Product Development Consulting

The success or failure of a product often comes down to MARKET POSITIONING : Tata Nano versus MG Comet is a classic case The Tata Nano launched in 2008 was initially hyped as the “world’s cheapest car” at ₹1 lakh. Though the intent was noble (safe mobility for two-wheeler users), the marketing positioning was wrong and backfired. 1. Positioning as “Cheapest” Tata marketed Nano as the cheapest car in the world. Instead of aspirational value, it became associated with poverty and compromise. Indians buy cars as a status symbol, not just as mobility. No one wanted to be seen driving the “poor man’s car.” 2. Brand Perception & Social Stigma Buyers felt that owning a Nano meant admitting they couldn’t afford a “real” car. Unlike Maruti 800 (seen as aspirational in the 80s/90s), Nano never evoked pride The MG Comet EV (launched 2023) is positioned in almost the same pricing band (₹7–10 lakh) as entry-level hatchbacks, but its marketing playbook is the exact opposite of Nano... 1. Aspirational Positioning MG sells Comet as “tech-forward, smart urban mobility” rather than "Cheap EV" or "Poor Man's Car"... MG Comet is pitched & positioned as a lifestyle gadget (like owning an iPhone), not just a car. 2. Cool & Youth-Oriented Branding Ads highlight its futuristic design, compact size for city driving, connected tech features (i-Smart, voice assist, infotainment). Focus is on fun, trendy, eco-conscious identity — not affordability. While features like i-Smart or voice assistants weren’t available when the Nano was launched, if the advertising had focused less on portraying it as a 'cheap' or 'poor man’s car' and instead positioned it as a space-efficient, stylish, or next-gen compact vehicle, its market perception could have been far stronger #marketing #marketpositioning #MGComet #TATA #customersentiments

🧵 The First Brick — Positioning in a Noisy World - Part 1 of 6 I’m writing this because building a digital-first brand from scratch is equal parts chaos, clarity, and course correction — and most of what gets shared online skips over the messy middle. At Koparo, we’re still in the thick of it. No glossy case study, no perfect arc — just hard-earned lessons from the last 4 years. This series is my attempt to document what we’ve learned while still learning. For anyone building something of their own — especially without legacy, or a 100-person team — I hope this makes you feel a little less alone, and a little more seen. If you're building a digital-first brand in 2025, here’s a hard truth: No one has time to decode your “mission.” You’re not fighting for attention — you're fighting for memory. And memory belongs to the brand that said something sharp, emotional, or refreshingly simple. When we started building Koparo, the cleaning space was cluttered with two extremes: 🧼 Legacy giants with strong efficacy but questionable safety 🌱 Green startups that were dosed with essential oils and bright colours constantly apologizing for being less effective We didn’t want to be a moodboard brand. But we also didn’t want to be another “99.9% germ kill” war cry. So we picked a wedge: Powerful cleaning, zero toxins. Clean homes. Safe homes. Period. That positioning became our product brief, our ad copy, even our pack design. A lot of early stage start ups spend quite a bit of time and energy (and of course resources) on ‘positioning’ - frameworks, purpose decks are to my mind quite irrelevant at this stage. 🚫 Consumers don’t read decks. They feel brands. 🚫 Your “why” doesn’t matter if your “what” isn’t instantly clear What worked for us in our infancy years at Koparo: Simple, sharp messaging: “Safe for kids, pets, planet.” That line has outsold every clever campaign. Packaging that screams category AND difference: In a category obsessed with colour codes, we dare to be transparent. Anchoring in a clear enemy (works for challengers): We consistently talk about what we don’t use and why — artificial colours, bleach, etc.  If you’re building today, forget being everything to everyone. Instead: ✅ Pick a hill worth dying on ✅ Say it clearly ✅ Say it often and do not use an agency on Day 1 PS: It’s interesting now to see some legacy players launch “Pure” or “Pro” versions of their own products. To us, that signals something: If your brand needs a new version to imply safety... maybe the core product was never built with that trust in the first place.

