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Glossary

The words, defined

Brand, positioning and answer engine optimization terms as we use them. Every entry takes a position, because a definition that could have come from anywhere is worth nothing to you.

Glossary

The words, defined

Brand, positioning and answer engine optimization terms as we use them. Every entry takes a position, because a definition that could have come from anywhere is worth nothing to you.

Terms

Terms we have a view on. We have deliberately not defined the security categories themselves: Wiz and Palo Alto are better sources on what CNAPP or ASPM mean, and pretending otherwise would be keyword farming.

A

AI visibility: AI visibility is how often, and how favorably, a brand appears in the answers AI assistants give. It replaces rank as the thing worth measuring when a buyer asks a model for a shortlist instead of reading a page of links.
Answer engine optimization (AEO): Answer engine optimization is the practice of making a company legible and quotable to AI answer engines, so it is named when a buyer asks for a recommendation. It covers positioning, machine-readable site structure, structured data and presence in the sources those engines cite.

B

Blue Ocean Brand: A Blue Ocean Brand is one built around the attributes a company can lead on rather than the ones it shares with its category. The method maps where you overlap with competitors and where you can stand alone, then builds the story on the difference.
Brand architecture: Brand architecture is how the names in a company relate to each other: the parent brand, the products, and any sub-brands. For a security startup it usually answers one question, whether a new capability is a feature, a product, or a company.
Brand guideline: Brand guidelines are the documented standards for how a brand’s visual identity, voice and messaging are applied. They prevent each project from starting from guesswork and every new designer from inventing different rules.
Brand narrative: A brand narrative is the story that explains who a company serves and why its positioning is credible. It turns positioning from assertion into belief.
Brand positioning: Brand positioning is the place a company deliberately occupies in a buyer’s mind relative to alternatives: who it is for, what it removes, and what it will not claim. It is a decision about what to give up, not a statement of ambition.

C

Category design: Category design is the practice of defining a new market category rather than competing inside an existing one. It is expensive and slow, and it only works when the category names a problem buyers already feel but have no word for.
Category of one: A category of one is a company positioned so specifically that direct comparison stops being useful to the buyer. It is the end state Yaya sells, and the opposite of being the best in a crowded field where every vendor claims the same things.
ChatGPT SEO: ChatGPT SEO is optimization to be cited by ChatGPT specifically, as distinct from the broader answer engine optimization that targets all AI answer engines.

D

Design token: A design token is a named value for a design decision, such as a color, spacing step or type size, stored once and referenced everywhere. Tokens are what let a brand stay consistent across a website, a product UI and a deck without anyone copying hex codes.

G

Generative engine optimization (GEO): Generative engine optimization is answer engine optimization aimed specifically at generative results such as AI Overviews and chat assistants. In practice the terms are used interchangeably and the work is the same.

H

How to rank in ChatGPT: To rank in ChatGPT means your brand is selected and cited as a source when a user asks a related question. Unlike search ranking, there is no visible ranking position; the model selects sources based on domain authority, relevance and topical association.

L

LLM SEO: LLM SEO is a loose term for optimizing to be cited by large language models rather than ranked by a search engine. Answer engine optimization is the more precise name for the same work.
llms.txt: llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a site that tells AI crawlers what the site is and points them at the pages that matter. It is a convention rather than a standard, and a generated stub is worse than none: it tells a model you have nothing specific to say.

M

Messaging framework: A messaging framework is the agreed set of claims a company makes and the order it makes them in: the one-line proposition, the supporting pillars, and the proof under each. Its job is to make everyone describe the company the same way without reading from a script.

R

Radical Story: Radical Story is the second pillar of the Cult Products Framework: the brand, visual identity and copy that set a company apart from its competitors. It follows Revolutionary Vision and precedes Fanatical Followers.
Rebranding: Rebranding is changing how a company presents itself: some combination of name, positioning, identity and messaging. In cybersecurity it is usually triggered by a pivot, a funding round, or a proposition that has outgrown the brand built for the original product.

T

Tone of voice: Tone of voice is the consistent character of how a brand writes: the vocabulary it uses, the rhythm of its sentences, and what it refuses to say. In a category where almost every company writes in the same informative register, it is the differentiator most companies leave unused.

V

Visual identity: Visual identity is the system of design decisions that make a brand recognizable: logo, color, typography, imagery and layout. It is a subset of brand, not a synonym for it, which is why a new logo rarely fixes a positioning problem.

