Product

Product Positioning: Can You Describe Yours in Two Words?

April 20, 2011

If given enough time or space on a page, most companies can describe what they do.

In some cases, that product statement may be super-descriptive and complex, often because the company sells an equally complex product or service. In other instances, a word or two may suffice.

On that note, Klint Finley at ReadWriteWeb wrote an interesting article a few weeks ago titled “15 Enterprise Products in 30 Words.” It was a fascinating read, largely because Finley found that many of the best enterprise 2.0 companies could be summed up in only two words.

That’s remarkable considering how complex those companies and their products can be. But it shows that those companies have clearly conveyed what they do, ultimately allowing the customers in their market to quickly identify their value proposition.

Finely began by asking the 15 enterprise software vendors involved to redefine their company and competitive product positioning in a single sentence. After receiving those statements, he found that a mere two words did the job.

For example:

That two-word approach makes a lot of sense, mostly because it addresses one very typical problem with B2B software product marketing: the ability to define the product succinctly.

In fairness, B2B or enterprise-level software products are typically complex, multi-tiered, and built to satisfy very comprehensive functional and technical requirements. So it can be very difficult to strip away all of the seemingly necessary details and simplify the company and product description to just a few words.

Paradoxically, trimming the product’s description to its bare essentials is crucial to having the right positioning and strategy in the market. Those two words will convey what is most important about the product and identify what customers should care about the most.

Our portfolio in Two-Word Product Descriptions

Finley’s exercise got me thinking. How many of OpenView’s portfolio companies could I describe with the two-word rule?

So, I sat down and gave it a shot. Keep in mind, these descriptions are in no way the companies’ official positioning. Rather, my goal was to think more deeply about each of our portfolio companies and see if this exercise uncovered areas in which we could help their market strategy, differentiation and go to market approach.

Here’s my best effort (with the occasional three-word description):

Clearly, some of the descriptions lack the specification of Finley’s list. Perhaps it’s due to my lack of imagination or maybe we can do a better job helping our companies improve their market segmentation, create key competitive advantages and gain a more focused product positioning.

If you’re having trouble thinking of how to describe your company in two (or even three) words, don’t be afraid to poll customers that you trust or solicit input from your employees and colleagues. If you still can’t come up with a consensus, then it could be a sign that you need to work on your company’s official product positioning in the market.

In the end, it’s essential to know how your business is perceived in the marketplace. The goal should be for your customers and prospects to hear your company’s name and know how to succinctly describe what it does.

If you have a few minutes, check out Noah Brier’s brand experiment, which he calls Brand Tags. In a nutshell, Brand Tags’ simple website displays brand logos and asks visitors to describe that brand in one word or phrase. After submitting a few responses, the site allows you to browse the companies’ most common responses. Some of the results are fascinating. For example, here’s how Brand Tags’ respondents described Apple.

So, how would you describe your company? And are the customers in your market segment describing it the same way?

Chief Business Officer at UserTesting

Tien Anh joined UserTesting in 2015 after extensive financial and strategic experiences at OpenView, where he was an investor and advisor to a global portfolio of fast-growing enterprise SaaS companies. Until 2021, he led the Finance, IT, and Business Intelligence team as CFO of UserTesting. He currently leads initiatives for long term growth investments as Chief Business Officer at UserTesting.