Positioning for Founders

Positioning is not what you do. It is why someone chooses you instead of everyone else.

That is the sentence most founders skim over the first time. Because it sounds so simple. And because the consequence is uncomfortable: if your positioning is not clear, you compete on price. Always.

In part one of this series, we talked about what a brand really is — not your logo, but the feeling that remains. Now we go one layer deeper: how do you find the one reason someone comes to you specifically?

If you are founding a business or have recently become self-employed in Switzerland, this article is for you. Not theory. Practice. By the end, you will have a positioning statement you can use immediately — on your website, in a first meeting, in your elevator pitch.

Why Most Founders Are Poorly Positioned

Be honest: when someone asks what you do, how long does your answer take?

If it is more than two sentences, you have a positioning problem. Not because you lack skills — but because you have too many and do not know where to put the focus.

That looks like this:

• The website says everything and nothing. “We offer tailored solutions for your business.” That could be a carpentry shop. Or a consultancy. Or a catering service.
• The clients come, but they are the wrong ones. You attract people who push on price because they see no difference between you and the competition.
• You feel interchangeable. Even though you know you do good work. That your clients are satisfied. That your approach is different. But you cannot put it into words.

This is not a communication problem. It is a positioning problem. And it costs you money every day — in lost enquiries, in price negotiations, in energy spent on the wrong projects.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 64% of consumers choose brands that share their values. That means: if you are clearly positioned, you do not just win attention — you win trust. And trust is the hardest currency in Switzerland.

The 3-Sentence Positioning: Your Practical Framework

Forget complicated positioning matrices. Forget Blue Ocean Strategy diagrams. You need three sentences. Three clear, honest sentences.

Sentence 1: Who do you help? Not “everyone.” Not “SMEs.” Not “people who appreciate quality.” Be specific. The more specific, the better.

Example: “I help physiotherapists in German-speaking Switzerland who are just becoming self-employed.”

Sentence 2: What problem do you solve? Not the technical problem. The emotional one. What keeps your clients awake at night? What frustrates them? Where are they stuck?

Example: “Most of them have excellent training but no idea how to win patients without selling themselves short.”

Sentence 3: What makes you different? This is where it gets interesting. Not better — different. What is your approach, your perspective, your unfair advantage?

Example: “I combine branding with hands-on experience, because I ran a physiotherapy practice myself for ten years.”

Together, that becomes:

“I help physiotherapists in German-speaking Switzerland who are just becoming self-employed. Most of them have excellent training but no idea how to win patients without selling themselves short. I combine branding with hands-on experience, because I ran a physiotherapy practice myself for ten years.”

That is a positioning. Not a slogan, not marketing speak — a clear statement that instantly tells anyone whether you are the right person.

Positioning is sacrifice. Not of quality — of blandness. And it is precisely that sacrifice that makes you truly visible.

”But I Do So Many Things!” — The Fear of Focus

I hear this objection in almost every workshop. And I understand it. You have experience in different areas. You can solve different problems. Narrowing down to one thing feels like leaving money on the table.

But the opposite is true.

Think about your last toothache. You could have gone to your GP. But you went to the dentist. Why? Because specialisation builds trust. And trust builds willingness to pay.

A McKinsey study shows that specialised service providers can charge up to 20% higher prices than generalists. Not because they can do more — but because the perceived value is higher.

And here is the crucial point: positioning is not the same as limiting your services. You can continue to offer various things. But externally, you communicate a clear focus. The door through which clients enter is narrow. What happens behind it can be broad.

An example: you are a graphic designer and you do logos, websites, flyers, social media graphics, and packaging design. Instead of “I do graphic design,” you say: “I help food startups in Switzerland that want to move from the farm shop to retail — with packaging that stands out on the shelf.”

Suddenly you are not one of a thousand graphic designers. You are the packaging specialist for food startups. And when that same client also needs a logo? Of course you do it. But the door was packaging design.

The principle: your positioning is your entry point, not your boundary.

