How to Write A Winning Brand Positioning Statement

When you hear about brands like Asana or Patagonia, there’s an immediate sense of what they stand for - not just what they sell. This clarity doesn’t happen by accident but comes from tight brand positioning, and a statement that anchors the messaging, product focus, and go-to-market.

If you’re unsure about how to create a brand position statement, this guide is for you. We’ll walk you through what a brand positioning statement is, how to create one step-by-step, and share examples from top brands to inspire your own.

What is a brand positioning statement?

A brand positioning statement is a “single sentence internal compass” that defines your target audience, your category, your unique benefit, and your credibility. It is a strategic set of words chosen to highlight what the product stands for.

A well-crafted brand positioning statement acts like the brand’s north star. It tells your team, your investors, and ultimately your customers: this is who we are, who we’re for, what we solve, and why we’re worth choosing. It anchors messaging across your homepage, your product roadmap, and even your sales pitch. Unlike taglines or campaign slogans, a brand positioning statement brings discipline to your GTM strategy and sharpens your story in a crowded market.

5 things to get right before you write your brand positioning statement

Here are 5 foundational elements to get right before writing your brand positioning statement:

1. Clarity on the audience

Your brand needs to appeal to its target audience - having said that, it is important for you to define who you're talking to. So, instead of saying you target “marketers at startups” in general, be more specific. For example, say “growth marketers at B2B SaaS startups with 10–50 employees and no in-house design support.”

At this stage, your goal is to find common problems, language, and buying triggers of your audience. Being this clear helps your positioning statement connect better and encourages more people to choose you.

2. Defining your category

Instead of creating a completely new category and investing energy to educate the market, you should understand what your costumers are looking for - is it a “project management tool,” an “onboarding platform,” or an “API-based email provider”? The smarter move then is to position yourself within an existing category that matches how people already evaluate solutions, and then clearly communicate what sets you apart.

If you want to create a new category, make sure it’s still based on a need people are aware of. Your category should quickly explain what you are and where you belong.

3. Providing a unique benefit to your audience

This is the most important part of your positioning. What do you do better, or differently than others? Instead of just listing features, your goal should be to translate features into outcomes:

For example, if your product offers automated onboarding emails (a feature), the real benefit your users get is a faster time to first value meaning they will quickly understand and experience the core value of your product.

4. Creating proof or brand credibility

The best brands support their claims with clear evidence. Add concrete metrics, integrations, customer quotes, or recognizable use cases directly into your brand positioning statement to make it credible and trustworthy.

For example: “Trusted by 5,000 SaaS teams to reduce churn by 15% within three months.” make your brand positioning statement more credible than just stringing some words together.

5. Have a consistent tone

While tone isn’t mandatory in every brand positioning statement, including a sense of your brand’s personality can be helpful. A user-friendly SaaS tool might position itself very differently than an enterprise compliance platform, even if they solve similar problems.

Consider how you want your brand to come across to your audience. Do you want to be portrayed as friendly? Authoritative? Minimalist? That tonal layer can shape how your positioning gets applied in copy, product design, and customer experience.

How can you write your brand positioning statement?

Now that you have the above clarity, you need to put together all that data to write down your brand positioning statement.

Here’s how to do that, step by step.

Step 1: Customer discovery

Your best positioning comes from your customers’ words. So start by talking to the people who’ll actually use your product. Ask them things like:

• What problems brought them to you?

• What tools did they try before?

• What frustrated them?

• What success looks like?

Document exact phrases. Look for emotional cues. Analyze support tickets, onboarding calls, and case studies. This language becomes the foundation for relevance and resonance.

Step 2: Competitive mapping

Next, take a step back and ask yourself: where does your product sit in the market, and how do competitors frame themselves? To answer this, you need to carry out a thorough competitive messaging audit:

• What category labels do your competitors use to describe their products?

• What benefits do they emphasize most clearly?

• What tone or voice do they use to speak to their audience?

You can use tools to create perceptual and mind maps to chart your target market. On one axis, you can plot simplicity vs. complexity; on the other, price vs. premium. This will help you identify things like where the gaps are, or where your brand can uniquely stand.

Step 3: Feature to emotional lift

Now, you need to bring your positioning statement back to your product. Start by making a list of your key features, but don’t stop there. Create a ‘benefit ladder’ which talks about the benefits you provide in a chronological way. For example

• Feature: Automated onboarding flows

• Functional benefit: Saves setup time for marketers

• Emotional payoff: Confidence that campaigns work without manual effort”

Post this you will notice that the emotional benefit often becomes the most compelling part of your positioning.

Step 4: Draft 3–5 options

Now you’re ready to turn your insights into a first draft. Start with this flexible framework:

For [target audience] who [pain point or situation], [Brand] is the [category] that [unique benefit], backed by [proof or credibility].

