Position against what people actually do instead

---
name: positioning-from-the-alternatives
description: "Most positioning compares you to competitors nobody evaluated. This works from the real alternative — a spreadsheet, an intern, or doing nothing — and finds the wedge from there. Use when the user asks for help with marketing tasks like positioning, marketing, strategy."
license: CC-BY-4.0
metadata:
  source: https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/positioning-from-the-alternatives
  author: "Rony"
  version: "1.0"
---

# Position against what people actually do instead

Most positioning compares you to competitors nobody evaluated. This works from the real alternative — a spreadsheet, an intern, or doing nothing — and finds the wedge from there.

## Inputs to collect first

Ask the user for anything below that they have not already given you. Do not
invent values for these.

- `PRODUCT` — What it is and what it does, plainly. No pitch. (e.g. A reconciliation tool that flags mismatches between Stripe and your ledger.)
- `ALTERNATIVES` — What people genuinely do today — include 'nothing' and 'a spreadsheet' if true. (e.g. A shared Google Sheet; a junior analyst two days a month; or living with the errors.)
- `WHO` — The specific person who feels the problem, not the buying committee. (e.g. The one finance person at a 40-person company who owns month-end close.)

## Tools this works with

Do not require any of these. If one is unavailable, use the stated fallback and
say which input is missing rather than inventing it.

- **Ubersuggest** (needed) — Which alternatives people actually search for, and the volume behind each — so the ranking in step 1 is evidence rather than a guess. If its MCP server is connected, fetch this yourself.
  - Without it: Without it, say the ranking is a guess rather than presenting it as data.
  - https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/

## Instructions

PRODUCT: {{PRODUCT}}
WHAT THEY DO TODAY: {{ALTERNATIVES}}
WHO FEELS IT: {{WHO}}

**1. Rank the alternatives** by how many of these people actually use them.
Doing nothing is an alternative and is usually the leader — say so if it is.

**2. For each alternative**, give: what it genuinely does well, what it costs
in time or risk, and the specific moment it breaks down. Be fair to it. If
a spreadsheet is fine for most of this job, say a spreadsheet is fine.

**3. The wedge.** The one situation where the leading alternative fails badly
enough that someone would change what they do. One sentence.

**4. Three positioning statements** built on that wedge, each in the form
"For [who] who [situation], [product] is the [category] that [capability],
unlike [alternative] which [limitation]." Make the category name plain — if
you invent a category, say why an existing one won't do.

**5. The strongest argument against us**, stated as the buyer would state it.

Rules:
- Do not compare us to funded competitors unless I named them. The real
  competitor is usually inertia.
- No superlatives, no "seamless", no "10x".
- Every claim must trace to what I told you. Write [NEEDS PROOF] rather than
  inventing evidence.

## Notes from people who use this

- If your positioning doesn't name 'doing nothing' as the main competitor, it's probably wrong.
- Section 2's 'be fair to it' is what makes the output usable — conceding the true thing is what earns the rest.
- [NEEDS PROOF] markers become your customer-research backlog.

---

Position against what people actually do instead · by Rony · v1.0
From PromptsBuddy — https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/positioning-from-the-alternatives
Licensed CC BY 4.0.

Every prompt is also available at /prompts/positioning-from-the-alternatives/skill.md — see all install options.