Surefire Ways To Differentiate Yourself From Your Competition

By Frank Geric, Director of Marketing, Nimble Software Systems

Although it was over 25 years ago, I will never forget the words of my Introduction to Marketing professor when asked to describe the three things it takes to succeed in a marketing place: “Differentiation, Differentiation, Differentiation!” But how to make your organization stand out in a competitive landscape filled with white noise and awash in the notion of “me too” isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, there are some surefire ways to stand out from your competitors.

Segment Your Market And Your Offerings

I’ve been involved in countless meetings with CXOs and leadership teams of IT companies. In those meetings, I’ve asked my clients to identify their ideal client as granularly as possible. Their response is typically something like this: “Well, we have a really strong fit in the XYZ industry because one of our founders came from that space and we’ve developed some intellectual property around the ABC space so we’re really strong there. But, we don’t want to turn away anyone and we have one client in the LMNOP space and we’d like to get into the QRS space because our competitors are in there.”

When you’re desperate to grow your revenue, you don’t want to turn away any business. But if you don’t stand out from your competitors in the QRS space, you won’t be able to differentiate yourself and consequently will not be able to compete as well or charge as much.

Saying what you are not is as important as saying what you are. I’m going to repeat that because it is critically important to differentiation: being able to say what you are not is as important as being able to say what you are.

You want to segment your offerings and focus on markets where you can add the most value. If you can’t provide insights that make your prospects pause and say, “Hmm, I never thought of it that way,” you may not be able to be a thought leader and standout in that market. You have to be able to bring value and insight to the market segment you want to serve.

Providing Value

In the past, when I worked with clients to differentiate themselves in their target industries, I’d start with an exercise where I’d ask them to cite the things that make them unique. The typical responses were usually something like: “Our people,” “Our years of experience,” “Our process,” “Our xxxx feature in our product.” While all of these things may be true, do they really make you stand out in your target market?

Unless your prospect knows or has heard of your employees and recognizes them as a leader in their industry, they don’t care! Similarly, they aren’t going to care how long you have been in business unless you can articulate how that experience has allowed you to help clients like them solve the problems they face. Process…YAWN! Prospects don’t want to hear about labor pains, they want to see a baby. Unless you can articulate how your process is truly unique and can solve your prospects’ pains in a way no other competitor can, don’t bother talking about it.

So how do you differentiate yourself? Talk about how you can solve their pain. Share enough of your knowledge and intellectual property so they know that you understand their wants, needs, and desires. Create content on your website, social media channels, advertising, and sales materials that helps them understand their industry in a way that no one else does. That’s true differentiation.

Speak Differently

It’s impossible to sound different if you’re saying things the same way as everyone else. Your company, your brand, and your employees need to have a unique message and voice. You have to capture the personalities, the insights, and the collective wisdom of your team and share it with the world.

Don’t try to use boring “me too” marketing and sales messaging and positioning. Make sure all your marketing and sales materials pass the “So what?” test (will your prospect read or hear what you say and respond with “So what?”) Everything you communicate answers the “What’s in it for me?” question that all prospects ask, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Dare to be different! Dare to be great! That’s a guaranteed way to stand out from your competition!

Frank Geric has over 25 years of business-to-business marketing experience. He is the former CEO of Brand Forge Marketing and is currently the Director of Marketing for Nimble Software Systems. Frank has worked with hundreds of companies to help them to significantly differentiate themselves from their competitors.