Instead of treating this template like a fill-in-the-blanks exercise, you should use real customer language to make sure your brand positioning statement is precise.

For example: For product-led growth teams at SaaS startups struggling with churn, RetainIQ is the onboarding experience platform that boosts retention by delivering adaptive user flows—validated by a 25% lift in activation rates across 200+ companies.

In this brand positioning statement, each element pulls its weight:

• Target audience: product-led SaaS teams

• Pain point: user churn during onboarding

• Category is defined as an onboarding experience platform

• Unique benefit: adaptive flows that boost retention

• Proof: 25% lift, 200+ companies

Now you need to draft 3–5 versions like this where you use different proof points and test different angles. Read them out loud. Ask yourself: Would this make a founder, marketer, or buyer lean in?

Step 5: Validate your brand positioning statement

Don’t just settle for the brand positioning statement that sounds good in a marketing meeting. You should ideally validate each of your drafts with:

• Customers in interviews

• Sales and support teams who hear objections daily

• Internal stakeholders (especially product and GTM leads)

You can ask questions like:

• “Is this how you’d describe what we do?”

• “Does this reflect the problem we’re solving?”

• “Would this help you pitch the product to someone else?”

Step 6: Finalize and embed

Now that you have a few options, based on your insights, you should choose the strongest version that balances clarity, distinctiveness, and believability. But don’t think your work ends when you finalize the statement. Make sure it’s fully integrated into everything your company does, including:

• Your landing page copy

• Sales decks and onboarding flows

• Product briefs and internal roadmaps

• Content strategy and campaign messaging

This statement therefore becomes second nature to your company, like something every team knows, references, and uses regularly.

5 examples of winning brand positioning statements

Let’s take a look at real and adapted brand positioning statements - and what these brands did to make them work:

1. Asana

“For teams overwhelmed by task chaos, Asana is the workflow hub that keeps work aligned and on track - proven by high-growth teams improving efficiency by 30%.”

Why it works:

• Clear audience for teams struggling with work visibility

• Provides tangible benefit in terms of alignment and efficiency

• Improvements can be quantified and validated by teams

2. Airbnb

“For travelers seeking authentic local experiences, Airbnb is the global platform that connects guests with unique stays, fostering belonging - trusted by over 4 million hosts worldwide.”

Why it works:

• Creates emotional benefit
• Is segment specific
• Has created massive credibility by bringing millions of hosts on board

3. Patagonia

“For eco-conscious outdoor adventurers, Patagonia creates high-quality gear that supports climate activism, backed by decades of environmental leadership and durable design.”

Why it works:

• Purpose-driven, niche-focused, and rooted in proof
• Defines not just what they sell, but why people believe in them

4. Dyson

“For consumers frustrated with underperforming appliances, Dyson engineers high-performance solutions that solve overlooked problems validated through patented technology and independent tests.”

Why it works:

• Addresses specific pain point
• Validated with engineering-led proof
• Strong product differentiation

5. Mailmodo

“For growth teams tired of static email, Mailmodo is the interactive email platform that drives higher engagement through AMP-powered forms and widgets delivering 2X conversions for SaaS brands.”

Why it works:

• Identifies the problem with static emails
• Describes the unique benefit - provision of interactive emails via AMP
• Provides measurable outcomes

5 mistakes to avoid when writing your brand positioning statement

Here are five common mistakes to avoid to keep your brand positioning statement clear, focused, and effective.:

• Don’t be vague: Saying “We help businesses grow” doesn’t tell anyone much.. Growth how? For whom?

• Don’t target everyone: A broad audience weakens your message. Being specific makes your brand more relevant.

• Don’t skip proof: Without real data or evidence, your claims come off as empty promises.

• Don’t write it and forget it: Your statement has to be operationalized in decks, pitches, campaigns, and onboarding.

Internal brand positioning statement checklist

Further to the section on how to draft your brand positioning statement, here is a quick checklist of questions you should ask internally with your team when drafting the statement:

Criteria	Must-Ask Questions
Audience clarity	Is the target audience specific and real?
To ensure category alignment	Is this how buyers already think about the space?
To understand your unique value proposition	What makes this benefit stand out?
Proof	Can we back this with metrics or validation?
Clarity	Can every team member recite this easily?
Validation	Can this be embedded across product, marketing, sales?

Takeaways

A sharp brand positioning statement is what brings strategic focus to your brand. It’s not just a polished line but defines who your brand is for, why it matters, and what makes it distinct. For SaaS and B2B brands especially, it acts as a grounding point, ensuring your messaging is consistent across every channel and team.

When done well, a positioning statement becomes more than just a few words. It serves as a lens: helping the world see your brand clearly, and helping your brand view your market and customer with the same clarity. That shared perspective becomes the foundation for everything that follows - product decisions, go-to-market strategy, and long-term brand equity.