Positioning can feel slippery. You know it matters, but how do you know if you’re actually getting it right?
This post will show you what winning positioning looks like in practice — using real brand examples — and give you a clear checklist to test your own. By the end, you’ll be able to answer three critical questions:
Does our positioning instantly tell people who we are, what we do, and why it matters?
Does it clearly separate us from competitors?
Can our customers repeat it back in their own words?
If you’ve ever wondered whether your message is sharp enough to stick, this is for you.
Slack positioned itself with radical clarity:
“Slack is where work flows. It’s where the people you need, the information you share, and the tools you use come together to get things done.”
“Make work life simpler, more pleasant and more productive.”
Skype once peaked at around 300 million users in 2016, but its base collapsed as competitors gained traction. By 2023, Microsoft reported just 36 million worldwide users. During that same period, new entrants like Slack, Zoom, WhatsApp calling, and Microsoft’s own Teams surged, leaving Skype unable to hold its position according to Wierd.
Competitor Contrast: Skype, which dominated workplace communication for years, leaned heavily on features like video calling and file sharing. Its positioning lacked a clear, differentiated promise. As a result, many businesses saw it as a clunky utility rather than a productivity enabler. Slack stood apart by telling a story about reducing workplace chaos — not just sending messages.
“Real. We always feature real women as they truly are.”
“We strive to represent the diversity of all women.
The Real Beauty campaign wasn’t just a clever ad. It changed the trajectory of Dove’s business. Within three years of launch, sales grew from $2.5 billion to more than $4 billion. The 2013 “Real Beauty Sketches” video became one of the most-watched ads in history, reaching 163 million global views and creating 4.6 billion earned media impressions.
Competitor Contrast: At the same time, brands like L'Oréal emphasized aspirational beauty with slogans like "Because you're worth it." While memorable, the positioning leaned on glamour and idealized images which many consumers felt disconnected from. Dove's positioning resonated by rejecting those ideals and aligning with real, everyday beauty.
Airtable could have gone to market as a spreadsheet alternative. Instead, it repositioned itself as something bigger:
“The AI-native app platform, where the magic of vibe coding meets enterprise reliability.”
“Empower teams to build their most important workflows across shared data and to supercharge efficiency and automations with Airtable AI.”
Airtable’s shift from “better spreadsheets” to “no-code app platform” has paid off in measurable ways. In the past year, annual recurring revenue grew to $478 million, while enterprise clients expanded at 100% year-over-year growth with a remarkable 170% net dollar retention. More than 450,000 organizations now use Airtable, and in 2024 the company reached cash flow positivity while still growing nearly 30% annually.
Competitor Contrast: Google Sheets is feature-rich and free, but its positioning is essentially "Excel in the cloud." There's little emotional pull or strategic story, so it's treated as a utility. Airtable reframed itself as a category creator, and in doing so, it escaped being seen as "just another spreadsheet."
In a crowded field of video conferencing tools, Zoom focused on a surprisingly human promise:
“From Meetings to Zoom Phone, we bring people together on a unified platform and deliver happiness.”
“The greatest happiness comes from making others happy.”
Zoom’s promise of simple, reliable connection fueled explosive growth, rising from 10 million daily meeting participants in 2019 to over 300 million in 2020. Today, it projects nearly $4.8 billion in annual revenue, driven by hybrid work and AI tools. By focusing on ease, cross-device consistency, and brand preference, Zoom shows how positioning rooted in clarity and trust can scale globally.
Competitor Contrast: WebEx emphasized enterprise-grade security and integrations. While important, this positioning lacked emotional resonance for everyday users. It felt technical, not human. Zoom's message of "happiness" and simplicity made it the tool people reached for first — even when competitors had more functionality.
Ask yourself the following questions. Use AI to analyze sales recordings to help identify if these patterns exist.
Common pitfalls when developing positioning:
Here is a simple process to test your positioning:
Slack, Dove, Airtable, and Zoom didn’t succeed by luck. They succeeded because they made deliberate strategic positioning choices.
Simplified a crowded space with clarity
Dove Stood apart by owning a belief
Turned a technical product into an emotional promise
Reframed itself as a platform, not a tool
Meanwhile, their competitors relied on features, functionality, or generic benefits. Their positioning didn’t cut through, and it showed.
That’s the heart of Strategy in Action: when you choose a clear position, you stop competing on noise and start being remembered for what matters.
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