Mthokozisi Mabhena's 13-Step Business Positioning Framework

This document sets out a 13-step framework for positioning a business, a brand or any organisation that needs to be found and chosen by customers who are already looking. It begins from a simple observation: a customer with a need has more than one place to go, has limited time and information, and forms an impression quickly. A business can be the right choice and still not be chosen, because the customer could not see the match. From the customer's side, a match they cannot see does not exist.

The framework is built around the high intent customer — a customer with a need who is passively or actively comparing options. That customer arrives by one of six routes: prior knowledge, a random encounter, a passing mention, a search result, an advert, or a recommendation. Whichever route brought them, they arrive with the same five questions: do they do exactly what I am looking for, can they serve my location, what does it cost, is there proof they have done this well, and how do I reach them and will they reply quickly. Those questions are not answered by printing them and answering them one by one. They are answered by working through thirteen internal questions and letting the answers show through everything the customer meets.

The thirteen steps are: what do we do; who do we do it for; what problem does the customer seek to solve; at what point do they need our service; where do we service; what is the cost; how we deliver; what is our reputation; what do we do that the competition can't or won't match; what do we promise; who are we explicitly not for; and what happens after.

Each step is presented in the same way: its definition with examples of what it covers, its purpose, the questions to answer, a template, applied examples across seven organisations — a product company, a service company, a school, an NGO, a church, a political party and a music artist — and guiding notes. Each applied example also shows how the answer is used in strategy, bio, social media content, website structure and pitch.

Once the thirteen are answered, the document shows the complete application for each of the seven organisations, taking all thirteen answers together and then producing the five outputs: the strategy, the bio, the social media content, the website structure and the pitch. A template for the complete application is provided so that any organisation can work through it in the same order.

Three tests say whether the positioning has worked. A stranger should be able to say who the business is for after one glance. The ideal customer should say "that's me" out loud. And someone who is not the customer should be able to tell, and move on. If everyone feels invited, no one feels chosen.

Two rules run through the whole document. The answers must describe what the business is, not what it wishes to be, because a story that does not hold up falls apart the first time a customer tests it. And this is not a competitor analysis: it is not built to rank a business against rivals, but to work out who it is as an individual brand, so that it occupies a one-of-one place rather than a slightly better version of a place someone else already holds.