April Dunford - Obviously Awesome 2.0 : What's New With Product Positioning? (with April Dunford, Author “Obviously Awesome“ and “Sales Pitch“)

On this episode, I am joined for a third (and probably final!) time by April Dunford, renowned positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. We explore what's changed in her updated edition of Obviously Awesome, what she's learned through delivering hundreds of positioning workshops and how she's honed her approach to reposition positioning to make it clearer for the next generation of product people.

Episode highlights

Positioning is how you win - Positioning is the answer to "why pick us now?", grounding your product in real value for a clearly defined customer segment.
Positioning vs strategy - Strategy defines where you're going, while positioning reflects where you are today and must evolve as your product and market change.
AI isn't a position - Simply adding AI is no longer meaningful; if everyone has it, the focus shifts to what tangible value you deliver right now.
From unique to distinct - Capabilities don't need to be truly unique, just meaningfully different in the context of your real competitors.
Trends matter less than clarity - The industry's baseline understanding of positioning has improved, making abstract ideas like "trends" less useful than clear market definitions.
Readiness before action - Teams need to decide what they're positioning, whether they have real customers, and how product structure (single vs multi-product) affects the work.
Positioning as hypothesis - Without customers, positioning is a best guess that must be tested and refined rather than treated as fact.
Sell to the champion - Positioning should resonate with the internal champion, while objections from other stakeholders are handled separately.
Test through sales, not copy - The real validation of positioning happens in sales conversations, not by endlessly tweaking website copy.
AI is a tool, not a shortcut - AI can support positioning work, but it can't replace the thinking, collaboration and deep company context required to define real differentiation.

... and much more.

Buy the new version of Obviously Awesome

Look for the yellow "updated" sticker!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers-dp-1999023056/dp/1999023056/
April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/books

Contact April

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/
Website: https://www.aprildunford.com

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(278)

Jeff Patton: AI Doesn't Change Product Management Fundamentals

On this episode, I speak to Jeff Patton, Chief Troublemaker at Jeff Patton Associates. Jeff is a product management consultant, coach and trainer, and the author of User Story Mapping, a book that has...

21 Loka 1h 7min

Simonetta Batteiger: Product Managers Need to Understand the Financials... Not Just the Users

On this episode, I speak to Simonetta Batteiger, a product leadership coach, trainer, speaker and co-organiser of ProductTank Cologne. Simonetta began her career in accounting and finance before movin...

10 Loka 1h 6min

Rich Mironov: AI Should Change Product Management... Just Not The Way You Think

On this episode, I speak to the returning Rich Mironov, longtime product management consultant, product leadership coach, and founder of Mironov Consulting. Rich has spent decades working with product...

18 Syys 1h 1min

Eric Ries: From Corrupted to Incorruptible - How to Build Mission-First Companies That Last

On this episode, I speak to Eric Ries, entrepreneur, multiple-time founder and bestselling author of The Lean Startup. Eric has spent years working with founders, leaders and organisations on how comp...

28 Elo 1h 5min

Barry O'Reilly - How to Keep the Humanity in Artificial Organizations

On this episode, I speak to Barry O'Reilly, entrepreneur, executive adviser and author of Lean Enterprise, Unlearn and his latest book, Artificial Organizations. Barry works with senior leaders around...

18 Elo 1h 6min

Pavel Samsonov - AI Can Build the Solution... You Still Have to Design the Problem

On this episode, I speak to Pavel Samsonov, Principal UX Designer at Justworks and author of The Product Picnic newsletter. Pavel has spent his career working across UX, service design and product man...

25 Heinä 1h 9min

Be Kaler Pilgrim - Where Does Product Go Wrong in PE-Backed Firms?

On this episode, I speak to Be Kaler Pilgrim, founder of Smithfield Search and original founder of Futureheads Recruitment. Be has spent more than three decades helping organisations build technology ...

2 Heinä 57min

Petra Wille - Strong Product Leadership in the Age of AI

On this episode, I speak to the returning Petra Wille, product leadership coach, author of Strong Product People, and founder of the Product at Heart conference. Petra has spent years helping product ...

19 Touko 1h 5min