How to Make Your Product Essential - Product Storytelling and Positioning for Startups
- Chris Burgess
- Apr 4
- 7 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Use product storytelling to turn a nice-to-have into something people cannot live without.
Conventional wisdom says innovation starts with a problem. You identify a pain point, research it, test solutions, and validate them with users. The result is a cure which is a product built to fix something broken. This approach is logical and often makes a product easier to sell because its purpose is obvious.
But what if instead your innovation enhances something that already works? That’s the essence of the vitamin product which is an improvement that makes life smoother, richer, or more delightful. Vitamins don’t remove pain and while that makes them harder to sell, it also makes them far more interesting, because selling them is about how well you tell a story.
What Makes the Story Work
Storytelling is what transforms a clever idea into something people care about. It gives meaning to features, context to value, and emotion to function. To succeed, a vitamin product needs a story that connects with deep human desires, the quiet motivations that shape why people choose one experience over another.
“Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough
People crave tools that make daily routines easier, faster, or more enjoyable.
Example: Self-service kiosks didn’t “solve” restaurant ordering, but they turned waiting in line into a smooth, customisable experience.
Unlocking Hidden Aspirations
People often have unspoken desires that great products bring to life.
Example: The Apple Vision Pro offers more than just a movie screen; it creates a private, immersive world, allowing users to escape from everyday life while sharing the experience with others.
Adding Joy and Engagement
Vitamins elevate the ordinary by introducing elements of joy or surprise.
Example: Duolingo turned learning from a chore into a daily ritual people look forward to.
These aren’t problems in the traditional sense. They are opportunities to improve life in ways people did not realise they wanted until they experienced them.
The challenge is not creating desire but helping people change their habits. Even when a product feels delightful, adoption depends on how naturally it fits into daily life. Revolutionary products may captivate early adopters but often struggle to reach the mainstream market. The early majority prefers reliability and simplicity, i.e., tools that fit into existing routines.
Example: Grammarly integrated quietly into writing habits. WhatsApp didn’t reinvent communication, it refined it.
Compare that to products like Google Glass and Segway which required radical behavioural change. Evolutionary innovation works because it builds on what users already do, making progress feel natural instead of risky.
How to Build Vitamin Products That Stick
If the story is what draws people in, evolution is what keeps them there. Products that last do not ask users to start from scratch, they build on what already feels familiar. The more naturally your product fits into daily life, the more likely it is to become a lasting habit rather than a passing trend.
In practice this means designing for adoption as much as for innovation. The most enduring vitamin products share four common traits.
1) Identify Existing Behaviours
Tap into pre-existing user habits and desires for smoother adoption.
Example: Sleep Cycle leverages the desire for better sleep by providing insights for enhancement.
2) Enhance, Don’t Replace
Focus on improving existing tools rather than requiring a complete overhaul of practices.
Example: Notion merges docs, spreadsheets, and tasks into a flexible workspace without eliminating established categories.
3) Prioritise Seamless Integration
Make your vitamin easy to incorporate into daily life, minimizing disruption.
Example: Calm features meditation sessions seamlessly fitting into morning routines, unlike complex smart home devices.
4) Iterate Relentlessly
Continuously refine your product based on user feedback and evolving needs.
Example: Instagram transitioned from a check-in app to photo-sharing and later to Stories with each step reflecting evolution, not reinvention.
Iteration strengthens your product, but it also changes how people understand it. Each improvement shifts perception and deepens the story your users tell about you. Once your product begins to mature, the focus turns to how you share that story with the world.
Marketing Vitamin Products
Even when a vitamin product fits naturally into people’s lives, it still needs a story that helps them see its value. Building adoption is only half the work. Marketing a vitamin product is about revealing what is already true, and by making the invisible value visible.
Selling a vitamin requires a different mindset. You are not solving pain, you are showing possibility. The story must connect what the product does to what people could become once they use it.
The best marketing for vitamin products is not loud or exaggerated. It builds trust by making the product’s benefits clear, familiar, and desirable.
In practice this comes down to four strategies that bring your story to life.
Ease Adoption
Start with the familiar — connect your vitamin to existing concepts.
- Example: Evernote mirrors the functionality of a digital filing cabinet. Dropbox simplified file-sharing.
