If you’ve ever launched a digital product, you know the grind. You build something, maybe even get a couple of early users, but then… crickets. You’ve got a few polite “this is cool” comments, but no real traction. It feels like you’re pushing uphill with no clear end in sight.
I’ve been there, and so have countless founders I’ve talked to. The crazy part? Sometimes, the difference between zero revenue and millions isn’t building more features or running more ads. It’s something far less obvious: positioning.
And this applies whether you’re building a SaaS tool, launching a course, creating an ebook, or any other kind of digital product. When you nail your positioning, everything else (sales, marketing, growth) gets a whole lot easier.
In this post, we’ll explore the best positioning strategies for digital product and SAAS creators.
The Story That Hooked Me
I recently came across a story from Sean, co-founder of Alia, a SaaS company that went from $0 to $4M ARR in about a year. And get this—they didn’t reinvent their product. They didn’t hire a 50-person sales team. They didn’t magically stumble onto virality.
They read one book—Obviously Awesome by April Dunford—and realized they were positioned all wrong.
At first, they thought they were building an “education tool” or a “loyalty program.” Sounds impressive, right? But customers weren’t buying it. They couldn’t figure out where Alia fit in their stack, or why they should choose it over the dozens of other tools on the market.
Then came the pivot: they stripped away the fluff and said—“We are a pop-up tool. That’s it. That’s what we do. And we’re the best at it.”
And boom. Everything changed.
Within months, customers started “getting it.” Their sales calls shortened. Close rates improved. Their content started resonating. And inbound leads spiked.
That’s the power of positioning.
What Positioning Really Means
Here’s the thing: most digital entrepreneurs confuse positioning with branding, messaging, or even product features. But positioning isn’t any of those things.
Positioning is how customers perceive your product compared to alternatives.
- It’s not what you say your product is.
- It’s what customers already think it is.
That distinction is huge. Sean thought Alia was an innovative loyalty platform. His customers thought it was a pop-up tool. Once he accepted the truth and doubled down, the market rewarded him.
And that’s a key lesson: you don’t get to choose your position—your customers do. Your job is to lean into it.
Why Digital Product Founders Struggle with Positioning
I’ll be honest: positioning feels scary. Especially if you’re early. You’ve got 20 features, 10 different types of customers, and a dozen use cases. The temptation is to say, “We do it all.”
But here’s the problem: when you try to be everything, you end up being nothing.
Think about it:
- Dropbox didn’t start as “a full cloud collaboration suite.” It was just “your files, anywhere.”
- Slack didn’t launch as “the future of workplace productivity.” It was “a team chat app that’s better than email.”
- Zoom didn’t pitch itself as “a global communication infrastructure.” It was “video calls that actually work.”
- Gumroad didn’t begin as “the ultimate creator economy marketplace.” It was just “a simple way to sell digital files.”
- Teachable wasn’t “all-in-one education infrastructure,” it was “launch your online course fast.”
They all started narrow. They owned a single lane. And then they expanded.
Sean at Alia could have kept pushing “education + loyalty + pop-ups + …” but nobody would’ve remembered them. Instead, he became “the pop-up guy.” Clear. Simple. Sticky.
The 4-Step Positioning Shift
From Sean’s story, there were four big changes they made that you can copy right now:
1. Update Your Website Copy
This one hurts at first, but it’s crucial. If I land on your site, I should know in five seconds what you do.
Alia changed their tagline to: “The next generation of pop-ups.” Every feature page was renamed “Pop-up Features.” Everything screamed one thing: pop-ups.
Go look at your site right now. Does it scream the thing you actually want to be known for? Or is it a buffet of vague promises?
2. Make Your Content Match
Content is positioning in disguise. Every blog, tweet, or LinkedIn post reinforces what you want people to associate with your brand.
Sean pinned a post on his profile: “Pop-ups = Alia. Alia = Pop-ups.” Simple, repetitive, memorable.
What would your pinned post say?
3. Sales Call Simplicity
This one hit me hard. Sean said he starts every call with: “I’m Sean, CEO of Alia. We do pop-ups.” That’s it.
No jargon. No “category-defining loyalty solution with integrated gamification.” Just pop-ups.
And customers leaned in because they instantly knew what the product was and whether they cared.
4. Internal Language
This is the underrated one. If your team doesn’t use the same words you do, your positioning will collapse.
Alia’s team became religious about saying, “We’re a pop-up tool.” Every email, every Slack thread, every sales call. That internal alignment is what makes external messaging work.
A Personal Example
When I first started writing about AI and digital products, I made the same mistake Sean did. I tried to be “everything.” I’d write about AI prompts one day, marketing funnels the next, and product design the day after.
Guess what happened? Crickets. Nobody knew why they should follow me.
But once I started positioning myself as helping entrepreneurs use AI to build and launch digital products, things changed. My content started attracting the right people. I got more subscribers. More engagement. More clarity.
And the same applies if you’re creating an ebook, building a course, or launching a membership site. If you position it as “the complete answer to everything,” people don’t know why it matters. But if you say, “This is a crash course on X for beginners,” suddenly the right people perk up.
Positioning works because it simplifies the decision for your audience.
“But Won’t I Be Too Niche?”
I know what you’re thinking—if I go all in on one thing, won’t I scare away potential customers?
Sean faced that exact fear. Before repositioning, he had ~20 customers. When he went all-in on pop-ups, he worried about cutting off other use cases.
But here’s what actually happened:
- Sales calls shortened.
- Close rates improved.
