Welcome to the only website in the world dedicated to antivral content about positioning
Deep Reads is the little corner of the internet where you’ll find everything I know about positioning in one place. No catches, no gimmicks, no funnels. No book to buy (yet). Just the best of what I’ve figured out, in a format that allows for depth and detail. Written by the actual author, rooted in real experience, and yours for free.
Hi. Thanks for taking a minute to read this. Maybe it’s the first thing you’re reading from this page. If it’s not, that’s fine, too. You’re about to read the foundational point of view behind every piece of content you will find on Deep Reads.
It’s worth knowing, even if you’ve followed me for years.
Before I launched the content, I agonized about what exactly it would be. A book? A newsletter? A workshop series? A bunch of LinkedIn posts?
Here’s where I netted out. I wanted to publish a deep, detailed resource for anyone interested in doing positioning work very well.
Newsletters are great…but it’s hard to find older newsletter content, and not everyone has time to read them. Books are great, but once they’re done, you can’t update them. And they’re not the best form factor for quickly referencable content.
And so I decided that publishing to my website is the right thing to do. On this page, you’re getting the whole fucking candy store. All of it, with nothing held back. There’s nothing to sign up for, and nothing to buy. No gates. Ever.
I’m in the business of helping companies succeed, not hawking books or monetizing subscribers. Although if you give me your email, I will occasionally send you a heads-up when I’ve added something new to this page. So please do sign up here.
A few final points before you dig in.
At the time of writing this, I’ve spent more than three solid years doing nothing but positioning work for B2B technology products, with clients ranging from publicly traded category leaders to Series A startups
I do deep dives, not sprints, so I’ve spent meaningful time with more than 45 companies across an equal number of categories as part of In The Kitchen. Before that, I led product and brand marketing inside SaaS companies, and consulted for much of the Magnificent Seven on positioning, messaging, and creative.
I’ve had enough reps to develop conviction about the ideas I share, based on real-life situations I participated in first-hand. So, this isn’t a bunch of catchy ideas spun up out of nowhere.
And it’s not AI slop. I’m typing. Every fucking word. Even the em dashes. I use AI to help with research and for an editorial gut-check now and then. But for good or ill, everything published under my name was written by the flawed, imperfect, biased human being named Jon Itkin.
If you look at what people say about positioning on LinkedIn, in blog posts, etc., you hear a lot about the basics. That’s because if you’re playing for likes, you get a lot more when you share the same 101 stuff over and over again.
If you want a big audience, you play the greatest hits. I’m here for the deep cuts.
I have a post that covers the basic building blocks and intellectual lineage of positioning. But other than that post, you won’t see a lot of 101 stuff here.
Instead, I’m writing the content I want to read. That means doing things like:
I say all this not because I have a problem with Positioning 101. Everybody should start there. I just think the basics have been covered pretty well at this point. I don’t need to rehash them again for you
This content is for people who are curious, entrepreneurial, and looking for something more than a playbook. There are many people who are happy to tell you exactly how to think about and do positioning, with every step and template ironed out.
Their message to you (whether or not they even realize it) is, “I’ve done the thinking, so you don’t have to.”
That’s not what this is. Deep Reads is here to help you build your own frameworks and mental models for positioning. Not to turn you into my acolyte. Maybe something you read in here inspires you to do the opposite of what I’m suggesting. I’d call that a win.
Everything I’m writing here extends from a basic code. An agreement I made with myself about how I’m going to operate. These are real values, not corporate ones. I’ve sacrificed for them, and I will continue to. The reality is that if you look at viral content, it does the opposite of these.
Deep Reads is written with full acknowledgement that I, the humble writer, stand on the shoulders of giants who have come before me. And that even when I disagree with an idea, I have respect for the person who shared it.
There’s a habit in this industry. People like me latch onto a single approach to strategy, and then dunk on a different approach to prove they’re right. I think approaches are tools, and the best strategists are craftspeople who dispassionately choose the right tool for the job.
There will be actionable processes, concepts, frameworks, and templates in these Deep Reads. But I’m sharing them along with a real discussion of the first principles behind them. When you work from first principles (the underlying truths that form the building blocks of knowledge), you’ll find that the tool you use matters less than how you use it.
People usually refer to positioning like a noun. A thing. A headline. A workshop. A strategy document. I think positioning is something you do. It’s a series of actions you take to claim your intended position in a market. This content is here to help you do positioning. Yes, in conversations and conference rooms. But more importantly, in the world.
I hope what I’m sharing helps you make sense of yours. Thanks for reading.
Long-form writing may be a dying art. But if you love a good stemwinder, these are genuine, human-being-made articles that explore topics that don’t fit in a 600-word box.
Hi. Thanks for taking a minute to read this. Maybe it’s the first thing you’re reading from this page. If it’s not, that’s fine, too. You’re about to read the foundational point of view behind every piece of content you will find on Deep Reads.
It’s worth knowing, even if you’ve followed me for years.
Before I launched the content, I agonized about what exactly it would be. A book? A newsletter? A workshop series? A bunch of LinkedIn posts?
Here’s where I netted out. I wanted to publish a deep, detailed resource for anyone interested in doing positioning work very well.
Newsletters are great…but it’s hard to find older newsletter content, and not everyone has time to read them. Books are great, but once they’re done, you can’t update them. And they’re not the best form factor for quickly referencable content.