Most founders name products to sound smart. The better ones name products so the customer understands the value in 2 seconds. That is one of the most underrated product-positioning lessons I know. Some companies can spend millions teaching the market what their name means. Most founders cannot. So the name should explain the product. When we were building in the early days, the antivirus products in the market were mostly large MNC tools. They were slow. Scanning took a long time. Machines themselves were slow. And in many cases, the user would simply get told: quarantine the file and restore from backup. That was the “solution.” I felt that was incomplete. If the real customer pain is: “My system is infected, my work has stopped, and I need this fixed now,” then the product should do two things: 1. Be quick 2. Heal That is how the name came. I wanted the name itself to tell the user what the product does: it should clean the infection, and it should do it fast. That is positioning. Real positioning is not decoration. It is not a slogan. It is not a color palette. It is when the promise, the pain, and the product all line up so clearly that even the name starts selling for you. A lot of founders start from: “What sounds premium?” I think the better question is: “What will make the customer instantly say: yes, that is exactly what I need?” The strongest brands are often built that way. Not by sounding intelligent. By sounding useful. That lesson is still relevant in 2026. Because in crowded markets, clarity beats cleverness. Every single time. Quick Heal Seqrite #Startups #ProductStrategy #BrandPositioning #ProductManagement #Entrepreneurship #FounderLessons #StartupBuilding

For the longest time, we all thought building the product was the hardest part, but that has changed significantly. With AI, products can be built, tested, and launched faster than ever before. Which means the real challenge now is no longer about can you build this? but about how do we get people to care about this? I've conducted many workshops with product builders - be it PMs, sales, engineers, and designers. When you ask who the product is truly for, what it meaningfully replaces, and why a customer would choose it over their current way of doing things, the answers are different. Sales will often describe competition based on recent deals. Product will frame it in terms of where the roadmap is headed. Marketing will respond to what the market appears to reward. And let's be honest, a user doesn't look at the product like that! So then, I ask this one question: If this product did not exist, what would the customer do instead? Would they rely on an existing tool? Would they create a workaround? Or would they continue with the status quo? Positioning, then, is not about describing the product in isolation. It is about defining it in direct relation to that default choice. It requires identifying the specific context in which the product creates a form of value that is immediately comprehensible to the customer it is intended for. And that specific context is especially helpful when the teams are building internally! Ofcourse, this narrows the scope more than teams are initially comfortable with, but it is precisely this specificity that creates clarity. Remember, it is not what you build that's the differentiator. It's how much clarity you have on it that separates you from the rest.

Navigating the Art of Brand Positioning: In a world where consumer choices are vast and attention spans are short, the art of brand positioning has never been more critical. Having recently completed an immersive month-long cohort focused on brand strategy, I am excited to share some transformative insights that can reshape the way brand and marketing managers, as well as students of marketing, think about positioning their brands in today's dynamic market. 📍Building a Positioning Statement: A brand's positioning statement is its North Star. It's a concise declaration of the unique value a brand offers, crafted through an understanding of what drives the brand (the insight), the rational benefits it offers, and the emotional connection it seeks to establish (the emotional benefit). Striking that delicate balance between what consumers desire and what your brand uniquely offers (the 'happy gap') is the quintessential challenge we face. 📍Brand Essence and Personality: It is important to dive deep into the ethos of a brand—the core values and personality traits that resonate on a human level. It’s not just about what a brand does, but who a brand is, that forges lasting connections. This emotional engagement is what turns customers into loyal advocates. 📍Functional and Emotional Benefits: The benefits a brand offers aren't confined to the functional—it’s about the experience, the transformation, and the emotional journey. As brand stewards, we must articulate how our products not only "save money" but also "simplify life," "boost confidence," or even "inspire adventure." 📍Value Proposition and Differentiation: Understanding and articulating a clear value proposition is the linchpin of effective positioning. It communicates the tangible and intangible returns a consumer can expect. Moreover, pinpointing a unique selling proposition (USP) and differentiators allow a brand to stand out in a saturated marketplace and communicate its unique narrative. 📍Positioning as Context-Setting: We need to understand that positioning is more than a tagline or a campaign—it's about creating a context where the perceived benefits sharply outweigh the actual costs. This principle is the bedrock of brand longevity and market leadership. To my peers in brand and marketing management, and to the bright minds currently studying the ropes of marketing—let's continue this conversation. How are you shaping the narrative of your brands? What challenges and triumphs have you encountered in positioning? Connect and share your story. Together, we can forge brand stories that not only stand the test of time but also captivate the hearts and minds of our audience. #AGTalksBrands💯

