Making the Brand Positioning Slide [Define & Differentiate]

Our client Pauline, asked us a sharp question while we were building their brand positioning slide:

“How do we make sure this doesn’t sound like what our competitors are already saying?”

Our Creative Director replied, without missing a beat:

“By not saying what they’re saying.”

As a presentation design agency, we work on a lot of brand positioning slides throughout the year. And over time, we’ve noticed one frustratingly common challenge: most companies try to sound bold and different… and end up sounding exactly the same.

So, in this blog, we’re going to unpack what it really takes to design a brand positioning slide that actually sets you apart. Not just in words, but in how it looks, feels, and sticks.

In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.

Why Most Brand Positioning Slides Fail (And What They’re Supposed to Do)

Let’s get something out of the way. Most brand positioning slides don’t position anything. They just recycle fancy phrases like “customer-centric,” “innovative,” or “value-driven” and throw in a Venn diagram for good measure.

The result? A slide that sounds polished but says nothing.

The purpose of a brand positioning slide isn’t to summarize your About Us page. It’s to draw a sharp, confident line between you and the rest of the market. It's where you make a stand. Not just about what you offer, but why it matters and who it’s meant for.

Here’s the real problem: when every company in your space is promising better service, smarter tech, and faster delivery, those words lose weight. They’re not differentiators. They’re wallpaper.

So, when we start designing a brand positioning slide, we don’t just ask what the company does. We ask what it dares to say that others won’t. That’s where positioning begins — not in slogans, but in courage.

And from there, everything on the slide (the copy, the layout, the visual hierarchy) needs to reinforce that stand. Because if your positioning doesn’t feel bold in design, it’s just another bullet list pretending to be a strategy.

How to Make the Brand Positioning Slide

Step 1: Strip it down to the core truth

This is where most teams flinch. They want to sound smart, unique, relevant, scalable, purposeful, cutting-edge, and socially conscious. All at once.

Our job? Kill the fluff. Strip the sentence until there’s one clear, human truth left.

We ask one uncomfortable but essential question early in the process: “If your competitor copied this word-for-word, would it still feel true for you?”

If the answer is yes, it’s not your position. It’s just jargon.

For example, one of our clients was in the logistics automation space. Their initial draft said:“We help enterprises optimize warehouse operations with cutting-edge AI.”

Okay. So does everyone else.

What we uncovered through deeper conversations was this: they were actually solving the chaos that happens during unpredictable demand spikes — something their competitors hadn’t built for. That became the foundation of their positioning:

“We bring clarity to warehouse chaos when demand turns unpredictable.”

That’s not just different, it’s daring. It says something precise. And it comes from experience, not wishful thinking.

Step 2: Anchor the message visually

Now comes the part most teams don’t consider — how the design holds the message.

Let’s be clear. A brand positioning slide isn’t a mini brochure. It’s not a place to stack icons, charts, and ten bullet points in one corner. It’s one slide. One page. One chance to make your distinction obvious — even to someone skimming through the deck at 11:30 p.m.

Here’s what we focus on in layout:

Hierarchy. 

The message that matters most needs to dominate. Not just in size, but in space, contrast, and placement. If your slide has five blocks of equal size, nothing is important. And if nothing is important, nothing is remembered.

Whitespace. 

This is where courage shows up. Most slides are scared of empty space. So they cram content to feel “complete.” But whitespace is breathing room. It’s clarity. It’s confidence. If you believe your positioning is strong, you don’t need to hide it under clutter.

One visual metaphor. 

Sometimes we use a bold graphic, sometimes a word-as-image approach, sometimes a single, high-impact visual. The key is not what we use — it’s why we use it. A great positioning slide is emotionally sticky. It’s a message people feel as much as they read.

For example, for a cybersecurity client, we used a visual of a single beam of light cutting through fog. The slide was mostly black. The copy “We eliminate the invisible threats your legacy systems miss.”

The metaphor didn’t explain the product. It explained the difference.

That’s what a good design does — it makes the positioning felt.

Step 3: Let go of industry speak

We get it. You want to sound credible. But sounding credible is not the same as sounding like every other company in your category.

This is where a lot of teams fall into the “enterprise trap” — they use sanitized, boardroom-friendly language that’s been so overused it’s lost meaning. Words like “solution,” “leverage,” “streamline,” “scalable platform” — they may pass legal review, but they fail the real test: will your customer remember anything you said?

We’ve seen one small shift work wonders here: write like you talk when you’re excited about what you do. That’s it.

Not like your compliance team is looking over your shoulder. Not like you’re writing your company’s Wikipedia page. But like you’re explaining to a smart friend why what you’re doing actually matters.

When we worked with a fintech client recently, they initially wanted to say:

“We provide flexible, tech-enabled financing for small businesses through an integrated digital platform.”

Here’s what we helped them say instead:

“We get small businesses the money they need — without the wait, the jargon, or the fine print.”

The second one doesn’t just inform. It connects. That’s the real differentiator.

Step 4: Show what you stand for — not just what you sell

Let’s be brutally honest here. Your audience probably already knows what category you’re in. They’ve seen five companies pitch similar things this month alone. What haven’t they seen? Someone willing to say,

“Here’s what we believe, and here’s what we won’t compromise on.”

This is where positioning earns its weight.

One of our clients, a sustainability-focused packaging company, said it best:

“We don’t do greenwashing. We make packaging that actually disappears.”

Their brand positioning slide didn’t list all their eco-initiatives. It had just that one line, and a close-up shot of their product dissolving in water. No explanation. Just proof.

Here’s the thing: when your stand is clear, people either lean in or they don’t. And that’s the goal. A good brand positioning slide filters out the wrong audience as much as it attracts the right one.

So don’t be afraid to take a side. If you’re not for everyone, say so.

Step 5: Edit like a minimalist, not a marketer

This is where most teams lose steam. The slide’s shaping up. The core idea is there. The design looks sharp. And then someone suggests: “Maybe we should also include our mission, our latest stats, a testimonial, and a few product screenshots here?”

And just like that, the slide dies.

Look, you don’t need to say everything in your brand positioning slide. You just need to say the one thing that moves the conversation forward. That’s what makes it powerful. That’s what makes it useful.

We use a ruthless filter here: If this line or element doesn’t reinforce your core difference, it’s out.

That means no vanity metrics. No buzzwords. No long intros. Just one idea, designed well enough to live on its own.

It’s not about saying more. It’s about saying it clean.

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Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?

If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.

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