The Curse of Knowledge

In the book, Obviously Awesome by April Dunford takes you through several steps in order for you to figure out how to properly position your company, or product, and there’s one that stands out to me.

In the book, Obviously Awesome by April Dunford takes you through several steps in order for you to figure out how to properly position your company, or product, and there’s one that stands out to me.

It’s this idea of the Curse of Knowledge. You likely have an intimate knowledge of what it is you’re selling or pitching or writing about, and not everybody else always does. So you have to highlight what actually matters. 

She says, “Attributes, or features, are a starting point. But what customers care about is what those features can do for them. For example, phone makers have often represented the quality of their camera by talking about their megapixels. Consumers have been trained to translate megapixels to photo quality and, therefore, believe cameras with more megapixels can take better photos.”

The point being – what is the result? People learned how to take that jargon and translate it into the thing that actually matters to them. 

So, as you’re positioning, as you’re trying to pitch your idea, think about the results, not just the features. 

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It by April Dunford