Obviously Awesome
How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
by April Dunford
“In this valuable book, April Dunford proves that products can be transformed by changing their context. Obviously Awesome is a must-read for any founder, marketer, or salesperson struggling to make their product stand out in crowded markets. We spend a lot of time talking about product and engineering, and not enough time thinking about marketing and positioning—this book can help change that.”
Your Product Isn't a Special Snowflake (And That's a Good Thing)
You and your team have built something amazing. It’s innovative, powerful, and elegantly designed. There’s just one problem: customers don’t seem to get it. They compare you to the wrong competitors, get hung up on the wrong features, and ask, “So… what is this, exactly?” When this happens, our first instinct is to explain more—to add more features, create more content, and talk louder. We believe our product is a special snowflake that defies categorization.
According to product positioning expert April Dunford, that’s precisely the wrong approach. In her book Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It, she argues that the problem isn't the product, it’s the context. Customers need a frame of reference to understand what your product is and why they should care. Positioning is the deliberate act of creating that context. This summary will walk you through Dunford’s methodical process for finding the perfect frame for your product so that its value becomes, well, obvious.
What You'll Learn
Why great products with bad positioning will always fail.
How to find the "secret sauce" by starting with your happiest customers.
The immense power of choosing a market category to set customer expectations.
A step-by-step process to move from a features list to a compelling value proposition.
How to craft a positioning narrative that instantly clicks with buyers.
Stop Explaining, Start Positioning: Why Context Is King
Dunford’s core argument is simple: positioning is not a marketing task you do after the product is built. It’s the foundation upon which all marketing and sales messaging rests. Without it, you are forcing your customers to do the hard work of figuring out where you fit in the market, and they will almost always get it wrong.
Most companies fall into one of two traps. They either use the positioning they stumbled into by default, or they try to create a brand-new market category for themselves, which is incredibly difficult and expensive. Dunford argues that the solution is to consciously and deliberately choose a market frame that makes your unique strengths shine.
Imagine a startup creates a new software tool for writers. It has a feature for organizing notes, a calendar for deadlines, and a way to collaborate with editors. They could position it as a "better word processor." But in that category, they are competing with Google Docs and Microsoft Word—a battle they are destined to lose. The features customers expect in that category (like advanced formatting) might not be their strengths.
However, if they position it as "Project Management for Authors," the entire context shifts. Suddenly, their note organization, deadlines, and collaboration features are not just nice-to-haves; they are the core, expected features. They are no longer a weak word processor but a strong project management tool for a specific niche. That is the power of positioning.
Find Your Fanatics: Anchor Your Positioning in Your Best Customers
So where do you start? Dunford insists you don't start with a blank whiteboard, brainstorming clever taglines. You start with your happiest, most engaged customers. These are the people who already "get" your product. They have done the hard work of positioning it in their own minds. Your job is to extract that magic and codify it.
The process involves deep listening. You need to understand:
What was life like before they used your product?
What were the "competitive alternatives" they considered? Note: this isn't just direct competitors. For a new budgeting app, the alternative might be a spreadsheet, a pen and paper, or just giving up and not budgeting at all.
What unique attributes of your product made them choose it over the alternatives?
What is the real value they get from those attributes? How has their life improved?
By starting with this group, you anchor your positioning in real-world value, not in your own team's biased assumptions. You might discover that the feature you thought was a minor add-on is the single most important reason your best customers chose you.
The 5 Components of Effective Positioning
April Dunford breaks positioning down into five core building blocks. Understanding and defining each one is critical to nailing your message.
Competitive Alternatives: What would your customers do or use if your solution didn't exist? (Hint: It’s often not a direct competitor).
Unique Attributes: What features or capabilities does your product have that the alternatives do not? This is your "special sauce."
Value: What is the tangible benefit that those unique attributes deliver to customers? How does it make their life better, save them money, or reduce their risk?
Target Market Characteristics: What are the defining qualities of the group of customers who care most about the value you deliver? This is your niche.
Market Category: What market do you operate in? This sets the context and expectations for buyers. It's the frame for your story.
Choose Your Arena: How Market Categories Define Your Competition
Of the five components, the most powerful and often overlooked is the Market Category. This is the box you put your product in. It tells customers what to expect and who to compare you to. Dunford outlines a clear process for choosing your category:
Own a Category You Can Win: Be the best in a small pond rather than a small fish in a massive ocean.
Use a Category People Already Understand: If possible, use an existing category so you don't have to spend millions educating the market on what it is.
Frame Your Strengths: Choose the category that makes your unique features look like the most important ones.
A small company I know built an amazing internal communications tool. At first, they called it "an internal social network." Customers were confused and compared them to Facebook, asking for features like photo albums. The team was frustrated. After re-evaluating, they repositioned the product as a "knowledge management system for remote teams." Instantly, the conversations with customers changed. The focus shifted to their strengths: search, documentation, and integration with tools like Slack and Asana. They didn't change the product; they changed the box it was in.
Show Your Stripes: Differentiate with Value, Not Just Features
Once you have your best-fit customers, alternatives, unique attributes, and market category, you can finally articulate your value. The key is to connect your features to a benefit that customers actually care about. A common mistake is to lead with features. "We have a 256-bit encrypted database!"
The customer’s immediate reaction is, "So what?"
A well-positioned company translates that feature into value: "We offer military-grade security so you can be confident your sensitive client data is always protected."
Your positioning should be a simple narrative that flows through these components. It might sound something like this: "For [target customers] who struggle with [problem], our product is a [market category] that provides [key benefit]. Unlike [alternative], we have [unique feature], which means you can [experience new value]." This isn't a tagline, but the foundational story that all of your marketing and sales messaging will be built upon.
Quick Start Guide to Nailing Your Positioning
Ready to make your product obviously awesome? Follow this simplified four-step process inspired by the book.
Form Your Positioning Team: Gather a small, cross-functional group (from marketing, sales, product, and leadership). Positioning is a team sport, not a solo activity.
Identify Your Super Fans: List 10-15 customers who absolutely love your product. These are people who would be genuinely upset if your service disappeared tomorrow.
Interview for Context: Talk to those customers. Don't ask if they "like" your product. Ask them how they would describe it to a friend, what they were using before, and what tangible results they've seen since switching. Dig for their "aha!" moment.
Workshop the 5 Components: As a team, use the interview insights to fill in the blanks for the five components of positioning. Debate the market category. Argue about the true value. The goal is to distill the feedback into a clear, concise positioning canvas. Test your new narrative on new prospects and see if it clicks.
Final Reflections
Obviously Awesome is a masterclass in turning a complex, often misunderstood marketing concept into a clear, actionable process. April Dunford provides a much-needed antidote to the vague, jargon-filled advice that usually surrounds product positioning. Her book is a reminder that the best marketing isn't about having the cleverest tagline or the biggest budget; it's about building a clear context that allows the inherent value of your product to shine through. By following her methodical steps, any team can move from being misunderstood to being obviously awesome.
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