Summary

Too many organisations mistake marketing-led wordsmithing for progress on a positioning decision. The signal gets drowned in fuzzy decision rights and endless rounds of review. Clarity returns when someone owns scope and risk—and makes the call. Then momentum follows: faster execution, fewer reworks.

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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Real Choice

When positioning gets treated as a marketing task, you often get speed upfront and drag later. The drag shows up as competing narratives, shifting priorities and unclear trade‑offs. That’s because positioning isn’t a slogan; it’s the choice of where you play and how you win. If the decision sits too low, you get quick headlines and slow execution.

The perception gap is real. Forrester notes that while 82% of senior B2B executives believe sales and marketing are aligned, 65% of practitioners say they’re not—an indicator that decision rights aren’t clear when it matters. The cost is cumulative: more rework, more meetings, and disjointed delivery.

Decision Rights, Not Slogans

The core question isn’t who crafts the words; it’s who owns the trade‑offs. Market choice, customer target, and value focus are leadership bets. Messaging is how those bets are translated and tested in the market. Confuse the two and you create a governance gap that no creative review can fix.

In our experience with organisations at inflection points, the fastest route to alignment is to treat positioning as an enterprise decision with explicit decision rights, not a copy exercise. Marketing facilitates and connects insight; leadership decides the wager; the business commits to the consequences.

Scope And Risk

Anchor ownership to the scope and risk of the change, not to function or personality.

• Market or model shift: the chief executive decides; the board is consulted; executives shape options and implications.
• Segment or proposition refocus within the current market: the executive team decides; marketing and product co‑lead the recommendation.
• Messaging within an agreed position: marketing decides; sales, product and service provide input and test.
• Set thresholds that trigger escalation (e.g., new buyer, new price architecture, or new route to market).

Make Roles Visible

Write the roles, and the rhythm, before the work starts.

• Who recommends, who decides, who signs off, who executes—by date, in one page.
• Cross‑functional checks: marketing facilitates; sales and product validate signal; finance tests viability; operations plans adoption.
• Fix review points at key milestones and hold the line on scope creep.
• Define success up front: the outcome you seek, the measures you’ll use, and the time horizon.

Governance That Scales

Good positioning governance isn’t bureaucracy; it’s a speed enabler. Clear decision rights accelerate testing, reduce contradictory asks, and keep teams focused on the same bet. Over time, it lowers costs of change and builds a brand that compounds rather than drifts.

Treat positioning as a series of deliberate choices, owned at the right altitude, and you create a system that can adapt quickly without losing coherence—especially when markets move and the stakes rise.

Sources:

• The Truth About B2B Sales And Marketing Alignment — Forrester

Further Resources

1. Brand Accountability: Who Owns Brand Decisions?
2. Clear Decision Rights to Prevent Brand Whiplash
3. Navigating Competitive Shifts with Positioning, Not Rebranding

No two brand journeys are the same — connect with us if you’d like to test where your next step might lead. Let’s talk.

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