You will write a positioning statement and check it against the alternatives and the target customer you defined.
You have a target customer from lesson 3.1, a job from lesson 3.2, and a list of alternatives and attributes from lesson 3.3. Each one is a decision. This exercise puts them into one statement you can check, share with anyone who helps you, and use as the source for every message you write later. It takes about twenty-five minutes, plus a short conversation with one person.
A positioning statement is an internal tool. It is not a slogan and you will not print it on a signboard. Its job is to make sure that you, and anyone who posts or writes for you, say the same specific thing every time.
Use this template, one phrase per blank:
For [this customer], who has [this problem], we offer [this], which unlike [these alternatives] does [this].
Take each blank from work you have already done. The customer comes from your two-sentence target. The problem comes from the job you wrote, ideally in your customer's words. What you offer is your product described plainly. The alternatives are the ones from lesson 3.3. The last blank is your main attribute and the value it gives.
Write a first version without worrying about style. It will be long and clumsy, and that is fine at this stage.
Read each phrase and ask whether a competitor could say it and still be telling the truth. If they could, it is too vague. "Quality maths tuition" fits every centre in the country. "Maths classes for Primary 4 to 6 that run until 9pm, with homework done in class" fits very few.
Anyone can copy your words, so the test is whether they could use them honestly. A centre without late classes can't claim them without lying to parents, and that is the level of detail you want.
Next, go through the statement and delete words like best, quality, trusted, premium, affordable, experienced, passionate and leading. Every competitor uses them, so they tell the reader nothing. When you delete one, ask what fact it was standing in for. "Experienced teachers" might really mean "every teacher has taught primary maths for at least five years". If that fact is true and matters to your customer, use it. If not, leave the adjective out and don't replace it.
Find one person who fits your target customer. A customer works, and so does someone who matches the description but has never bought from you. Read the statement aloud, then ask one question: "What do you think we do?"
Don't explain it first and don't correct them while they answer. Write down what they say, as close to word for word as you can. If they describe your business accurately, the statement works. If they describe something different, or sound unsure, the statement needs another pass. Pay attention to any words they use that you didn't, because those may be better than yours. Module 4 builds on exactly this kind of reaction.
Priya runs a maths centre in Tampines. Her first draft read:
For parents who want the best for their children, who are worried about maths, we offer quality small-group tuition with experienced and caring teachers, which unlike other centres gives personal attention to every student.
Almost every phrase failed step 2, since any centre could say it. After the cuts, it read:
For working parents in Tampines whose child in Primary 4 to 6 is falling behind in maths and who get home too late to help with homework, we offer small-group classes of up to six children that run until 9pm on weekdays, with homework finished in class, which unlike the chain centre at the mall, a private tutor or doing it yourself with online videos, gives parents their evenings back and a weekly note on what their child covered.
It is longer and much less elegant, which doesn't matter, because nobody outside the business will read it in this form.
She read it to a mother she knew from her own block, whose son was in Primary 5 and who had never used the centre. The mother said: "So it's tuition for kids whose parents work late, and the homework gets done there so you don't fight about it at home." Priya noted two things. The mother had understood it, and she had used the phrase "don't fight about it at home", which was more direct than anything in the statement.
A finished statement fills every blank, contains no generic adjectives, names real alternatives, and has been heard by at least one person from your target group whose reaction you wrote down. When you start writing it up, keep your first draft beside the final one. Seeing what you cut is one of the clearest records of how your thinking changed in this module.
Write your positioning statement using the template, cut every generic adjective, and record the reaction of one person from your target group.
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