Terms

A

AI visibility: AI visibility is how often, and how favorably, a brand appears in the answers AI assistants give. It replaces rank as the thing worth measuring when a buyer asks a model for a shortlist instead of reading a page of links.
Answer engine optimization (AEO): Answer engine optimization is the practice of making a company legible and quotable to AI answer engines, so it is named when a buyer asks for a recommendation. It covers positioning, machine-readable site structure, structured data and presence in the sources those engines cite.

B

Blue Ocean Brand: A Blue Ocean Brand is one built around the attributes a company can lead on rather than the ones it shares with its category. The method maps where you overlap with competitors and where you can stand alone, then builds the story on the difference.
Brand architecture: Brand architecture is how the names in a company relate to each other: the parent brand, the products, and any sub-brands. For a security startup it usually answers one question, whether a new capability is a feature, a product, or a company.
Brand guideline: Brand guidelines are the documented standards for how a brand’s visual identity, voice and messaging are applied. They prevent each project from starting from guesswork and every new designer from inventing different rules.
Brand narrative: A brand narrative is the story that explains who a company serves and why its positioning is credible. It turns positioning from assertion into belief.
Brand positioning: Brand positioning is the place a company deliberately occupies in a buyer’s mind relative to alternatives: who it is for, what it removes, and what it will not claim. It is a decision about what to give up, not a statement of ambition.

C

Category design: Category design is the practice of defining a new market category rather than competing inside an existing one. It is expensive and slow, and it only works when the category names a problem buyers already feel but have no word for.
Category of one: A category of one is a company positioned so specifically that direct comparison stops being useful to the buyer. It is the end state Yaya sells, and the opposite of being the best in a crowded field where every vendor claims the same things.
ChatGPT SEO: ChatGPT SEO is optimization to be cited by ChatGPT specifically, as distinct from the broader answer engine optimization that targets all AI answer engines.

D

Design token: A design token is a named value for a design decision, such as a color, spacing step or type size, stored once and referenced everywhere. Tokens are what let a brand stay consistent across a website, a product UI and a deck without anyone copying hex codes.

G

Generative engine optimization (GEO): Generative engine optimization is answer engine optimization aimed specifically at generative results such as AI Overviews and chat assistants. In practice the terms are used interchangeably and the work is the same.

H

How to rank in ChatGPT: To rank in ChatGPT means your brand is selected and cited as a source when a user asks a related question. Unlike search ranking, there is no visible ranking position; the model selects sources based on domain authority, relevance and topical association.

L

LLM SEO: LLM SEO is a loose term for optimizing to be cited by large language models rather than ranked by a search engine. Answer engine optimization is the more precise name for the same work.
llms.txt: llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a site that tells AI crawlers what the site is and points them at the pages that matter. It is a convention rather than a standard, and a generated stub is worse than none: it tells a model you have nothing specific to say.

M

Messaging framework: A messaging framework is the agreed set of claims a company makes and the order it makes them in: the one-line proposition, the supporting pillars, and the proof under each. Its job is to make everyone describe the company the same way without reading from a script.

R

Radical Story: Radical Story is the second pillar of the Cult Products Framework: the brand, visual identity and copy that set a company apart from its competitors. It follows Revolutionary Vision and precedes Fanatical Followers.
Rebranding: Rebranding is changing how a company presents itself: some combination of name, positioning, identity and messaging. In cybersecurity it is usually triggered by a pivot, a funding round, or a proposition that has outgrown the brand built for the original product.

T

Tone of voice: Tone of voice is the consistent character of how a brand writes: the vocabulary it uses, the rhythm of its sentences, and what it refuses to say. In a category where almost every company writes in the same informative register, it is the differentiator most companies leave unused.

V

Visual identity: Visual identity is the system of design decisions that make a brand recognizable: logo, color, typography, imagery and layout. It is a subset of brand, not a synonym for it, which is why a new logo rarely fixes a positioning problem.

Eight of these have a full entry#

Where we have more to say than a paragraph, the term has its own page: brand positioning, rebranding, brand architecture, answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization, LLM SEO, AI visibility and llms.txt. The rest are defined here because a paragraph is all they need.

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Definitions are the easy part. Tell us about your launch and we will tell you which of these your company actually has a problem with.

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