Value proposition vs positioning statement
In the positioning method we use, a value proposition says what a buyer gets from your product. A positioning statement is bigger. It names who the product is for, what it beats, the category it sits in, and the value it gives. Value is one of five parts, and it fills one line of the statement.
Last updated by Omair Dawood.
The difference, side by side
In our view, a value proposition answers "what do I get?". A positioning statement answers "why this instead of what I use now?". The table compares the two as our positioning method treats them.
| Value proposition | Positioning statement | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | What does the buyer get? | Who is it for, what does it beat, how should they see it, and what do they get? |
| Where it comes from | One step of the method: turning attributes into value | The whole method, from alternatives to category |
| Size | One line per unique attribute | Six short lines, plus the reasoning behind each choice |
| Names a rival? | No | Yes. The Unlike line names the top alternative |
| Where it sits | The "that" line of the statement | The source that site and landing copy are written from |
| Its test | A buyer would notice the value. If not, the attribute is deleted | It names one specific alternative, never "competitors" |
In our view, the value line and the Unlike line need each other, because a value only means something next to the thing a buyer would use instead.
How the value line gets made, step by step
Steps 1 to 5 follow the positioning method April Dunford sets out in her book Obviously Awesome (2019). Her books page says it breaks positioning into five component pieces (aprildunford.com/books, read 2026-10-13). The words below are ours. Step 6 is the assembly step our own method adds. Our full method has nine steps: it starts by loading the context and sources, runs a proof check just before assembly, and ends with a hand-off of the open questions. The how-to guide walks through all of them.
- List what buyers do instead. These are the competitive alternatives, taken from evidence such as a buyer quote or a lost deal. The method always adds two: doing nothing, and a person with a spreadsheet.
- Isolate the attributes only you have. Keep an attribute only if someone outside the company could confirm it by looking, trying or reading.
- Turn each attribute into value. Write one line per attribute, phrased as what the buyer gets, not what the product has. An attribute with no value a buyer would notice is deleted. Two attributes that give the same value are merged, because value is the unit that matters downstream.
- Find who cares a lot about that value. Describe their situation, their constraint and what is on fire this quarter.
- Name the market category. Pick the frame that tells a buyer what to compare you to.
- Assemble the statement. Value fills the "that" line. The Unlike line names the top alternative from step 1. The For, Who, Unlike sentence shape comes from Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm (1991).
So a value proposition is the output of step 3. A positioning statement is the output of all six.
Worked sample: Stripe's homepage
"Financial infrastructure to grow your revenue. Accept payments, handle business banking, and implement custom revenue models—from your first transaction to your billionth."
Read on . Source: Stripe homepage
That is the page's H1, as fetched. The page marks "banking" with a footnote number, left out here. The hero copy may differ by region or change between visits; this is the version we fetched.
What the copy does well. "Grow your revenue" is a value line in the method's sense, because it names what the buyer gets. The second sentence lists three things the product does: accept payments, handle business banking, implement custom revenue models. Those are attribute candidates for step 2. "Financial infrastructure" commits to a category, which is step 5 done in two words.
What is missing, against the steps. The hero is a strong value proposition, but it is not a positioning statement. Nothing names what the reader uses today, so there is no Unlike. "From your first transaction to your billionth" covers every size of business. Step 4 asks for the buyer who cares most, described by situation. And one value line serves three attributes, so a reader cannot tell which attribute earns the revenue growth.
The fix, as a filled-in statement. Each slot uses the page's own words, lightly rephrased to fit the line, or stays a question. The public page does not say who Stripe's buyers would use instead.
For [the buyer who cares most about this value: needs evidence]
who [the situation or pressure they are in: needs evidence]
Stripe is financial infrastructure
that helps a business grow its revenue
Unlike [what these buyers use today: needs evidence]
Stripe [the difference, traced to an attribute an outsider can check: needs evidence]The page fills two of the six lines. That is the gap between a value proposition and a positioning statement, shown on one hero.
Common mistakes
- Calling the value proposition your positioning. If it has no Unlike line, it is one line of the statement. Run the alternatives step before you call it done.
- Writing value as features. "Has an API" is an attribute. The method asks for what the buyer gets from it, in their terms.
- Keeping value nobody would notice. If a buyer would not pay attention to the value, the method deletes the attribute behind it as trivia.
- Writing two value lines that say the same thing. The method merges the attributes behind them into one value line.
- Writing the value before the alternatives. In our view, value written first turns into a list of adjectives. Know what you are being compared to, then say what the buyer gets.
- Pasting the statement onto the homepage. In our method, site copy is written on top of a finished positioning. The statement is the brief that the copy is written from.
Questions people ask
How is a positioning statement different from a value proposition?
In our method, a value proposition is one part of a positioning statement. It says what the buyer gets. The statement adds who the product is for, the alternative it beats, and the category that frames it. Value fills the "that" line and the Unlike line names the rival. In our view, a value line on its own is a promise with nothing to compare it to.
Sources
- Obviously Awesome, April Dunford, 2019 (book)
- April Dunford, Books, https://www.aprildunford.com/books, read 2026-10-13
- Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore, 1991 (book)
- Stripe homepage, https://stripe.com/, read 2026-10-13
- Perplexity follow-up suggestion on "what is a positioning statement", read 2026-10-13
- Our positioning-statement method skill and the Positioning statement tool on this site (ours, read 2026-10-13)
Write yours with the Positioning statement tool
The tool asks four things: what your product does today, what buyers use instead, how you know they do, and what you say about yourselves now. It needs proof for at least two alternatives, and it only positions you against what buyers really do. You get four things back. They are a For, Who, Unlike statement, the five steps of April Dunford's method with reasons, what you should not claim yet, and questions only you can answer. It takes about 3 minutes of typing.