Positioning is strategy

I write today from the hospital room while I sit next to my sleeping 3-year old, who has just had his tonsils surgically removed.

(He’s doing fine 😊)

It’s not exactly the writing retreat I had in mind but maybe it’s fitting. I’ve been in absentia from long-form writing recently while I focus on my work, parenting, and my health.

I do enjoy writing, however, and it does aid my work. Perhaps my parenting and health too, in some nonlinear way.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Strategists vs Operators

People tend to lean one way or the other.

Strategists dream up new ideas, find creative angles, and connect dots others don’t see. They love to zoom out, question assumptions, and imagine what’s possible. Their strengths lie in creativity, innovation, invention, and craft.

Operators thrive in motion. They make things happen. They set up systems, create structure, and ensure consistency. Their strengths are pace, diligence, process, and follow-through.

It’s a discussion we’ve been having at Buffer. At first, I thought I was an operator with a strategic bent. Then, in a 1:1 with my boss, we unpacked that a bit. Turns out I’m more of a strategist.

I’m not particularly organized. I prefer first-principle thinking to frameworks. Creativity over process.

Maybe you’re not surprised. This newsletter does claim to be about product marketing, branding, and strategy, after all.

Repositioning Buffer: From Management Tool to Creator Platform

Since the last edition, I've primarily been working on a shift in positioning and messaging for Buffer. This stems from the "down and wide" strategy that we've been pursuing.

What does "down and wide" mean exactly?

Our finance team (who are refreshingly eloquent) put it best:

This is a true positioning strategy, much more than just a hero copy rewrite or a fancy competitive positioning matrix. It involves everyone in the company, from finance to support, and is driven by leadership.

(One of my “contrarian takes” is that positioning should come from the CEO, not product marketing)

My role then is to carry that strategy as far into the market as I can.

The Challenge: How Do We Go Broader?

Some product marketers might consider this their worst nightmare… "if you're everything to everyone, you're nothing to nobody"… "riches in the niches"… and all that.

I see it differently. You can’t be everything to everyone, but you can be something to everyone. That’s the beauty of brand-building.

Joel (our CEO) and I talk often about aligning our marketing with the down-and-wide strategy. In particular, becoming more community-focused and returning to the approachability and scale that defined Buffer in the early days.

Meanwhile, our product team has been exploring a new philosophy centered on calm productivity and helping creators build better habits and routines. Our head of content noted that productivity content performs best, and our director of growth pointed out that our website still looks and feels too B2B compared to consumer-oriented products.

After a few feedback rounds, I put together a positioning proposal for the broader team.

Here's the exact memo I shared:

For Buffer to keep growing, we need to move even further downmarket.

Today, many people still lump us in with “social media management tools” like Hootsuite, Sprout, or Later. Those products are primarily built for social media managers and businesses.

Our real opportunity is to be seen in the same stack as creator tools with broad reach, like Canva, CapCut, Linktree, Descript, Notion, and Loveable. These are the tools that everyday creators use to plan and make content. They’ve grown by serving a wide audience, from beginners to pros, and by framing their products as approachable, flexible, and inspiring.

To get there, we need to reframe how people see Buffer and broaden our appeal.

From a “management” tool to a “productivity” tool

Traditionally, Buffer has been described as a “social media management tool.” That made sense when we primarily targeted social media managers and businesses.

Reframing Buffer as a social media productivity tool or app broadens Buffer’s appeal to a much wider set of creators, with a particular focus on individuals. It puts us closer to Notion than to Hootsuite.

Importantly, this isn’t a departure from who we are. Productivity has always been part of Buffer’s DNA. Our very first product was about saving time on Twitter. Our blog built authority by publishing practical productivity advice. And “work smarter, not harder / 4DWW” remains a cornerstone of our culture. This repositioning brings us back to those roots, while opening the door to a larger, more diverse audience of creators.

Creator Mode vs Consumer Mode

As we push downmarket, the primary alternative to Buffer increasingly becomes the social platforms themselves. So how do we differentiate ourselves from them?

Social platforms are designed for consumption. Their feeds are optimized to keep people scrolling, refreshing, and reacting. Even creators who open the app with the intention to post often get pulled into distraction loops.

Buffer provides the opposite: it’s the switch that flips you into Creator Mode.

• A dedicated workspace to plan, publish, and engage without distraction.

