---
title: Obviously Awesome (Dunford) — the book | RGM® Glossary
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/obviously-awesome/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/obviously-awesome/
---

# Obviously Awesome

/ˈɑbviəsli ˈɔsəm/proper noun

Positioning isn't what you say — it's the context you choose so buyers instantly get it.

Author
:   April Dunford

Published
:   2019, Ambient Press

Components
:   5 (alternatives → attributes → value → segment → category)

Built from
:   16 product launches as operator

## Forms & parts of speech

Dunford positioning · phrase

Her context-first method.

"Run the **Dunford** exercise — what would customers use if we didn't exist?"

## What the book says

*Obviously Awesome* rebuilds positioning from the buyer's side: products are understood through context, so positioning is choosing the context that makes your strengths obvious. Her five components chain in strict order — competitive alternatives (what customers would really use instead, often a spreadsheet or an intern), unique attributes, the value those attributes enable, the segments who care most, and ONLY THEN the market category you frame yourself in. Most teams start at category and work backward — the book's central correction.

## The ideas people quote

'What would they use if you didn't exist?' as the first question; the three category plays — head-to-head, big-fish-small-pond (subsegment), and create-a-new-game (category creation), each with explicit costs; positioning as a team sport done in a room, not a copywriter's deliverable; and her insistence that weak positioning shows up as the same symptom everywhere — good demos, confused prospects, long sales cycles.

## How to read it now

It is the operational layer Ries and Trout never wrote — their theory, her checklist. For most companies the book's big-fish-small-pond play is the realistic move (category creation is a funded-company luxury), which makes it the working positioning manual for the other 95%. Sales Pitch (2023) extends it into the sales conversation.

**Worked example.** A horizontal automation tool demos beautifully and closes nothing. The Dunford workshop lists real alternatives (interns plus spreadsheets — not the enterprise rival the deck obsesses over), isolates the attribute only it has (no-code audit trails), finds who cares most (compliance teams in mid-size banks), and reframes from 'workflow automation' to 'compliance automation for regional banks.' Same product, new context — sales cycles halve because prospects finally know what shelf it sits on.

**Failure modes to watch.** Starting with the category and reasoning backward; positioning against the named competitor while customers' real alternative is doing nothing; and treating the exercise as messaging — the book is about choosing the game, not the words.

## Synonyms & antonyms

### Synonyms

Obviously Awesome

## Origin & history

Self-published through Ambient Press in May 2019 after Dunford — a 25-year operator across seven startups and IBM — found every positioning book described WHAT positioning is but none said HOW to do it. The 10-step process came from her consulting practice's repeated workshops.

Etymology: [source](https://www.aprildunford.com/books).

## Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

[View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=april%20dunford%20positioning&date=today%205-y)

## Common questions

Who wrote Obviously Awesome?
:   April Dunford, the positioning consultant who ran product and marketing at seven B2B startups, published 2019.

What are the five components?
:   Competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value, target segments, and market category — derived in that order.

What are the three category plays?
:   Head-to-head (win an existing category), big fish small pond (own a subsegment), and create a new game (category creation).

## Related tools & calculators

- tool[CAC calculator](/tools/cac-calculator/)
- tool[LTV-to-CAC ratio](/tools/ltv-to-cac-ratio-calculator/)

## Resources & people to follow

- book*Obviously Awesome* — April Dunford (the subject)
- book*Sales Pitch* — April Dunford
- referenceAprilDunford.com

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

## Related training

- module[B2B SaaS growth](/training/b2b-saas-growth/)

## Disciplines

Areas of marketing where obviously awesome is a core concern:

[Growth strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/)[Analytics](/training/marketing-analytics/)

## Read next

## Related terms

[April Dunford](/glossary/april-dunford/)[Brand positioning](/glossary/brand-positioning/)[Al Ries](/glossary/al-ries/)[Category design](/glossary/category-design/)[Value proposition](/glossary/value-proposition/)

## Sources

1. trends[Google Trends — "april dunford positioning"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=april%20dunford%20positioning&date=today%205-y)