Positioning Jiu-Jitsu for B2B Marketers with April Dunford

It’s time to make your B2B competitors’ biggest assets work for you, not against you, and achieving this demands sharp, strategic product positioning.  

To achieve this, April Dunford, a well-known expert in this field and the author of the books Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch, offers a specific strategy called "Positioning Jiu-Jitsu”.

As she explained on the Attributed podcast, this approach focuses on how businesses can strategically leverage a competitor's apparent strengths to showcase their own product's unique advantages.

It involves understanding how different customers perceive value and reframing the competition accordingly. 

Keep reading to explore April’s practical takeaways for B2B marketers looking to improve their competitive positioning, or listen to the entire conversation here. 

Why Positioning is your Foundational Strategy

Before diving into competitive tactics, it’s important to understand why positioning is so critical.

Survival and growth

For newer companies, April describes positioning as essential for survival because it requires articulating precisely why customers should select their offering amidst numerous alternatives.

Without a solid answer, marketing and sales efforts lack direction. 

But positioning isn't only for startups.

Large, established companies often need to revisit their positioning, especially after acquiring other businesses, which can confuse their offerings, or when major market changes reshape competition.

Aligning your company

Importantly, April emphasizes that good positioning involves the whole company. It helps align product development, marketing messages, sales approaches, and customer success efforts so everyone works towards the same goal and understands who the company serves and why.

What is Positioning Jiu-Jitsu?

The central idea April calls "Positioning Jiu-Jitsu" is this: what appears to be a competitor's strength can often be presented as a weakness, depending on the customer. 

The key is understanding the specific customer's situation and needs.

How customer context flips competitor strengths

Early in her career, April championed her company's simple tool against IBM's complex platform. When she later joined IBM, a CIO at a large bank praised IBM's offering precisely because its comprehensiveness provided the crucial flexibility needed across many different departments.

For that specific customer, IBM's perceived complexity was actually a valuable strength. Conversely, the simplicity April's previous company offered wouldn't have met the bank's needs. 

Thus, a feature's value isn't fixed; it changes based on the customer's perspective. 

Applying Jiu-Jitsu in Common Scenarios

So, how can B2B marketers strategically apply Positioning Jiu-Jitsu? 

Let's examine its use in two frequent competitive situations: competing against the market leader and navigating the tool versus platform dynamic.

Competing against the market leader

Large, established market leaders can seem like the default safe choice, but there are strategies to counter them. 

Strategy 1: Focus on a niche (The Beachhead Approach)

Market leaders aim to serve everyone, meaning they might not perfectly meet the needs of specific customer subgroups. 

Identify an underserved subsegment where your focused offering provides more value, or what April refers to as your “Beachhead Market”,  and concentrate your efforts there first. 

Make sure this initial market is large enough to support your business goals, and have a clear plan for how you'll expand into other segments later on.

Strategy 2: Highlight your innovation

 

Large companies can sometimes be slow to adopt new technologies or update their products because of complex existing systems. Smaller companies can often innovate more quickly. 

If your product incorporates newer technology or an approach that can benefit a specific group of customers, you can contrast the leader's potentially older offering with your modern solution. 

Frame the competitor as less advanced for customers who prioritize that innovation.

Navigating the tool vs. platform competition

Another frequent scenario involves competition between a specialized, best-of-breed tool and a broader software platform. April explains how to position your product in either role. 

If you offer the specialized tool 

First, investigate if the competitor's platform is genuinely integrated or just a collection of separate products from one company. Then, point out that individual components within a large platform might not be top-quality. Lastly, emphasize the specific, high value your specialized tool delivers in its area of expertise.

If you offer the platform

Highlight the difficulties customers face connecting multiple separate tools. Emphasize the convenience of a single provider and the benefits of pre-built integration (if genuinely offered). If your platform components work together seamlessly in valuable ways that separate tools cannot, make it central to your message.

While understanding these specific scenarios is crucial, successfully implementing any positioning strategy depends on consistently applying core foundational practices.

Putting Positioning into Practice

Smart positioning strategies only create real impact when put into action effectively. Here’s where the practical work begins:

Identify your true competitors

Base your competitive positioning on the companies you genuinely come up against in sales meetings, the ones customers mention, or that cause you to lose deals. 

April recommends consulting your sales team for this, rather than relying solely on market reports.

It’s often the customer who chooses to do nothing or sticks with their current methods that becomes your toughest competitor. 

This challenge of customer inertia is explored in depth by concepts like "The JOLT Effect”, highlighting how often deals are lost to indecision rather than competitors (Learn more about The JOLT Effect for B2B Marketers).

Speak your customer’s language 

Demonstrating you understand a customer's business involves using their specific industry terminology correctly. This builds credibility and sets you apart. Misusing key terms or misunderstanding critical concepts can quickly damage trust.

Translating this understanding into effective copy requires specific techniques for B2B tech messaging (See how to create messaging that sells in B2B tech).

Shape the market conversation

If possible, especially in early sales calls, proactively explain the different approaches to solving the customer's problem. Frame the market, categorize solution types (including competitors'), and articulate why your approach wins for that customer. Many competitors don't do this well.

Educate buyers instead of attacking competitors

If a competitor makes misleading claims, empower the customer with insightful questions they can ask to verify those claims. This builds your credibility more than simply attacking does. 

Discuss competitor types or approaches rather than naming specific companies, unless the customer brings them up or a competitor is unavoidable.

A Current Challenge: Positioning AI Features

Applying these principles becomes especially important when dealing with rapidly changing technology trends.

With all the hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence, how should it influence positioning? April advises prioritizing the customer's perspective. 

While AI is exciting, customers care most about the value delivered or how it helps them achieve their business goals. So mention AI as the enabler, but lead with the value. 

The exception is if customers have specific AI initiatives requiring compliant solutions. Avoid over-emphasizing AI simply because competitors are, especially if it obscures your core value.

Confirming Your Positioning Works with Validation From Sales

How do you know if your new positioning strategy is effective? 

April strongly recommends testing your positioning narrative in actual sales conversations with qualified potential customers. This yields rich, direct feedback on understanding, interest, questions, and objections. 

A practical check? Ask experienced sales reps after using the new pitch: Is this genuinely more effective than our old approach? Their confirmation is a strong positive signal.

Conclusion

Effectively positioning a B2B product requires a strategic approach, deep customer understanding, and competitive awareness. 

The "Positioning Jiu-Jitsu" concept offers a framework to think differently about competition. 

By seeing how a competitor's apparent strength might not serve every customer's needs, businesses can find opportunities to highlight their unique value. 

This boils down to a smart, customer-focused strategy to clearly communicate why you're the right choice.

About the speaker

April Dunford is a widely recognized expert in positioning for B2B technology companies and the author of the bestselling books Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. As a consultant, she draws on decades of experience as a marketing executive to help companies define their unique value and stand out in crowded markets.