# Which shelf in the customer's head > The frame of reference is the category customers file you in, and it decides whom you are compared with. How to choose it on purpose for the lead segment, which signals set it, and the usual mistakes. - Course: [Marketing Strategy: Who to Win and How](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy.md) - Module: Why should they choose us? - Lesson 13/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/which-shelf-in-the-customers-head ## Which shelf **Alex Tutor:** You're still on Klasna's marketing team. In the last module the team chose families in the EU as the lead segment for 2027, with younger learners' families kept warm. **Uliana:** So now: why would a parent in Poland or Germany choose us? In their community chats someone asks "any good online tutors?" and gets our name, a local tutor and a free app in the same reply. **Alex Tutor:** Before "why us" comes "us compared with what". The **frame of reference** is the category customers file you in: a tutor, an online school, a learning app. Whatever shelf you're on, the things next to you are your comparison. **Sofia:** So if they file Klasna next to a free app, we're the expensive app. **Alex Tutor:** And if they file it next to a local tutor, you're compared on price in euros and on a native speaker of the local language. The shelf decides the questions you'll be asked. > **Exercise:** A parent in Germany writes: "Is Klasna worth paying for when there are free apps for maths now?" Which frame of reference has this parent put Klasna in? **Alex Tutor:** Same parents, different shelf. If they compare Klasna with a local tutor, what do they ask first? > **Exercise:** A parent in Poland files Klasna next to **local tutors**. Which question is this parent most likely to ask first? ## What sets the frame **Sofia:** Can't we choose the shelf ourselves? **Alex Tutor:** You suggest it with signals: the first line on the page, the words you use, the picture at the top, where you show up and whom you invite comparison with. Customers then file you where the signals point. **Uliana:** Our page says "Learn smarter with Klasna", and the top picture is a phone with the AI practice partner on it. **Alex Tutor:** That's an app shelf. The tutor, the lessons and the weekly contact with parents are below the fold. Free chatbots become the benchmark, and the price looks steep. **Alex Tutor:** One more place it shows: AI assistants and search describe you from the words on your pages. If your pages talk like an app, that is how an assistant will describe you to a parent. > **Exercise:** Which of these **signal** the frame Klasna is filed in? Select all that apply. **Alex Tutor:** Now read Klasna's own page with a parent's eyes. > **Exercise:** Klasna's page opens with "Learn smarter with Klasna" and a picture of a phone running the AI practice partner; the tutors and the weekly contact with parents are below the fold. Which shelf does the top of the page signal? ## Choosing for the lead segment **Alex Tutor:** List what EU parents actually weigh: a local tutor paid in euros, a weekend Ukrainian school where there is one, free videos with a chatbot, or waiting until they're back home. **Sofia:** Then "online tutoring" puts us against the local tutor. Something like "Ukrainian school subjects online, at hours that fit your time zone" puts us against the weekend school and waiting. **Alex Tutor:** And on that shelf, the comparison favors you: a personal tutor, the Ukrainian programme, evening slots. Before you commit, check that parents already use a name like that, that it leads to the right neighbours when they look for it, and that the offer can live up to it. **Uliana:** Easy to check: ask new parents "what would you call us?" next to "what else did you consider?". **Alex Tutor:** And test the shelf the way a parent meets it. Type the category into a search engine and ask an AI assistant "who teaches Ukrainian school subjects online for children in Germany?". If the answers list apps, you're on the app shelf; if they list tutors and weekend schools for Ukrainian children abroad, the shelf exists and you know your neighbours. > **Exercise:** Match each frame Klasna could choose for EU parents with whom it would mostly be compared. **Alex Tutor:** Before the team commits to a shelf, which checks actually tell you it will work? > **Exercise:** Before committing to "Ukrainian school subjects online" as Klasna's frame for EU parents, which checks are worth running? Select all that apply. ## Common mistakes **Uliana:** What if we invent our own category? "A hybrid learning ecosystem". Nobody to compare with. **Alex Tutor:** Nobody searches for it either. A made-up shelf leaves the parent to file you themselves, usually next to the cheapest thing they know. A new category works only when a real need has no name yet, and then you pay to teach the name. **Sofia:** And too broad, like "education", puts us next to everything. **Alex Tutor:** Right. The third mistake is a frame the offer can't support: call yourself "a school" and parents expect a programme, reports and a timetable. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** inventing a brand-new category name is the safest frame, because then nobody can compare you with anyone. **Leo:** Does this mean we redo the whole site? **Alex Tutor:** Not yet. First write the frame in one line for the lead segment. Then the headline, picture and search words follow it, one page at a time. **Sofia:** One line: the shelf, who it's for, and what sits next to us on it? **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Then test it on real parents before it reaches the page: if they would call you something else, the line is wrong, not the parents. > **Exercise:** Which frame line for EU parents is the strongest? **Leo:** Send me the line when it's ready. Short. **Sofia:** The shelf, what sits next to us there, and why that comparison is good for us. **Alex Tutor:** Three parts, two or three sentences. The headline can come later. **Uliana:** I'll test it on three parents this week, before it goes anywhere near the site. > **Exercise:** Write the frame-of-reference line for EU parents (2–3 sentences): the category you want Klasna filed in, what it will be compared with there, and why that comparison favors Klasna. > **Key ideas** > > - The frame of reference is the category customers file you in; whatever sits next to you on that shelf is your comparison. > - The shelf decides the questions: next to free apps you're an expensive app, next to a local tutor you're compared on euros. > - You suggest the frame with signals: headline, picture, words, search terms, and the page text AI assistants quote. > - Choose the frame on purpose for the lead segment: a category customers recognise, where the comparison favors you and the offer can live up to it. > - Avoid invented categories nobody searches for, frames so broad they put you next to everything, and frames the offer can't support. > - Check it by asking new customers "what would you call us?" next to "what else did you consider?", and by typing the category into search and an AI assistant to see what sits next to you. **Alex Tutor:** Next: on the shelf you chose, what difference actually makes a parent pick Klasna, and how do you prove it? - Previous lesson: [Case: Klasna's lead segment for 2027](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/lead-segment-for-2027-case.md) - Next lesson: [A difference that counts](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/a-difference-that-counts.md) --- Productovi Learning. 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