Obviously Awesome

About

Background summary — AI-generated; not source-grounded.

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It (2019) by April Dunford is the definitive practical guide to B2B product positioning. Dunford argues that positioning is the foundational act of marketing — defining how a product is the best in the world at delivering a specific value to a specific set of customers — and that most companies fail at it because they conflate positioning with messaging, start from the wrong end of the framework, or treat it as a marketing-only task. The book presents a five-step methodology: (1) identify competitive alternatives, (2) list differentiated capabilities, (3) map capabilities to value, (4) identify target customers who care about that value, (5) choose the market category that makes the value obvious. It argues that strong positioning feels obvious: “Of course that’s what it is. What else could it be?”

In the wiki

Referenced directly in April Dunford on Product Positioning as the source for the five-component positioning framework. The book title appears because Dunford explains that great positioning makes your product feel obviously awesome — the moment a prospect hears the pitch, they say “of course, what else would it be?”

April Dunford distilled the book’s core methodology across both Lenny’s Podcast appearances.