Which types of information appear in a boilerplate or positioning statement?

Once your positioning is defined, create a brief product positioning statement that describes your target audience, what sets your product apart, and why customers should care about it. Here is an example of a positioning statement template:

For [group of users] that [need/want], [company/product] is a [category/solution] that uniquely solves this by [benefit].

It would be helpful to use an example company to talk through this. Let’s use Fredwin Cycling, a fictitious company that builds a cycling app. The target market is predominantly cycling enthusiasts who are interested in improving their fitness. Your customer and market research reveals that users are concerned about their health but are struggling to stick with an exercise program. Users want to stay motivated by connecting with like-minded friends. The product addresses this need by providing a social cycling community that promotes friendly competition and tracks workout performance.

Here is an example of a product positioning statement for Fredwin Cycling:

For cyclists who want to connect with other athletes, Fredwin Cycling is the leading social fitness application that uniquely brings the cycling community together by promoting healthy competition.

What influences how a product is perceived?

Your product positioning shapes how you want your product to be known in the market. But there are many different factors that can affect how your product is perceived. The major influence is what customers experience when they actually use your product and interact with your company. It is the summation of the Complete Product Experience (CPE) that determines what customers think and feel about your product.

There are seven core areas that contribute to the CPE:

Marketing

How potential customers learn about your product and decide if it might be a fit

Sales

How prospects get the information they need to make a purchasing decision

Technology

The core set of features that customers pay for

Supporting systems

The internal systems that make it possible to deliver the product

Third-party integrations

The ecosystem of products the customer uses

Support

How customers receive product training and assistance

Policies

The rules that govern how your company does business

Remember, every touchpoint with your company either reinforces or undermines your positioning. So while you should consciously plan how to position your product, you should think broadly about every aspect of the adoption process. Because your customers will decide what they really think about your product.

What are some types of product positioning strategies?

Customer perceptions of your product can be altered — positively or negatively — by any aspect of your CPE. Clearly defined product positioning will help you maintain a cohesive message about your product's unique value at each touchpoint. But while your product's value should be unique, your positioning strategy does not have to be completely original.

There are several standard types of product positioning strategies that companies use to differentiate their products. Here are some common types of product positioning:

Price

Position your product as the more affordable option on the market

Quality

Convey that your product is high quality or luxury. This can be an effective positioning strategy against product rivals that are competing on price.

User

Target a specific user group, demographic, or application that is relevant to your product.

Product type

Shift customer perceptions and reach new market segmentations by selecting an alternate category for your product.

Competitor

Demonstrate directly or indirectly that your product is better than a competitor's product.

Differentiation

Show that your product is a completely unique offering in the market that can not be easily duplicated.

The positioning strategy that is best suited for your product depends on your customers' needs, the results of your market research, and the goals you have as a business or product leader. But regardless of the strategy you choose, well-defined product positioning will show that you have honed in on what makes your product uniquely valuable — and that you know how to communicate this value to your customers.

You can set product strategy, gather customer feedback, and report on roadmap progress — all in one place. Try Aha! Roadmaps free for 30 days.

Boilerplate text, or simply boilerplate, is any written text (copy) that can be reused in new contexts or applications without significant changes to the original. The term is used about statements, contracts, and computer code, and is used in the media to refer to hackneyed or unoriginal writing.

Etymology[edit]

"Boiler plate" originally referred to the rolled steel used to make boilers to heat water.[1][2] Metal printing plates (type metal) used in hot metal typesetting of prepared text such as advertisements or syndicated columns were distributed to small, local newspapers, and became known as 'boilerplates' by analogy. One large supplier to newspapers of this kind of boilerplate was the Western Newspaper Union, which supplied "ready-to-print stories [which] contained national or international news" to papers with smaller geographic footprints, which could include advertisements pre-printed next to the conventional content.[3]

Boilerplate language[edit]

In contract law, the term "boilerplate language" or "boilerplate clause" describes the parts of a contract that are considered standard. A standard form contract or boilerplate contract is a contract between two parties, where the terms and conditions of the contract are set by one of the parties, and the other party has little or no ability to negotiate more favorable terms and is thus placed in a "take it or leave it" position.

Boilerplate language may also exist in pre-created form letters. The person sending the form letter then usually only needs to add his or her name at the end of the pre-written greeting and body.

Boilerplate code[edit]

In computer programming, boilerplate is the sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration. Such boilerplate code is particularly salient when the programmer must include a lot of code for minimal functionality.

A related phenomenon, bookkeeping code, is code that is not part of the business logic, but is interleaved with it to keep data structures updated or able to handle secondary aspects of the program.

Boilerplate statement[edit]

A boilerplate statement or response generally refers to a message used with minimal effort for multiple different situations. Examples include official statements from government officials like "Our thoughts and prayers go to those affected" or messages left by companies' staff like "Thank you for contacting us. Most issues are solved by going to our website."

What are boilerplate statements?

What is boilerplate information in a news release?

What is a boilerplate in marketing?