A buyer's job is to find the best solution to their problem. They will often research a variety of alternatives. As part of the way they process information, their brains will immediately start recognizing similarities and differences between offerings. Your product messaging should help the buyer quickly understand what makes your offering stand out.
In other words, how is your product different? And how does that difference make your product better than the alternatives.
Have you noticed that these days feature lists and benefit claims are all starting to sound the same? It is fairly obvious that similar products would deliver similar benefits to the buyer. Yet, marketers are hesitant to quantify those benefits, so all claims start sounding the same. For this reason, it is imperative that your product messages call out how your product is different.
Does your product use a different approach? Is your product sold with a different business model? Is there a specific feature that delivers a benefit of greater value? Is it about capabilities, service, or relationship? Whatever it is, your product messaging must draw attention to your difference.
This means that you must understand how your product compares with the competition - point by point.
Who is the competition?
Is it a product?
Is it a service?
Is it a internal organization?
Or is it simply doing nothing?
Sometimes the competition is more than one of these options. In that case, you must offer product differentiation for each alternative.
Your success hangs on your differentiation's fit and impact. By "fit" I mean how well the differentiator fits with the buyer's problem. By "impact" I mean the value the differentiation delivers.
Importance of Objectivity
When you work for a great company which has a great product, it is easy to be subjective in your evaluation of your differentiation. However, subjectivity creates blind spots. Your business cannot afford blind spots.
Sometimes your buyer has totally bought into your brand (like Apple or Sony). In those situations, your blind spots could also be the buyer's blind spots.
However, it is more likely that your buyer is going to take an objective approach. The Internet makes it easy for them to find and lift up rocks - those rocks under which you think you have hid your company secrets.
You need to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly about your product. You need to make sure that the value of the good outweighs the cost of the bad and the ugly. And you need to make sure that somewhere in that value is enough differentiation to separate your product from the competition in the buyer's mind.
The customer value proposition is a disciplined approach that helps you identify your value differentiation objectively. Learn more about value propositions in my free eBook The Customer Value Proposition.
Draw Attention to your Differentiation
Once you understand your offering's positive differentiation, you need to call it out early in your product messaging. This isn't something you should make your buyer dig for. It should not be buried in lists of benefits, values, and features.
Tell a story about it. Make it stand out. Place it prominently on your marketing copy and on your web site home page.
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