Positioning in Switzerland: Trust Before Promises

Switzerland is not the American market. Loud “We’re the best!” does not work here. Something else counts: substance, reliability, recommendation.

That has concrete implications for your positioning:

The market is small — and that is your advantage. In German-speaking Switzerland, people know each other. Two or three connections, and you reach the person you want. That means word-of-mouth works better here than almost anywhere else. But only if people can say something concrete about you. “She does branding” is not enough. “She helped us nail our positioning so precisely that we started attracting the right clients” — that is what people pass on.

Trust is built slowly and lost quickly. Swiss clients check more carefully. They ask around in their network. They google you. According to the Swiss SME Barometer, 72% of business clients say that personal recommendations are their most important decision criterion. Your positioning must not only work on your website — it must hold up in every conversation, every proposal, every project.

Quality is assumed, differentiation is not. In Switzerland, good work is expected. That alone is not enough as a positioning. “We deliver quality” is not a differentiator here — it is the entry ticket. What sets you apart lies beyond quality: your process, your perspective, your specific understanding of a particular industry or problem.

In Switzerland, you do not need a loud brand. You need a clear one. One that people can pass on without having to think about it.

Your Positioning Statement in 30 Minutes

Now it gets concrete. Get yourself a coffee, a blank sheet of paper, and thirty minutes. No phone, no distractions. You are doing this now.

Step 1: Gather Raw Material (10 minutes)

Answer these questions in writing, without filtering. Bullet points are fine.

• Who are your three best clients so far? (The ones where everything worked — collaboration, result, payment.)
• What do these three have in common? (Industry? Company size? Personality? Problem?)
• What problem did you really solve for them — the actual one, not the official one? (Official: “new logo.” Actual: “finally being taken seriously.”)
• What did you do that someone else would not have done the same way? (Your approach, your experience, your perspective.)
• If your best client told a friend about you — what would she say?

Step 2: Write the Three Sentences (10 minutes)

Take your answers and distil them into the 3-sentence framework:

1. I help [specific group of people],
2. who [specific problem or challenge].
3. My approach: [what makes you different].

Write at least three versions. Do not overthink, just write. The first version is never the best — but it is the beginning.

Step 3: The Pub Test (5 minutes)

Read your best version out loud. Imagine you are at a networking event and someone asks: “So, what do you do?”

Check:

• Does someone without industry knowledge immediately understand what it is about?
• Does it sound like you — or like a management consulting brochure?
• Is it specific enough that the person could say: “Oh, I know someone who needs that”?

If not: back to Step 2. Simpler language. More concrete.

Step 4: Reality Check (5 minutes)

Final questions:

• Will this still be true in a year? Positioning is not a tattoo — but it should carry you for at least 12 to 18 months.
• Do you have evidence for it? References, results, experience? If not: is it still authentic?
• Does it actually differentiate you? Could your biggest competitor say the same sentence? Then it is not a positioning — it is a description.

Write down your final statement. Pin it to your screen. Use it as the opening on your website, as the intro on your LinkedIn profile, as the answer to “What do you do?”

Own Your Position

You now have a positioning statement. Good. But a statement alone changes nothing — it needs to flow into everything: your logo, your website, your offers, your prices, your demeanour.

This is the point where many founders cannot go further alone. Not because they lack ability — but because you cannot see your own blind spot. You need someone who asks the right questions. Who pushes back when it gets too vague. Who helps you turn “I sort of do everything” into “this is what I stand for.”

Every successful project we have done started with positioning. Not with a logo. Not with colours. Simon Tanner knew what his remediation company stood for before he had a website. That clarity is why the first contracts came in shortly after launch.

That is exactly what the Minimum package is for. It includes a positioning workshop where we sharpen your positioning together in 90 minutes — plus the visual foundation to carry it outward. Direct, honest, to the point.

If you want to understand the broader context first, go back to what a brand really is. And if you want to see what branding costs in practice, our article on what branding really costs has the Swiss market numbers.