- Word-of-mouth grew.
By focusing on fewer customers, he attracted more of them. Because people trust specialists over generalists.
Think about doctors. Would you rather see a “general surgeon” or a “knee surgeon” if you tear your ACL? Same with SaaS or digital products: the niche expert often wins.
How to Test Your Positioning
Here’s where it gets practical. You don’t have to do a full rebrand tomorrow. Start small, like Alia did:
- Test on sales calls first.
Next time you pitch, simplify. “We do X for Y.” Watch the reaction. Are calls shorter? Do prospects nod instead of squint? - Make a content bet.
Write a post or article around your new positioning. See if it gets more traction than your old “generalist” content. - Then update your website.
Once you’re confident, make the big shift. New tagline, new copy, new focus. - Align your team.
Have an internal meeting where you declare the new position. Make everyone practice saying it out loud until it’s second nature.
The Framework to Try
Sean credits the book Obviously Awesome for giving him the right exercises. The gist is:
- Ask yourself: What do my best customers already think I am?
- Look for patterns. What do they replace with your tool? What do they call you when they recommend you?
- Position around that, not your fantasy of what you wish they thought.
You don’t get to control perception—you only get to amplify it.
The 5+1 Positioning Questions You Need to Ask
Here’s where April Dunford’s book goes from “interesting idea” to “holy crap, this changes everything.” She lays out five core questions (plus a bonus) that every founder or creator should ask. I’ll walk you through them in plain English, with my own commentary so you can see how to apply them to your SaaS or digital product.
1. What is the competitive alternative?
Ask yourself: “What would my customers do if my product didn’t exist?”
This is such a grounding question because it forces you to get real. If you’re selling an ebook, maybe the alternative is people reading free blog posts. If you’re building a SaaS tool, maybe the alternative is spreadsheets or some clunky legacy software.
The point is, customers are already doing something. And that “something” sets the minimum bar you have to clear.
2. What are your unique attributes?
Now: “What do I have that others don’t?”
It’s not enough to just be “another course” or “another pop-up tool.” You’ve got to be able to point at your features, style, approach, or delivery and say, “This is what makes me different.”
For me, I know my unique attribute when I’m writing is that I break things down in a super conversational, human way. For you, maybe it’s your product’s design, speed, or the fact that you have personal experience your competitors lack.
3. What is the demonstrable value (and proof)?
Cool, you’ve got unique attributes. But so what?
This question asks: “What benefits do those attributes actually deliver—and can you prove it?”
If you’re selling a course, can you show testimonials where students launched their first digital product after finishing? If you’re building SaaS, can you point to case studies showing increased conversions, time saved, or money earned?
People buy value, but they believe proof. Screenshots, stories, numbers. That’s what closes the gap.
4. What are the target market characteristics?
This one hits hard: “Which type of customer cares the most about the value you provide?”
Because not everyone will. And that’s okay.
Maybe your ebook is for beginners, not experts. Maybe your SaaS tool is for Shopify merchants, not Fortune 500 retailers. Maybe your membership is for solopreneurs, not agencies.
The more specific you are, the more people will say, “Oh, this is exactly for me.”
5. What market category do you fit into?
Here’s the positioning cheat code: “What category do I place myself in so customers instantly get it?”
Sean figured this out when he said, “We’re a pop-up tool.” Everyone knows what a pop-up is. That clarity meant customers immediately understood where Alia fit in their stack.
If you’re building a course, don’t call it a “transformative experience platform.” Call it a “course.” If you’re writing an ebook, call it an ebook. Put yourself in a box people already recognize—and then dominate inside that box.
Bonus: Are there relevant trends you can tap into?
Finally, the timing factor: “Is there a trend I can ride that makes me more relevant right now?”
Think about it. If you’re building an AI-powered SaaS tool, AI itself is the trend that makes it hotter. If you’re selling a digital course about remote work, the rise of freelancing and solopreneurship is the wave you want to connect to.
Trends create urgency. They make people feel like, “If I don’t jump on this now, I’ll fall behind.”
Why These Questions Matter
The magic of these 5+1 questions is that they cut through the noise. They force you to stop pitching what you wish your product was, and instead position it in a way that makes sense to your customers, your market, and the current moment.
Sean and his team didn’t invent pop-ups. They didn’t come up with a brand-new category. They simply realized their customers already saw them as the “pop-up tool,” and they leaned all the way in.
You can do the same—whether you’re launching SaaS, a membership site, or even your first ebook.
The Founder Advantage
Here’s the part I loved most from Sean’s interview. He said: “As a younger founder, your one currency is speed and urgency.”
Larger incumbents can’t move as fast as you. So when you reposition, you can sprint past them.
At Alia, they were competing against companies that had been in the “pop-up space” for 15–20 years. But those companies were slow. By owning the lane and moving fast, Alia carved out a space and built momentum the incumbents couldn’t match.
That’s the power you have too—whether you’re a solo course creator or a SaaS founder.
Final Takeaways
Positioning isn’t optional. It’s not something you fix later. It’s the foundation. And sometimes, it’s the only thing standing between you and the growth you dream about.
Here’s what I’d tell myself if I could go back:
- Do one thing, and do it phenomenally.
- Let your customers tell you who you are.
- Start small, test, iterate, then commit.
- Move faster than the incumbents.
Whether you’re building a SaaS tool, writing a book, or launching a membership site, positioning is what makes people instantly “get it” and decide it’s for them.
And who knows? The shift might be the thing that takes you from two customers to two thousand.
