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Guide

How to use ChatGPT for marketing strategy, starting with positioning

Updated

To use ChatGPT for marketing strategy, start with positioning, not with a campaign plan. Give it what it can't invent: what customers do today instead of buying from you (often a spreadsheet or nothing), what you have that those alternatives don't, and who your happiest customers are. Ask it to work through April Dunford's five components: the alternatives, what only you have, the value each attribute gives a customer, the customers who care most, and the market category that makes that value obvious. Then a one-line statement, and two tests: would a happy customer recognize themselves, and could a competitor say the same sentence?

Short answer

  • Start with positioning, before any plan.
  • Five parts: alternatives, what only you have, value, best-fit customer, category.
  • One line at the end, under 45 words.
  • Test it: customers recognize it; competitors can't say it.

The brief to copy

Positioning brief

"Work through the positioning for [product] with April Dunford's five components.

Alternatives: what customers would do if we didn't exist, in their words, including doing nothing: [list]. Leave out competitors we never meet in deals.

What only we have, that a customer could verify: [list]. Drop anything the main alternative also has.

For each, the value: ask 'so what?' until it's hours, money, risk or revenue. Group into one to three themes.

Best-fit customers: who cares most about that value, specific enough for a sales rep to disqualify a lead in one call. Our best customers: [describe].

Category: an existing one, narrowed if needed. Then one line: 'For [customer] who [situation], [product] is a [category] that [value]. Unlike [alternative], we [attribute].' Under 45 words. Then say whether a competitor could say the same sentence."

A worked example

Illustration: a made-up business. A 10-person company sells a booking tool to physiotherapy clinics and has been calling itself "the all-in-one practice platform". From the positioning:

From the positioning

Alternatives: the front desk's phone and a paper diary; a general booking app the clinic already pays for.
What only we have: booking rules per treatment type (a first assessment takes 60 minutes, a follow-up 30), and insurer pre-approval checks before the slot is confirmed.
Value: fewer double-bookings and rejected insurance claims; the front desk spends less time on the phone.
Best-fit customers: clinics with three or more physiotherapists and a front-desk team, where most patients are insured.
Category: booking software for physiotherapy clinics.

One line: "For physiotherapy clinics with a busy front desk, Clinicbook is booking software that books each treatment for the right length and checks insurer approval first. Unlike general booking apps, it knows physiotherapy appointments."

The stress test flags the weakest part: "fewer rejected claims" has no number yet. The founder asks three clinics for their rejection rates before and after, and the old "all-in-one platform" line goes, because any competitor could say it.

Before you use it

  1. Every attribute is something a customer could check.
  2. Every value traces to an attribute; cut value with none behind it.
  3. The best-fit customer is narrow enough to say no to someone.
  4. Ask three real customers whether they recognize themselves.
  5. Keep customer names and figures out of personal accounts; see what not to paste.

Next step: keep the brief

Positioning feeds every plan, page and ad after it. Marketing prompts, saved shows where to keep it so the AI starts from it every time; for the plan that follows, see planning a month of content.

Skills for this

All skills

Questions

Can ChatGPT help with marketing strategy?

Yes, if you start with positioning and give it real inputs: what customers do today instead of buying from you, what you have that those alternatives don't, and who your best customers are. Ask it to turn each into value a customer can measure, choose the market category, and write a one-line positioning statement. It organizes your evidence; it can't supply it.

What are the five components of positioning?

In April Dunford's method: competitive alternatives, differentiated capabilities, the value they give customers, the target customers who care most about that value, and the market category that makes the value obvious.

How do I know if a positioning statement is good?

Two tests: would a happy customer recognize themselves in it, and could a competitor say the same sentence truthfully? If a competitor could, go back to what only you have.

AI skill

Have your AI sharpen how you position your product

Put this skill in AI Skill Pod and everyone on your team gets it in their Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise): one invite link, free to start. With Positioning statement (5 components), each person's AI works through positioning: the real alternatives, the attributes only you have, the value each one gives, the best-fit customer, the market category and a one-line statement, then a stress test.

Use this skill in your AI

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Sources

  1. April Dunford: A quickstart guide to positioning — five components: competitive alternatives, differentiated capabilities, value for customers, target customer segmentation, market category; ask what a customer would do if your offering didn't exist; often 'do nothing'; avoid phantom competitors (read 2026-11-05)
  2. April Dunford: A product positioning exercise (read 2026-11-04)
  3. OpenAI Help: Data controls — personal plans train on chats by default unless turned off; read through search-result text (read 2026-11-05)