What’s the difference between positioning, product narrative, messaging, and copy?
A simple guide to the building blocks of product storytelling and how they work together to shape your product's story.
Getting these elements right is essential for a strong and relatable product story.
👉 Product Positioning is a rational appeal to the mind. It’s an expression of WHY our product exists for a specific audience and how we want it to be perceived in the market. Positioning is strategic; it provides a North Star to create messaging anchored in customer problems and needs. Positioning conveys value and answers the question of how we are different.
👉 Product Narrative is an emotional appeal to the heart. It expresses what we stand for and the feelings we want to evoke when people think about our product.
👉 Messaging derives from our positioning. It’s WHAT we say to convey our value. It focuses on the benefits, value, and outcomes that matter most to our target customers, capturing our promise to them and the reasons to believe we will deliver that promise. Messaging must be easy to understand, but it doesn’t necessarily need to sound exciting, persuasive, or catchy.
👉 Copy brings the message to life across different channels in an exciting, persuasive, and catchy way. Copy is HOW we communicate our messaging and narrative depending on the channel. It’s the words we use to convey the key ideas behind our messaging and narrative to connect with our target audience and inspire them to do something.
