Position Position Strategy For a New Product in the Market

By Jim Butz, Sales and Marketing expert with over 20 years of real world experience strategizing and executing sales and marketing plans for startups, small business and nonprofits

Positioning a new product in the market is one of the most critical steps in any business launch—but it’s also one of the most misunderstood. While it's tempting to jump straight into tactics like choosing marketing channels or building a website, effective product positioning starts well before that.

The start of a new product

To position a product successfully, you need to answer a fundamental question: How do we want our customers to perceive this product compared to other options in the market? That answer is built on a deep understanding of your target audience, market dynamics, and the unique value your product delivers. These are all pieces that should be part of your Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.

Your Target Market and Business Model Impacts product positioning strategy

It is not clear in the question about the target market and business model - but before you can position anything, you need clarity on who you're targeting and how you intend to reach them. Are you selling to businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C)? Is your product serving a niche or a mass market? The specifics of your target market shape everything that comes next—from your pricing and messaging to your marketing and sales channels. As you develop your GTM strategy you are going to want to create it against the backdrop of the target market and business model. 

Build a Solid Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy Then Develop The Positioning

With your target market in focus, the next step is to develop a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. Your GTM strategy answers key strategic questions like: Why does this product need to exist? What problems does it solve, and for whom? To answer those questions you are going to want to make sure you have done lots of research prior. That research should include: understanding target audience(s), competitive analysis, and the value proposition components. It should be noted that these pieces may all interplay with each other and it could impact each other. Positioning is the cornerstone of your go-to-market (GTM) strategy, shaping how your product is perceived relative to competing solutions. It requires a deep understanding of your customers’ pain points and priorities, a differentiated message grounded in competitive analysis, and consistent storytelling that aligns with your value proposition. At its core, effective positioning lives at the intersection of what your product does best, what your audience cares most about, and what the competition overlooks. This isn’t a step to rush—your brand voice, messaging hierarchy, product copy, and even design language should all be intentional reflections of your positioning.

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A Quick Story

We worked with a behavioral health electronic health record (EHR) company that served multiple industries. When we worked with outpatient mental health agencies (one target market) we positioned the product based on its reporting capabilities, due to the competitors and solving the pain points they needed. Using the exact same product when we worked with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) organizations (another target audience) we didn’t even call it an EHR and we positioned the simplicity of the system -because  it was different competitors and there were different pain points. 

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Don’t Forget To Refine Product Positioning – Post-Launch

Positioning doesn’t end at launch—in fact, some of the most valuable insights emerge only after your product reaches real customers. This is when feedback, usage data, and market reactions begin to shape your understanding of how the product is truly perceived. It’s essential to monitor performance closely and ask: Are we attracting the audience we expected? Do customers describe the product in the way we intended? Are competitors reacting or adapting in response? The best companies treat positioning as an ongoing process, continually refining it as they gather new insights, explore additional market segments, or respond to shifting customer needs.

Positioning is both a strategy and an ongoing process. It starts with a deep understanding of your market and evolves based on how your product is received and how your category shifts. By embedding positioning into your GTM planning—before and after launch—you give your product the best chance to stand out, resonate, and win.

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Yes, some of this was written with the help of AI, but our content starts and ends with humans. Please visit our AI policy.