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Imagine you are looking for a city or country on a map. You are looking for the city or country’s position, meaning, you want to know where it is located, and its position relative to other cities and countries.

A company positioning statement is similar, with one crucial difference. The “map” is not standard and you can choose to make it up. Before you do that, check if any industry standards exist. Analyst companies such as Gartner and Forrestor make up “maps” to describe the players in an industry, but you are free to create your own map if you have the marketing muscle to communicate it to and convince all those who need to hear it.

Your company’s positioning statement answers the question, “Why should I work with you and not your competitor?” Obviously, talk is cheap, so you need to back up your positioning statement with proof such as patents, control of scarce resources, top notch talent, intellectual property, installed base, your track record or whatever.

The point of positioning is not to sound good (yes, that’s important), but to be compelling to your customers. You have to be different and better.