Recently, a well-regarded CMO documented how he led a 3-week positioning sprint for his company. He shared the steps: the voice of market interviews, cross-functional workshops, internal alignment sessions, and then immediate rollout into marketing assets: homepage, events, decks, and messaging.

(Read this for context.)

The response? Applause. Lots of it.

Fast, cross-functional, and highly visual. Check, check, check.

But let’s pause and look deeper. Because this is a perfect example of where most positioning work stops and why most positioning work underperforms.

The approach: what worked

Let’s give credit where it’s due.

• Speed over analysis paralysis. 3 weeks is tight, and in most orgs, decision-making drags. So yes, rapid iteration beats theoretical perfection.
• Tight feedback loops. Instead of a reveal at the end, stakeholders were included early and often. That builds buy-in.
• Execution focus. The positioning wasn’t left in a slide deck. It was put into play at a trade show, on the homepage, in sales tools. That’s more than most get to.

So far, so good.

But here’s the part that’s missing:

None of this reflects positioning as a strategic foundation.
It treats it as a messaging upgrade.

The language, the process, the rollout: all of it operated within one “P” of the 4 Ps: Promotion.

This is what happens when CMOs are siloed to marketing. They’re given “voice and visuals,” but not the mandate to shape what the business is fundamentally about.

What positioning is not:

• It’s not a homepage headline
• It’s not the tagline at your booth
• It’s not the narrative in your sales deck

Those are expressions of positioning.
They are not positioning itself.

Positioning is a business decision.

It lives upstream of copy. It answers foundational questions:

• What concept do we want to own in the market?
• What problem do we solve in a way no one else can?
• Who are we for and who are we willing to ignore?
• How should our product evolve to reflect this?
• How does our pricing, packaging, sales model, and hiring reinforce this position?

These are not messaging questions.
They are strategic decisions that shape the entire company.

That’s the distinction most CMOs miss and it’s not entirely their fault.
In many orgs, they’re not allowed to touch those areas.

But if positioning lives in the hands of someone who only owns Promotion, it will always be limited to how we talk not who we are.

What’s the better approach?

Let’s walk through it:

Step 1: Treat positioning as a leadership function

If you’re doing positioning without your CEO, you’re not doing positioning. You’re doing messaging. The leadership team must align on the bet the business is making.

Step 2: Make expensive decisions

Positioning means choosing what to build and what not to. Who to serve, and who to walk away from. These are bets. They should feel uncomfortable.

Step 3: Decide what concept you want to own

Not category. Concept. Something bigger than the product. Something a customer wants to identify with. Amazon owns “convenience.” Tesla owns “the future.” You’re not competing on features, you’re competing for mental real estate.

Step 4: Align every function

Product needs to ship things that reinforce the position. Sales needs to qualify through that lens. Ops needs to prioritize accordingly. Otherwise, positioning is a story you tell, not a reality you live.

Step 5: Then, and only then, message it

Now you write the homepage. Now you build the sales deck. Now you launch the campaign. These are expressions of your position: not the position itself.

Why does this matter?

Because right now, we’re in a market where everyone sounds the same.

AI is the new digital. Every company says it’s faster, smarter, more efficient.

Positioning is the only way out of the noise.
But only if it drives real business decisions.
Only if it lives above messaging and not trapped inside it.

FinalLY

The positioning work we saw was clean, well-documented, and internally aligned.

But it’s Level 1 or 2 at best.
Saying it. Proving it.
Not being it. Not owning it.

Want to play at Level 4?

Ask not, “What should we say?”
Ask, “What are we willing to be?”

That’s where positioning lives.
That’s the work.