Remember Monica from yesterday? The one stuck on blue?
Here's what happened after she answered those three questions.
She picked her color in 2 minutes. Then her fonts in 5 minutes. Then she designed her logo in 30 minutes.
She messaged me three days later: "I launched my website. I can't believe I was stuck for three months on something that took 45 minutes once I had criteria."
That's the power of having a decision framework.
Today I'm giving you the most important one: The Positioning Framework.
Everything in your brand flows from your positioning.
Your colors. Your voice. Your messaging. Your design.
If your positioning is clear, decisions are easy. If it's vague, everything is a debate with yourself.
Most people think positioning is complicated.
It's not.
Your entire brand can be distilled into one sentence:
"We help [WHO] do [WHAT] better than [ALTERNATIVE]."
That's it. Three parts.
WHO FOR: Your specific audience (not everyone).
WHAT FOR: The transformation you create (not features).
BETTER THAN WHAT: The current alternative (not competitors).
Let me show you this with real brands.
Morning Brew: "We help young professionals stay informed about business news better than boring WSJ or skipping news entirely."
Notice: Not "people who like news." Young professionals. Not "we send emails." Stay informed. Not "other newsletters." WSJ or skipping news.
Notion: "We help remote teams organize everything in one place better than juggling 10 different tools."
Duolingo: "We help busy people learn a new language better than expensive classes or forgetting to practice."
See the pattern?
WHO is specific. WHAT is an outcome. ALTERNATIVE is what they currently do.
This is what Monica was missing. She was trying to pick colors before she knew who she was picking them FOR.
Once she answered, "I help burned-out teachers transition to corporate jobs," everything clicked.
Hopeful but professional (because teachers need hope but corporate requires professional). Navy blue with soft orange (professional base, hopeful accent). Clean sans-serif fonts (professional and approachable).
Every decision flowed from her positioning.
Here's your turn.
Right now, open your notes app. Remember that decision you wrote down yesterday? Leave it for now.
Write this at the top of a new page:
"We help __________ do __________ better than __________."
Set a timer for 30 minutes.
Fill in the blanks. Don't overthink it. Your first answer won't be perfect. That's fine.
WHO: List 5 possible audiences. Circle the one you have the most empathy for.
WHAT: For that WHO, what transformation do you create? Not what you do. What changes for them.
ALTERNATIVE: What do they currently use to solve this? Not your competitors. What they do RIGHT NOW.
Refine it into one sentence.
Say it out loud. Does it feel true?
If not, adjust.
This is the same framework Monica used. The same one I use with every client. The same one you'll get on Day 2 of the Brand Foundation Sprint.
But you're getting it now.
For free.
Because I want you to see how this works before you decide if the course is for you.
Tomorrow, I'll show you how to test if your positioning is strong enough. But first, you need a positioning statement to test.
Do the exercise. 30 minutes. One sentence. Everything else builds on this.
And if you want all 7 frameworks like this (with exercises that force decisions), the Brand Foundation Sprint launches November 10th.
More tomorrow.
— Shashank