When Patagonia ran ads telling customers “Don’t Buy This Jacket,” sales went up 30%. They didn’t just talk about environmental responsibility. They proved it by discouraging purchases during their biggest shopping day of the year.

Most companies do the opposite. They say one thing and do another. Then wonder why customers don’t believe them.

Why Smart Companies Sound Stupid

Your customer’s brain is drowning. Every day, 34 GB of information fights for attention. That’s like watching 9 DVDs simultaneously.

To survive, the mind creates shortcuts. It groups similar things together and ignores small differences.

This is why these positioning statements all sound identical:

“We’re the fastest project management tool”
“We’re the most intuitive project management tool”
“We’re the smartest project management tool”

Your brain reads: “Project management tool, project management tool, project management tool.”

The adjectives vanish.
Only the category remains.

But here’s what most positioning experts miss: This isn’t a messaging problem. It’s a reality problem.

The Trust Equation

Words divided by actions equals believability.

Say you’re “customer-obsessed” while hiding your phone number = zero credibility. Say you’re “transparent” while burying pricing = zero credibility. Say you’re “innovative” while copying competitors = zero credibility.

Smart customers can smell the disconnect immediately.

Four Ways to Position (Only One Works)

Surface Position: Change the words “We’re not a CRM, we’re a relationship accelerator!” Cost: $0. Time: 5 minutes. Impact: None.

Evidence Position: Prove the words
Customer logos, case studies, testimonials that back your claims. Cost: Low. Time: Weeks. Impact: Slight credibility boost.

Action Position: Live the words Design decisions that cost money and prove your position. Cost: High. Time: Months. Impact: Customers notice something different.

System Position: Become the words Your entire business model serves one clear purpose. Cost: Everything. Time: Years. Impact: You own a piece of customer mindspace.

Most companies stop at Surface Position. Winners go all the way to System Position.

How System Position Actually Works

Southwest Airlines built their empire on being different. Now they’re abandoning everything that made them different.

For decades: No assigned seats. No baggage fees. No business class. Every choice served their “democratized flying” position.

But in 2025, they’re flipping everything. Ending “bags fly free.” Adding assigned seating with premium sections. Cutting routes. Charging separate WiFi fees for connecting flights.

The result? Customers are furious. Not because the changes are bad, but because Southwest is becoming exactly like every other airline they chose to avoid.

“Southwest never gave me a reason to shop around,” one longtime customer told reporters. “It was just my go-to… but this is the first time I’ve been shopping around for domestic flights.”

This shows the double-edged sword of strong positioning. When you own something in customers’ minds, abandoning it feels like betrayal. Your most loyal customers become your angriest critics.

Spotify doesn’t claim to know your music taste. They prove it.

Every feature serves music discovery. Daily mixes. Release radar. Discover weekly. Year-end wrapped. The algorithm gets smarter with every song you skip. Apple Music has better sound quality and pays artists more. But Spotify owns music discovery in customer minds.

The Attention Economics

Your customer’s brain has two modes:

Fast Mode: Automatic sorting. “This looks like that thing I already know.”
Slow Mode: Careful analysis. “Wait, this doesn’t fit any pattern I recognize.”

Surface positioning targets Fast Mode. You’re competing with adjectives in a crowded category.

System positioning triggers Slow Mode. When customers can’t quickly categorize your experience, they pay closer attention.

Warby Parker triggered Slow Mode. Home try-on programs didn’t exist in eyewear. The entire customer journey broke expected patterns.

The Mirror Test

Here’s how to know which level you’re operating at:

The Copycat Question:
If a competitor studied you for 30 days, what would they struggle to replicate?

If the answer is “our messaging” or “our features,” you’re at Surface or Evidence level.

If the answer is “our entire way of doing business,” you’re approaching System level.

The Employee Question:
Ask three employees to describe what makes you different. Do they mention the same core thing?

If they give wildly different answers, you lack a gravitational center.

If they all point to the same fundamental difference, you’re building real positioning.

The Money Question:
What do you spend resources on that seems crazy to outsiders?

Amazon spent billions building warehouses when everyone else was asset-light. Netflix spent billions on original content when everyone else licensed existing shows. Zappos spent millions on company culture when everyone else focused on logistics.

The Category Trap

Most positioning advice says, “create a new category.” However, categories are merely labels that customers use to organize their thoughts.

The real work isn’t naming a new category. It’s building an experience so distinct that customers need a new category to describe it.

Uber didn’t win by calling themselves “ridesharing.” They won by making car ownership feel unnecessary in cities.

Airbnb didn’t win by calling themselves “home sharing.” They won by making hotels feel impersonal and overpriced.

What This Means for You

Stop asking “How do we say we’re different?”

Start asking “How do we become different?”

The answer lives in your business model. In your cost structure. In what you choose not to do. In decisions that competitors would consider stupid.

When your actions and words align, customers don’t need to trust what you say. They can see what you do.

And seeing beats hearing every time.

Your Next Move

Pick one thing your company stands for.

Now audit every decision through that lens:

• Hiring practices
• Product features
• Pricing model
• Customer service policies
• Office design
• Marketing channels

How many of these actually serve your stated position?

If the answer is “some,” you’re at the Action level. If the answer is “all,” you’re approaching the System level. If the answer is “none,” you’re still playing word games.

The companies that win don’t just talk differently. They think differently, operate differently, and make different trade-offs.

They don’t break patterns with clever copy. They break patterns with bold choices.

Stop saying you’re different. Start being different.