What makes a brand? When we talk about branding, too many people jump straight to thinking about the visual identity - logos, color palettes, fonts., catchy tagline. Sure, those elements are part of the visual identity of a brand, but they barely scratch the surface of capital B BRAND. Your brand is your reputation. Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. When I was at Drift, the brand became known for the term "conversational marketing" and it also became known for an approach to marketing that was innovative, approachable, and not like any of the competitors in the space at the time. Brand encompasses every interaction a customer has with your business, from the quality of your products or services to the way your customer service team handles inquiries, to the sales process (yes, the sales process is a big part of "brand"). Brand is the emotional and psychological relationship your customers have with your business. And if I had to pick ONE key ingredient for brand, it wouldn't be the visuals, the tone, the style, the approach to marketing. All of that comes secondary. The #1 ingredient for building a brand is your positioning. Positioning defines how your product should be seen in the eyes of your customers. Positioning sets the context for how you want people to see your product. Why do you exist? How do you help customers make money or save money? How are you different than the competition? The goal of positioning is to create a unique impression in the customer's mind so that they associate something specific and desirable with your brand that sets it apart from competitors. And that is where brand building starts.

It gives you an adrenaline rush to watch a car drift on a race track. Your brand hardly recovers from the spin when it happens. Your positioning is only as strong as the consistency with which you protect it. A new tagline here, a slightly different angle in a presentation, a post that doesn’t reinforce the brand, a visual direction that feels “fresh” but contradicts your core identity. You can have the most differentiated, precise, brilliant positioning in your category and still lose its power if you deviate from it. Not because the position was weak, but because the reinforcement failed. Here are practical steps to keep your positioning centered and prevent drift. 1. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 Before publishing anything, ask one question: “Does this reinforce the position I want to own in the market?” If the answer is not a clear yes, it does not go out. 2. 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 Mind automatically reduces complexity and discards it. It rewards and remembers clarity. Your positioning must be simple enough to survive the saturation of information your audience experiences daily. If they cannot recall your position instantly, the position will fade away. 3. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭  Every post, every insight, every story should sharpen the same central idea. Positioning is repetition with purpose. It is teaching the market what to remember. 4. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 The fastest way to dilute a position is misalignment inside the organization. Your team must repeat your position with the same clarity, conviction, and consistency you do. 5. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚 “𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭” 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 90 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 Look for subtle inconsistencies: New phrases. Off-brand visuals. Conflicting messages. Misaligned tone. Narrative fragmentation. Drift happens quietly. 6. 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 Most people drift because they forget. Re-read your positioning statement. Think with it. Write from it. Decide from it. Because positioning is not what you say once. It is what you reinforce relentlessly. The mind remembers only what it sees consistently. The market trusts only what stays coherent. And brands become inevitable when they refuse to drift from the identity they chose.

Are you owning the right work… or just doing everything yourself? This is one of those decisions that sounds simple, but quietly shapes everything. Your speed. Your costs. Your quality. Your impact. Your differentiation. And most teams don’t realize it’s a system problem. They decide reactively. “We need help. Let’s ask for more headcount” “We’re overwhelmed. Let's delay any work that won't impact this quarter.” “This feels strategically important. Let’s outsource it.” No clear logic. No consistent filter. Just decisions made in the moment. But the best teams don’t guess. They use a framework. Before deciding what to own, outsource, or automate, they pressure test the work across 5 dimensions: 1️⃣ Strategic Criticality Does this actually create differentiation? Or is it table stakes? If it shapes your competitive advantage, own it. 2️⃣ Proximity to Sales/Product Does this require tight, ongoing collaboration? Or can it live at a distance? If it needs constant alignment, keep it close. 3️⃣ Specialization Level Does this require deep expertise or niche skill sets? Or is it broadly understood? If it’s highly specialized, consider outsourcing. 4️⃣ Repeatability Is this a one-off effort? Or something you do over and over again? If it’s repeatable, standardize or automate. 5️⃣ Standardization Potential Can this be turned into a process? Or does it require judgment every time? If it’s predictable, automate it. When you zoom out, the pattern becomes clear: Own it → strategy, positioning, messaging, GTM decisions (the things that define you) Outsource it → execution, production, scaling best practices (the things others can do efficiently) Automate it → repeatable workflows, data, reporting (the things that shouldn’t need human effort) Most teams don’t struggle because they lack resources. They struggle because they misallocate them. They own too much. Outsource too late. Automate too little. But if you can get this right, and everything starts to click, you’ll get: Less pain Faster execution Lower costs Clearer focus Stronger differentiation So here’s the real question: What’s one thing your team is doing today that you probably shouldn’t be owning anymore? #TheLimitlessCMO #B2B #AI 2X

