guide later choices.
A fill-in structure
Draft one sentence using this structure: ‘For [specific audience] who need to [job or solve problem], [offer] provides [distinct approach or outcome], compared with [credible alternative], because [detail or capability].’ Treat each bracket as a question to resolve, not a box to fill with broad adjectives.
The alternative can be an internal process, a current supplier, an off-the-shelf product or doing nothing. Naming it makes the comparison concrete. If the business cannot explain why it is meaningfully different, do not invent a differentiator; record what detail or service decision is missing.
- Audience: who is a good fit, and who is not?
- Need: what task, risk or decision brings them to the offer?
- Offer: what does the business actually provide?
- Alternative: what else could the buyer choose?
- detail: which work, process or capability supports the difference?
A clearly hypothetical example
Imagine a fictional studio that designs appointment-booking websites for independent repair businesses. A working statement might say: ‘For repair businesses that lose time handling booking calls, our appointment website connects service selection, availability and enquiry details in one route, compared with a contact form that requires staff to re-enter each request, because the booking flow is designed around the workshop’s actual service and capacity rules.’
This example is not a claim about 760 Studios or a result from a client. Its purpose is to show the parts of the sentence. The team would still need to verify that bookings can be supported, that capacity rules are known and that the alternative is genuinely used by its intended audience.
Separate detail from ambition
A positioning draft often mixes what the company does today with what it hopes to become. Label each point as established, supported by a specific example, under development or unverified. Use established points in external claims. Keep ambitions as internal direction until the business can deliver them consistently.
detail does not have to be a revenue metric. It may be an confirmed work sample, a documented process, an integration capability or a clearly scoped service. The important point is to describe the detail accurately and avoid implying a result that it does not demonstrate.
| Positioning point | Status to record | detail or next check |
|---|---|---|
| Audience and need | detail or assumption | Record the source, date and who it represents; label a guess as an assumption. |
| Offer and alternative | Verified, assumed or open | Describe what the business delivers and what a buyer could choose instead. |
| Proposed difference | Proposed, supported or unverified | Name the capability behind it and the detail that would substantiate the claim. |
| Intended outcome | Aim or evidenced result | Keep an intended result as an aim unless a relevant example supports it. |
Test the statement against practical decisions
Ask people who understand delivery and sales to use the draft on practical decisions. Could they tell which enquiry is a good fit? Could they decide which service page needs a separate explanation? Could they identify a claim that needs supporting detail? If the sentence cannot guide any choice, it may be too broad or it may be trying to answer several positioning questions at once.
Where possible, compare the assumptions with anonymised enquiry themes, lost-sale reasons, support questions or customer language. Business.gov.uk's guidance on testing a business idea also recommends researching customer needs and behaviour, competitors and potential customers' reactions. This worksheet is an editorial decision aid, not an official government template. Do not treat an internal vote as detail of customer understanding. If this research is unavailable, record the statement as a hypothesis and make the limitation visible in the brief.
Turn the internal statement into public messages
The website can translate the statement into a headline, service explanation, supporting detail and next step. The headline should describe the buyer-relevant offer in natural language. Supporting sections can explain fit, process, boundaries and detail. Different services may need different page-level messages while sharing one coherent brand position.
Revisit the statement when the offer, audience or supporting detail changes. It is a decision record, not a permanent sentence. Keep earlier versions with dates so the team can explain why copy or identity choices changed.