The Signs of 'Mushy' Pozish

Everyone likes to THINK they have strong positioning…especially founders.

But buyers still struggle to connect the dots with at least 75% of products out there.

There are obvious signs your positioning isn’t landing, but most will ignore them completely and put the blame on other things.

Why is it so hard, to spot something so obvious?

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What is ‘mushy’ positioning?

Shout out to April Dunford for dropping the 2nd best line of 2024 (the 1st goes to Emma Stratton saying that Product Marketing is ‘Smarketing’)

Mushy Positioning

I’ve been using that all the time at home

I’ll admit, I’ve been using that all the time at home too. Just last week, I told my fiancé I’m dealing with some mushy positioning when she asked me to change a diaper.

I was stalling and hoped she’d take care of it before I had to.

Spoiler alert: She didn’t buy it.

One meme down…so let’s get serious about mushy positioning.

It’s that hazy middle ground where your messaging is just vague enough to be confusing but sounds important enough to make you feel like you're doing something strategic.

If your prospects can’t figure out what the hell you do without sitting through a 45-minute demo, you’ve got mush on your hands. And that’s a problem. .

Mushy positioning is what happens when your message you think you’re “focusing on empowering growth by delivering next-gen solutions,” but all you’ve really done is generate some eye-rolls.

How to Spot Mushy Positioning in the Wild

• “Oh, so you’re like Salesforce?” If prospects keep comparing you to a giant, established player—even if you’re not a CRM or cloud-based behemoth—that's a red flag. It means your differentiation isn’t shining through, and you’re coming off as a ‘me too’ rather than a ‘must have.’ Your message should make it painfully obvious that you’re not another Salesforce. Unless, of course, you are Salesforce. In which case, congrats on making it this far in our newsletter.

• “I didn’t get it until I saw the product.” Ever see a sales call where the prospect's eyes glazed over until you showed them the product? That's not “saving the best for last.” That’s burying your value under a pile of jargon. If people need a show-and-tell to understand your pitch, you’re not positioning—you’re stalling. A clear message makes people go, “Oh, that’s cool,” before they’ve even seen your product in action.

• Traffic ≠ Opportunities. Okay, so you’ve got a decent amount of traffic coming to your site. But if your SQLs aren’t soaring, and your conversion rates look like shit, you might have a problem. People are landing on your page, thinking they’ve understood the value, then bounced.

So, What’s the Fix?

My #1 tip is: Stop trying to be everything to everyone.

Good positioning should make your value obvious. It’s about having the guts to draw a line in the sand and say, “We’re for these people, not those.” It’s the difference between being a well-loved local dive bar and a generic chain like Chili’s. (they’ve made such a comback btw)

April Dunford’s breaking down exactly how to identify mushy positioning—and more importantly, how to tighten it up—in this week’s episode. If you’re tired of being confused with Salesforce (or anyone else), this one’s for you.

🎙Featured Episode:
_{Why most startup positioning is mushy and what to do instead w/ April Dunford}

This episode was to get through all that mushiness. So we needed the one and only: April Dunford.

You probably listen to a lot of here podcasts but even she said this wasn’t like any other podcast she’s been on (not sure if that’s good or bad)

💀 Is your product positioning “mushy”?
💀What's the secret weapon for PMMs at startups
💀Why “actionable insights” aren’t REALLY actionable
💀How to handle a CEO that thinks their product positioning is fine
💀Positioning vs. features

Check the episode here

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