The Offer, the Positioning and the One Page
Freelancers and small businesses who are invisible because they describe themselves the way everyone else in their category does.
What you will be able to do
- State who your offer is for, and — the harder half — who it is not for.
- Write a positioning statement a stranger could repeat accurately.
- Build a single page that does one job and does it clearly.
- Test it on real people and read what they did rather than what they said.
- Revise on behaviour.
How this is assessed
A positioning statement and a one-page site or profile, tested on twenty real peopleSubmit a written positioning statement naming who the offer is for, who it is not for, and what changes for them; a link to one live page built to that statement — a website, marketplace listing or professional profile; evidence that at least twenty real people saw it and what they did, including the five-second test results; and one documented revision made because of behaviour rather than opinion, with before and after. The offer must be real: something you are actually selling or seriously intend to. A practitioner reads it against the rubric below and returns a written mark. If it does not pass, you get the reasons and one resubmission.
| Grade | What earns it |
|---|---|
| Pass | A clear positioning statement and a live page consistent with it, seen by twenty real people with their responses recorded. |
| Merit | The exclusion is genuine: the statement names people it is honestly not for, and the page reflects that rather than hedging it. |
| Distinction | A revision driven by observed behaviour rather than opinion, with before and after evidence and a stated reason for the change. |
Before you submit
- The statement names who it is for, the alternative it displaces, and the change delivered.
- It names, explicitly, who the offer is not for.
- The page is live and reachable, and does one job with one action.
- The page carries a price or a price band.
- Twenty real people saw it, and at least ten were strangers to you.
- Five-second test results are recorded: what they said it was and who it was for.
- What people did is recorded separately from what they said.
- For merit: the exclusion is real and the page reflects it.
- For distinction: one revision is driven by observed behaviour, with before and after evidence.
Handing it in
Marked by a marketer, brand strategist, agency owner or founder who has positioned a real offer in a competitive market. You will need an account to submit, so that the mark has somewhere to land. Sign in or create one. The modules are open either way.
Modules
7 modules, self-paced. Nothing is timed and nothing is scored.
- 1Positioning as deliberate lossChoosing who to disappoint.
- 2The category you compete inWhether you chose it or not.
- 3Writing the statementFor whom, instead of what, so that.
- 4ProofWhat makes a claim believable when you are unknown.
- 5The one pageOne job, one action, nothing else.
- 6Testing on twenty strangersAnd what to measure.
- 7Revising on behaviour, not on feedbackWhich opinions to act on, and which to log and ignore.
This course stacks
Can find the people who want the thing, say honestly whether it fits them, and know what each of those customers cost to reach.
A credential is issued when all of its artifacts have passed. It records the courses, the bands and the dates, nothing else, and no score.