• A calm environment that keeps you in the flow of creating, not consuming.

• A clear separation between when you’re working on content vs. when you’re enjoying it.

This gives creators a clear reason to use Buffer instead of posting natively without putting our platform partners in a negative light. And importantly, we’re not saying consumption is bad. There’s a time and place for it. We’re simply making the mode switch intentional: when it’s time to create, Buffer is where you go.

To illustrate the point, here’s one of many examples of creators struggling to find the time and energy to post consistently.

Serving all types of creators

A big question in this project was: who exactly are we for? Should we narrow down to a niche like “aspiring creators” or “small businesses”?

Our decision is to go broad: Buffer serves all creators.

A consumer brand analogy here is Nike. Nike serves every type of athlete, from casual runners to Olympic medalists. They use the excellence of the pros as inspiration, while making their products approachable for everyone.

Similarly, Buffer is for:

• The small business owner trying to post more regularly.

• The aspiring creator experimenting with their voice.

• The experienced creator who values productivity and calm.

• The agency freelancer seeking flexibility and value-first.

By leaning into this breadth, we avoid pigeonholing ourselves into a narrow niche and instead broaden Buffer’s relevance across the entire creator spectrum.

Our product promise

This positioning flows into four promises we’ll reinforce across campaigns and customer stories:

• Consistency without the busywork: Buffer guides your habits with gentle nudges and clear goals, while automating cross-posting, scheduling and analysis to save you time.

• Be uniquely you, with a little help: Find your voice with inspiration from real creators. Templates and examples spark ideas that feel authentic to you, so your content always feels like your own.

• Flexibility without friction: Buffer adapts to your workflow, whether you’re managing one account or many. Use AI on your terms, connect your favorite tools, and get started with a free plan packed with real value.

• Connect with your community. Buffer brings all your comments into one calm space so you can reply, connect, and build real relationships without getting lost in feeds.

What this means for Marketing

This positioning has practical implications for how we market Buffer:

• Category narrative: Help people see Buffer in the “creator tool” stack (Canva, CapCut, Linktree), not the “social media management tool” stack (Hootsuite, Later).

• Campaign framing: Lean into productivity and calm creation, not just channel management.

• Customer stories: Showcase a range of creators, from everyday voices to professionals, making success feel achievable.

• Competitive narrative: Highlight Buffer as the calm alternative to both the distraction of native posting and the complexity of enterprise tools.

Next steps

Thanks to everyone who’s been part of shaping this work. Positioning is never “done,” but this gives us a strong, shared starting point. With this clarity, we can tell more cohesive stories, launch with more confidence, and ultimately make Buffer feel indispensable to the everyday creators we serve.

Our product is still evolving to fully deliver on the promises outlined earlier, and our marketing will evolve alongside it. Over time, we will:

Refine our website messaging to reflect this new direction.

• Publish and share more case studies that show Buffer as a productivity tool for all types of creators.

• Lean into the “Creator Mode” metaphor — visually and textually — as the clearest articulation of calm productivity.

• Anchor upcoming launches in our product promises. By regularly beating the same drum, we’ll become known for enabling consistency, authenticity, flexibility, and value.

Let me know if this triggers and thoughts or questions and please bookmark the Product Marketing Hub as your source of truth for positioning and messaging!

I also plan on sharing more about it in next month’s All Hands.

Making It Real: The Product Marketing Hub

The product marketing hub is where I try to channel my inner operator. It’s a shared Notion workspace that anyone at Buffer can access — a single source of truth for how we talk about the product, what we’re launching, and who we’re serving.

It includes:

• What Buffer is, why it’s useful, and how it’s different. A shared foundation anyone can use when talking about Buffer.

• Our product promises. The commitments we want Buffer to live up to. I used to call them narratives, but “promise” feels stronger. Something you have to keep, not just marketing spin.

• A launch tracker. In a remote team, context scatters quickly. The tracker helps everyone see what’s shipping, when, and why — and quietly celebrates progress.

• A shared customer database. Stories, quotes, and proof points anyone can pull from.

The Strategist AND the Operator

Positioning work demands both.

The strategist in me loves the pivot to “productivity,” the Creator Mode concept, and the Nike analogy.

But the operator in me knows none of it matters without the less glamorous follow-through.

Thanks for reading.

1  A hill I will die on: product marketing should sit much closer to brand than growth or sales.