♦️ Why saying what buyers expect never makes your brand stand out
|
You can’t differentiate your brand by using what’s expected. Let me explain with an example. Go to 20 management consultancy firm websites. You’ll see that they claim to be different by providing high-quality work. Or by bragging about years of experience. Go to 20 CRM software websites. You’ll see that they claim to be different by providing pipeline tracking or email integration. But here’s the problem. These are expected by buyers. All management consultancy firms are expected to deliver quality work or have industry experience. All CRM software is expected to provide pipeline tracking and integrations with other tools. So these are not differentiators — but bare minimum factors to compete in these categories. Kevin Keller calls these factors points of parity.
If you lack them, you don’t even get to participate in the race. Who would work with a management consultancy firm that has no experience? Who would use a CRM that doesn’t allow opportunity tracking or have integrations with other tools? These are given. But most B2B brands confuse points of parity with differentiators. They claim they are different by using what’s expected of everybody. So buyers might consider them — but they wouldn’t choose them. Because there is no clear difference. It’s like a car brand saying: “Our cars have five seats.” It’s the bare minimum to consider that car. But not a reason to buy it. To stand out among alternatives, you need points of difference. A set of differences that separates you from similar companies. Some examples from our Profit-Led Branding Framework:
How do you claim you are different? If everyone in your category could say the same things — that’s parity. If only you could say it — that’s differentiation. Remember. Differentiation based on points of parity is an illusion. Because you are telling buyers your car has five seats. So your messaging might make buyers consider you. But it won’t make them choose you. "We’re great at what we do. We just don’t know how to express our real value with our messaging."The result? Confused prospects. And confused prospects don’t buy. They scroll. They bounce. They forget. We help B2B brands nail down their positioning and bring it to market with a message that makes buyers think: “This is exactly what we need.” So your website and content don’t just sound better — they sell. Want to stop losing sales to weak messaging? Fill out this form to book a free clarity call. You can reply to this email with your thoughts and feedback. I'd be happy to hear from you — I read and reply to all messages. And you can connect with me here on LinkedIn. Ozan |
Frontera
Join 10,000+ B2B founders getting the strategies of iconic brands.
Every business has dozens of problems at any given time. Even thriving ones. A new regulation comes up and you have to comply. You have to hire but can’t find the right candidate. Or your clients churn and you have to find out why. Being in business means dealing with problems. It’s the same for your potential clients. The problem your firm claims to solve is among a huge list of problems your buyers have. They have limited time and resources. But many problems to solve. So how do they decide...
The biggest mistake in B2B messaging is copying consumer brands. I know. Who doesn’t want to be inspirational like Nike? Who doesn’t want to influence buyers with a strong mission like Patagonia’s? But think about it. These are consumer brands. They sell commoditized products. A jacket is a jacket. No matter what brand you buy from, the product functionally does the same thing. So to differentiate themselves, consumer brands have to give intangible meaning to their tangible products. They...
In 1970, Listerine’s marketing department was feeling the heat. P&G had launched a new mouthwash brand as a competitor a few years before. They called it Scope. And they attacked Listerine’s obvious weakness — taste. Listerine burned like medicine. Consumers knew it. So Scope entered the market using taste as its differentiator. They claimed a mouthwash didn’t have to taste bad. And they were quickly gaining market share with aggressive ad campaigns. “Scope fights bad breath without giving...