Read the service choice behind each positioning statement.
Read a positioning example as a set of service decisions, not a sentence to copy. Its usefulness comes from connecting a customer need to a promise the business can deliver within stated limits.
The three fictional businesses below make different choices about service, scope and support. Use them to examine your own offer, rather than copy a claim that belongs to someone else.
- Start with the customer’s other options.
- Choose one useful difference you can deliver.
- Write a plain statement with clear limits.
- Check the evidence before using the words.
Each statement needs a customer, a limit and support.
A good example explains what the business will do and what it will leave out. Without that boundary, broad promises can make every project sound like a fit.
Include the option to keep things as they are.
April Dunford’s guidance on competitive alternatives includes the customer’s current way of solving the problem. We use that idea here to compare service choices, not to rank businesses.
“What would a customer do if your offering didn’t exist?”
Ask which choice a customer made last time and why. A recent decision gives you more to work with than a list of companies that might compete someday.
Keep the customer need separate from the offer.
Strategyzer’s Value Proposition Canvas helps separate customer tasks from the service you propose. In each example, look for that match and note which facts still need checking.
Cedar Heating chooses scheduled visits.
Cedar Heating is a fictional team with room for planned maintenance but no round-the-clock response cover. The owner wants customers to understand that limit before requesting a visit.
Show what changes between the two drafts.
The first draft says, “Heating help whenever you need it.” That could lead a homeowner to expect an emergency service the team does not provide.
The revised draft says, “Plan a routine heating visit. Share your address and system details so we can confirm the scope and available appointments.”
- Customer: a homeowner planning maintenance.
- Other option: wait until a fault forces a decision.
- Useful difference: a defined visit and booking process.
- Limit: no emergency response promise.
The message follows an actual service choice. Cedar would still need to check its service area, visit scope and diary before using this wording in public.
Moss Web Studio focuses on a site the owner can manage.
Moss Web Studio is a fictional business serving owners who need a small website they can update themselves. It chooses a defined build and handover rather than ongoing content management.
Make the process part of the offer.
Its draft says, “A small business website with a clear handover. We agree the page scope, build the site and show your named editor how to update it.”
This choice suits a reader who wants ownership of day-to-day changes. It may be a poor fit for someone who wants every update handled by an outside team.
- Customer: an owner with a named site editor.
- Other option: keep paying for each small change.
- Useful difference: agreed editor training and handover materials.
- Limit: ongoing publishing sits outside the build.
Dunford’s examples of strengths in different markets explain why the same feature can matter differently to different buyers. In this fictional case, self-management is useful only if someone can take it on.
An original Still Matter planning diagram
The same feature can create a different choice.
Owner can edit
Training and clear controls support routine changes.
Owner lacks time
A managed service may fit the work better.
Decision to check
Who will make updates after handover?
Field Accountancy gives new owners a defined starting point.
Field Accountancy is a fictional practice building a first-year bookkeeping setup service. It aims to help a new owner agree records, responsibilities and a review routine.
Name the work without promising an outcome.
Its draft says, “Set up a bookkeeping routine for your first year. We agree the records you need, who maintains them and when we review the work together.”
A real practice would check qualifications, service terms and the client’s needs before using this offer. The example makes no claim about tax savings or financial results.
- Customer: a new owner without an agreed record-keeping routine.
- Other option: keep scattered records until a deadline approaches.
- Useful difference: a defined setup and review process.
- Limit: specialist advice needs its own agreed scope.
Notice that the examples do not compete by claiming to be best. Each shows a specific service choice that could make sense for one reader and less sense for another.
Write your version from service facts and open questions.
Write a rough version using your own service facts. Start with the person, the task and the other option, then explain the part of your offer that helps.
Separate facts from guesses.
Strategyzer’s Test Card records an assumption, a test, a measure and a threshold. Use that discipline when a draft depends on a customer need you have not yet checked.
An original Still Matter planning diagram
Write. Check. Revise.
Write the choice
Who needs the service, and what would they do instead?
Check the support
Which service facts are known, and which needs are still guesses?
Revise the promise
Keep what the team can deliver and remove unsupported claims.
Show the draft to a few people who resemble the intended reader. Ask them to explain the offer, its limits and what they would do next.
The FTC’s small-business advertising guidance explains why factual claims need support. Record the basis for each claim before publishing words such as fastest or guaranteed.
Carry the choice into the places people use it.
Make the offer easy to recognise across your site and proposals. NN/G’s guidance on recognition and recall supports showing useful information rather than making people remember it.
For the underlying choice, read why positioning matters. Then use the message framework to write copy, or check rebrand risks before changing the identity.
A new message need not mean a new website. Use repair, refresh or rebuild to judge that separate decision.
Frequently asked questions.
A sample statement sounds right for us. Which parts need checking before we adapt it?
Check the audience, service details, limits and supporting facts against your business. Borrow the reasoning, then write an offer you can deliver rather than adopting another example’s invented circumstances.
We offer editor training, but customers rarely use it. Is that a useful difference?
Only if it fits the customer’s needs and capacity. Training may matter to an owner who wants routine control, while managed updates may fit someone who lacks time to make changes.
Two services make different promises. Should they share one positioning statement?
Give each service-and-audience pairing its own choice record first. Combine them only where the shared explanation remains accurate; separate promises may need separate page copy to avoid confusing scope.
Glossary.
- Positioning example
- A worked account of whom an offer serves, how it fits a choice and what supports it.
- Trade-off
- The work or promise a business leaves out when it chooses a direction.
- Alternative
- Another way a customer could handle the task, including keeping their current process.
- Working hypothesis
- An idea you plan to check, rather than a fact you already know.
- Brand positioning
- The choice of whom you serve and how your offer fits the other options they consider.
Sources and method.
This guide combines Still Matter’s practical advice with public primary sources checked 14 October 2026. All named service-business examples are fictional and show choices, not measured client results.
About Jake Tripp.
Jake Tripp is the owner of Still Matter. He helps businesses connect brand strategy, identity, websites, content and practical marketing systems.
He works on his own brands and client projects. His focus is clearer decisions and work that is easier to manage.
Here, he writes about useful websites and content your team can maintain.
Learn more about the author