Positioning is one of the most foundational, misunderstood, and under-utilized parts of a company’s core business strategy.

It’s the new year and, along with millions of others, I am wrapping up my beloved annual planning process.

Startups think a lot about product-market fit (PMF). Established companies? Not so much. This is a missed opportunity.

The marketing funnel is pervasive. This framework—the dominant mindset among marketing professionals, whether B2B or B2C—is built on a series of assumptions:

You only need to look at a fraction of one of these logos, and your brain fills with images and experiences.

Imagine you’re in the airport, famished, waiting for a flight. You buy an enormous, puffed-up bag of potato chips. You tear into the bag, relishing the idea of stuffing yourself with salty, greasy goodness.