Differentiation Varies

We speak a lot about differentiation on this blog and in all of our educational materials. Differentiation is key to educating your prospects why your company is the right fit for them and why they should choose you over your competitors. It is in line with the old sales adage of “poking holes in your competitor without saying anything bad about them.” While your marketing materials should have universal differentiation about your company, individual prospects and bids require variations.

I recently spoke to a large construction company in 4 states and the owner is concerned that his company’s differentiation needs to vary from location to location. I agree it might, but more likely their differentiation needs to vary by market sector. Each market has their own needs and wants as well as different competition so your message needs to vary. What may be special to one industry may not matter to another such as speed or LEED accreditations.

When I was competing for a new client last week, I deduced that the company I was competing against is a web development company. I hammered home that although they were just hiring us for their website, our focus on the entire brand was a selling point because we’d look at the big picture. This prospect was also transitioning to a new brand identity and concerned that their logo designer couldn’t help them beyond the logo. I reassured them that we’ve been there numerous times by giving them examples of launching rebranded companies and that we could help them with the rebranding transition beyond the website. Generally, I do not focus on us being a marketing firm because usually we’re competing with other marketing firms, so it is a mute point.