Business Positioning: The Po-X-itioning Test
Most companies confuse brand positioning with business positioning. They polish their messaging, refine their visuals, and perfect their tone of voice. Meanwhile, they continue doing exactly what everyone else does. There is no X-factor.
The real question isn’t about communications. It’s about strategic choices: where do you stand in the customer’s mind, against competitors, and against alternative solutions?
The Problem: Everyone Says the Same Thing
I’m currently working with healthcare providers, and here’s what I keep hearing: quality medical staff, personal treatment, patient-oriented approach. Every single company claims these exact things. Yet not one offers hard proof or convinces me they’re genuinely better than the alternatives.
Why? Because they’re all positioning on the same generic attributes. They’re competing in a space where differentiation has become impossible.
The Po-X-itioning Questions
Here’s a simple test. Ask yourself three questions about your business:
1. What do we do that nobody else is doing?
2. What do we not do that almost everyone else is doing?
3. Why should the customer care?
These questions force you to choose a position away from the competition. And they give your customer a reason to believe you’re different.
Real Examples, Real Positioning
Consider HEMA. They position themselves as ‘Dutch design for the millions’: “Simple, affordable, designed by us. Because we keep it super simple, we can offer you quality products with a Dutch twist at good prices.” It’s not just a claim. Their entire operation reflects this choice.
Or Aldi. While other supermarkets neatly arrange products on shelves, Aldi leaves items in boxes. Why? Because they don’t have to unpack them. This operational choice translates directly to lower prices for the same quality. Simple. Clear. Different.
Why This Matters
True business positioning isn’t about what you say. It’s about what you choose to do differently, and crucially, what you choose not to do.
When HEMA talks about simplicity, you see it in their stores, their product range, their service model. When Aldi talks about efficiency, you experience it in every aspect of shopping there.
That’s the power of Po-X-itioning: it aligns your strategic choices with customer value in a way that competitors can’t easily copy.
The Hard Part
Most businesses struggle with this because real positioning requires trade-offs. It means saying no to certain customers, certain products, or certain ways of doing business. It means accepting that not everyone will be your customer.
That’s uncomfortable. But it’s necessary. Positioning starts with strategy, not communication.
Ready to rethink your position? Start with those three questions. If you can’t answer them clearly, you don’t have a positioning yet. You just have a business that’s trying to compete. And that’s a very different challenge.