Show Value Clearly
Clearly demonstrate the tangible benefits not just features.
- Example: Fitbit illustrates long-term health benefits through step tracking.
Build Confidence Through Proof
Use social proof to leverage early adopters' enthusiasm.
- Example: Early adopters supported Snapchat's disappearing photos.
Inspire Desire
Make your product aspirational.
- Example: Headspace positions meditation as essential for managing modern stress.
For vitamin products, marketing is not about persuasion, it is about translation. It helps people recognise why the product already fits into their lives and shows them what they gain by using it.
The story that began in product design now becomes the story you tell to the world. When you make that story clear, consistent, and human, people do not just understand your product, they want it to stay with them.
Crossing from Novelty to Necessity
Every product that begins as a curiosity eventually faces the same challenge, moving from early excitement to lasting adoption. The first wave of users might buy into your story, but the next group, the pragmatic majority, need proof. They want to know the product works, fits easily into their lives, and will continue to deliver value once the novelty fades.
Winning them over is less about invention and more about trust. It means reducing perceived risk, showing tangible benefits, and helping people feel that choosing your product is the safe, smart decision.
Focus on Tangible Benefits, Not Just Features
Pragmatic users care about results, not features. Help them quantify the better. Show how your product saves time, improves consistency, or enhances daily routines. Products like Sleep Cycle or Notion succeed because they present small, measurable wins that add up over time.
Make Integration Effortless
People rarely change their habits unless the new way feels easier. The most successful vitamin products evolve naturally from what already exists. Slack built on familiar patterns of workplace chat, and Canva extended the simplicity of tools like PowerPoint and Photoshop to make design accessible to everyone. Each one made adoption feel like an upgrade, not an overhaul.
Build Proof Through People
Trust spreads faster through peers than through campaigns. Share testimonials, case studies, and community stories that show how your product fits real lives. Social proof is not decoration, it is reassurance that this new thing already works for people like me.
Reduce Perceived Risk
Every signal of support builds confidence. Clear documentation, fast response times, transparent pricing, and low-risk trials all tell customers they can engage without regret. Reliability is one of the most persuasive forms of storytelling.
Position as the Next Logical Step
When people see your product as a natural evolution of what they already use, the transition becomes easy. Self-service kiosks made ordering faster without changing behaviour. The Apple Vision Pro must do the same by proving that its advantages outweigh its investment. Duolingo achieved this balance by showing measurable progress in learning, not just playful design.
Gaining traction with the early majority is about clarity, credibility, and consistency. Each interaction should confirm that your product fits not only into their workflows but into their worldview.
For founders working with emerging technologies such as AR, VR, or XR, this challenge becomes even sharper. Differentiation often matters less at the beginning than establishing clear value and earning trust through experience. Early pricing and positioning can help attract a dedicated niche willing to test, refine, and advocate for your product.
Over time, the products that endure share a few consistent patterns. They find their niche and serve it deeply. They build perceived value by showing how they enhance life, not just efficiency. They keep improving the user experience to create lasting value. They stand out clearly in crowded markets and eventually become so embedded in daily life that they shift from enhancement to necessity.
That is the real moment of transformation, when a vitamin becomes a cure.
Product Storytelling for Startups: Turning Vitamins into Cures
Transformation rarely happens overnight. It is the product of patient iteration and consistent storytelling. With time and iteration, great vitamins become cures. Smartphones started as luxury gadgets but have since become essential. The PlayStation transitioned from a mere distraction to a cultural staple, now viewed as critical for entertainment and education. Airbnb evolved from offering cultural experiences to a viable alternative to hotels.
The secret is that each deeply understood its target audience and evolved its message from enhancement to necessity.
That’s the power of product storytelling for startups — shaping how people see your product before they decide to use it. When you communicate your product’s deeper value to the people who will benefit most, adoption feels like the next logical step.
The most effective vitamins become indispensable by simply enhancing our routines.
The difference between a product that’s overlooked and one that becomes essential often comes down to how you tell its story.
Working on a product that’s more “vitamin” than “cure”? I help founders craft the narrative that gets buyers to see its true value. Let’s talk - info@crwburgess.com
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