Market positioning defines the role your product occupies in your customer’s mind. A company can spend millions on features and advertising, yet without a clear difference customers won’t return. Positioning shapes a promise that solves a client’s key problem and instantly answers: “Why should I care?” ⸻ Example: Slack Slack started as an internal chat tool for a gaming studio. They reframed the product as “the place where your team works together and nothing gets lost.” That move positioned Slack as a category-defining collaboration hub. ⸻ My case in the medical industry I applied the same logic to a healthcare app that originally looked like many others: — standard appointment booking, — clinic contacts, — reminders. We shifted the positioning with three concrete moves:  1. New communication language — presented as a digital health assistant that coordinates the patient journey.  2. New technologies — AI for symptom analysis and VR modules for rehabilitation support.  3. System connection — patient, doctor, and clinic operate in sync; data moves across the flow without breaks. ⸻ How the new positioning sounds now (USP) “Your health without waiting: one app that takes care of scheduling, data, and doctor connection for you.” A simple promise to the client: no paperwork, no calls, no wasted time. Everything in one place, safe and fast. ⸻ I’ve spent over 8 years in UX design and 7 years in branding, marketing, and PR. What I bring to the table is not just design, but the ability to reframe products so they gain clarity, voice, and market power. I know how to align product positioning with real user pain points and business goals — and that’s how products stop blending in and start leading. Follow Tanya R. for more. ⤷ Lead UX/UI Product Designer ♻️ Repost this to share with others

THAT’s NOT A POSITIONING STATEMENT! The concept of positioning was popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their 1969 article “Positioning is a Game People Play in Today’s Me-Too Marketplace” and expanded in their 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. They argued that in an oversaturated market, marketing is no longer about being first it’s about being first in the mind. But long before Ries and Trout put it to paper, David Ogilvy had already shown the power of positioning in action. His 1957 campaign for Dove didn’t promote it as “soap” instead, he crafted a position: “I could have positioned Dove as a detergent bar for men with dirty hands, but chose instead to position it as a toilet bar for women with dry skin.” That strategic choice gave Dove a permanent identity shift from soap to beauty product. Where Game Marketing Often Gets It Wrong One of the most persistent issues I see across the game industry is this: many marketers cannot distinguish between a product description, a tagline, and a true positioning statement. Here’s how it usually goes: -They call it “positioning,” but it’s just a feature list: “An action RPG with deep combat systems and open-world exploration.” That’s a product description. It tells me what the game has, not what it means. -Or they hand over a tagline like: “Unleash your power.” That’s a marketing slogan, punchy, emotional, but not strategic. -What they need is this: A clear, concise articulation of who the game is for, what space it competes in, why it’s different, and how that difference matters. Without that, teams lack focus. Creative goes sideways. Comms get fuzzy. And players have no clue why they should care. Positioning is the internal blueprint. It’s not consumer-facing but every decision you make downstream should flow from it. Key Components of a Well-Crafted Positioning Statement An effective positioning statement should clearly articulate: -Target Audience – Who the product is for -Frame of Reference – What market or genre it plays in -Point of Differentiation – What makes it unique -Reason to Believe – Why that claim is credible Template for Crafting a Positioning Statement -For [target customer], -who [statement of need or opportunity], -the [product name] is a [category] -that [benefit or point of difference]. -Unlike [competitive set], -our product [supporting proof or reason to believe]. Example in the Video Game Industry Bad (product description): “X is a third-person shooter with customizable gear and team-based PvE.” Better (positioning): “For hardcore PC gamers seeking deep progression and tactical coordination, Fireteam Eclipse is a third-person extraction shooter that blends squad-based PvE with persistent world evolution. Unlike twitchy arena shooters, it rewards teamwork, planning, and long-form mastery.” If your “positioning” could apply to five other games on Steam, you don’t have positioning. You have filler. Let’s fix that.