Positioning for tech companies. Author of the best-selling books Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch.

April Dunford is the world's foremost authority on product positioning for B2B technology companies. As a consultant, April helps companies make complex products easy to understand and love. After a 25-year career as a VP of Marketing at various fast-growing technology firms, she has consulted with 300 technology companies, including Google, Epic Games, Postman, and others. April is the acclaimed author of the best-selling book, "Obviously Awesome," which delves into the art of positioning, and the newly released, "Sales Pitch," which unveils the secrets to crafting a winning sales narrative in the market.

April Dunford

ANNOUNCEMENT - The new updated and expanded Obviously Awesome is coming!!! 🎉 🎉 

I've been sitting on this one for a while, so I'm SUPER EXCITED to get this out into the world!! 

Almost 7 years ago, I published Obviously Awesome, my attempt at describing the process I use to position B2B tech products and companies. I didn't expect many people to read it. I was wrong. 

Since then, more than 100,000 people have bought the book, and countless companies have used the process. A few hundred did that with me directly, and many, many more of you worked through the process on your own using the book. I've learned a LOT over the past 7 years, and I decided it was time to bring those learnings back to the book. 

The new edition is coming in FEBRUARY (don't ask me for a specific date - it's Amazon's world, we're just living in it). Here's what's new:

📙 5 STEPS (not 10) - In the first edition, I describe 5 components of positioning and a 10-step process for doing it. Some of you really hated that the number of steps in the process wasn’t equal to the number of components. The first few steps were pre-work, and the final steps are work that follows the exercise. I have repositioned those steps (see what I did there), and we now have 5 components and 5 steps. 

📙 The PRE-WORK section has been expanded to include key decisions a team should make before beginning a positioning exercise. This is based on my work with clients, and I think it will greatly improve any team’s chances of success when following this process.

📙 I have included sections that are more relevant to MULTIPRODUCT companies grappling with how to position their products in a company with multiple offerings. 

📙 Some steps in the process have been significantly expanded—particularly the Differentiated Value step. Most teams told me they got stuck there. I hope this new, improved section helps to clarify the concept.

📙 The final section, What Happens AFTER a Positioning Exercise, has been greatly expanded. This new section reflects my current thinking on how best to create a sales pitch to test positioning and then turn that positioning into messaging.

📙 For the first time, there will be a HARDCOVER edition. Most of you won't care, but I have seen some seriously well-loved (but also beat-up and scraggly) paperbacks at conferences, and I decided some of you need a copy that’s a little more durable!

🎙️ To go with the book, I'm reviving the Positioning PODCAST and will release a new series of episodes that dive into the book's new material. 
✍ The same goes for the NEWSLETTER (always the best way to follow my stuff). 

A new podcast episode and newsletter article drop TOMORROW - links in the comments.

🌊 The Quiet Stall
2021 was oddly calm.
No clients left my agency, but no fresh ones walked in either. I kept telling myself the mid-pandemic lull would pass - right after we onboarded a few shiny, big-logo accounts.

Six months later I was drowning in mis-alignment: mission creep, late pay, and toxic patterns of entitlement. I clung to them (and an oversize team) out of guilt… until the day I admitted the obvious: “steady” isn’t the same as sustainable.

I slashed the roster, right-sized the team, and promised I’d never let momentum masquerade as growth again.

⚡ The Lightning Weekend
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember - scribbling on scrap paper, blogging while friends still battled dial-up. 
I watched three tectonic shifts: dot-com, social, and now generative AI. 
I spectated the first two.
Not this time.

When OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, I spent one weekend testing prompts and saw lightning. If small businesses learn to direct the models instead of fear them, we replace guesswork with leverage. 

I went all-in:

🏗️ Built an AI-forward agency for founder-led teams
🌀 Launched the Marketing Power Circle mastermind
🎓 Started teaching AI-driven marketing at York University

💪 Fuel That Shaped Me
One time in grade 9, my mom once faced down a teacher accusing me of cheating - and won. And learned the value of reputation. She reminds me whenever I wobble: “If they don’t support your jump, it’s because they don’t know you can fly.”

My dad - gone a decade - showed the other side of courage: kindness loud enough to adopt the lost (animal and human). And an undying commitment to inclusion (boomer girl dads in India did not have it easy).

From them I learned:

🛡️ Defend what matters - clients, values, reputation - with fire if needed.
🤝 Lead with generosity; it compounds faster than any algorithm.

🚀 Today, Here’s What I Do

🤖🔧 Done-for-you AI Integration – audits, workflows, and automations that cut execution from weeks to hours

🌀 Marketing Power Circle – a small-group mastermind where founders leave each session with something DONE

🎤 Keynotes and Workshops – translating AI buzzwords into daily revenue engines

📣 Let’s Connect
📌 Follow for 5×-weekly prompts, templates, and behind-the-scenes AI experiments

📩 DM “MPC” for the next mastermind cohort

📧 Need a speaker or custom implementation? DM me

If serendipity brought you here, stick around - lightning tends to strike where preparation meets a little wild courage.

Susan Diaz

What did your planning for this year look like?
Mine looked like two focused sessions with my B2B buddy Gabby Zuniga MIR, CHRL at the vibey Verity Club, her ein Toronto.

Session 1: a 2025 retrospective. AI did the heavy lifting. We pulled from calendar, invoices, CRM, and marketing analytics. 

Then we asked:
What made money? (by offer, by channel, by client type)
What felt easy and energizing?
What created outsized downstream effects?
What looked busy but delivered little?

Result: clear patterns. Do more of what compounds. Retire the “high-effort/low-return” stuff without guilt.

Session 2: peer review. We brought our one-page plans and received advice and notes from each other. We traded intros, resources, tool stacks, and risks to watch. We did it over long, delicious lunches - with white space built into the day so decisions could breathe.

I’m excited for what’s ahead because the inputs are better: data, discernment, and the right room.

Tell me your planning story in the comments.

Susan Diaz 🎙️

🤖 I help teams implement practical AI to double their results 👩‍🏫 Instructor and AI Trainer | 📕 Author | 🎤 Speaker

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Who are the early AI adopters inside of your organization? Who has access and training and space to experiment? Is there equity in the process? Or are we creating another version of the wage gap on cr^ck?

Heather Cannings of StrikeUP Canada joins me for a vital conversation about women and AI? Heather leads one of the largest online events for women entrepreneurs and the last time I spoke for the event, there were 3,500 registrants. So she knows a little something about the thing.

Catch the convo here https://lnkd.in/geA7vV5C 

This episode is a part of my 30 day podcast to book sprint where I'm writing my next book 'Swan Dive Backwards'. If you'd like access to an early copy, drop me a comment or DM and follow me Susan Diaz 🎙️

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