How do you differentiate your B2B product or service?

To differentiate your product or service.....YOU HAVE TO BE DIFFERENT!! I'm thinking be a little kooky, get out of your comfort zone, do the unexpected, and don't try to cheapen your product by continuing to lower the price. What makes your product or service special. Why don't you have a weekly spotlight on an employee and what they bring to your organization. Showcase the personal aspects of that individual, such as hobbies, interests, what they do for fun, and something that no one knows about this individual (if they are so inclined). BE BOLD!! and do not care what other people think:)

Understanding your target market is absolutely essential in the B2B realm. When operating within a B2B marketplace, your focus extends beyond addressing a company's issues; you're also responsible for empowering its workforce to tackle the most critical challenges in creating essential solutions for their business's success and growth. It's crucial to remember that, ultimately, you are selling to individuals. Therefore, adopting a B2C marketer's mindset can be valuable in guiding you to answer the pertinent questions required for gaining a deeper understanding of your market and effectively positioning your messages.

A more useful characterization of target market is identifying the two most important people in a B2B sale: 1) the internal champion 2) the moneybag holder The target market is comprised minimally of these two personas (sometimes they are the same person) and then can span across departments in an enterprise sale. Understanding the pain and motivations behind the internal champion and then the budget owner is the key to understanding your target market.

The first step to differentiate our B2B product or service effectively is to gain a deep understanding of your target market and their specific needs, pain points, challenges and also the value that we can bring for them over the table. Once this is done, we can go into segmentation by breaking down our market into distinct buyer personas, we can create more personalized & targeted marketing strategies. Each persona represents a specific group of potential customers with unique characteristics and requirements. By tailoring our messaging & positioning to address the concerns and aspirations of each persona, we can better resonate with your diverse customer base, ultimately setting your product or service apart.

As with all great products, our differentiator or USP is the value we give to the customer. This value could be quantifiable or otherwise but can be broadly classified in terms of the features, pricing, experience, relationship or a good mix of all of these.

In B2B, buyers don't buy, they choose. In a market, there are usually one or two other players providing existing solutions. Your value proposition must be distinct from these other players -- if they provide enterprise level support, you provide self-service. If they price low, you price high. Your value proposition is a function of what your organization can unique deliver x what existing solutions are available in market.

If you want to differentiate from competitors, get there first. And I don't mean get to market first, I mean get into your buyers' heads first. Solve a bigger problem for a more important stakeholder than do your competitors. Even if your product has little technical differentiation, this all comes down to positioning.

If your target customers and users can’t understand your value proposition clearly in a matter on seconds then there’s a problem. Try not to be too cute or abstract with feature names and product introductions. Try to use familiar terms and concepts to communicate your value proposition.

I believe we are at the point where HYPER value is what wins B2B customers. And this is not about pricing in isolation. With both low-cost and premium pricing positioning, answer these two questions: How can I deliver value that is beyond what anyone else can provide? How do I do this profitably?

Why should the customer buy from you?? You have to provide something that is so overwhelmingly different, special, and they can ONLY purchase it from you. And if you don't know what it is.......then you have a problem. Have all of your employees BRAINSTORM, make it a contest, with the winner getting a night out on the town, such as Broadway Show Tickets, Dinner at a super exclusive restaurant that is impossible to get reservations, and have a limo pick them up and drop them off. It's going to cost a few $$$, but isn't the growth of your company worth it???

It's equally important to highlight the fact that proof points need not be limited only to positives. It’s a common misconception many marketers fall for. Realistically addressing criticisms and showing how your product or service has evolved in response can also work as very potent evidence of your value proposition - this builds authenticity. Remember Amazon's early days? They publically listed all negative reviews - which actually helped build trust among their users!

Focus on selling outcomes over deliverables. A great way to deliver proof is: Before product, customer was X. After product, customer become Y. Use metrics to quantify the impact and tell a story.

Highlighting proof points is crucial in B2B differentiation. By presenting testimonials, case studies, awards, and more, you build credibility and trust with potential customers. Tailor your proof points to the specific needs and stages of your target audience, making them visible across your online platforms to enhance your brand's authority.

Evidence from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute (corroborated by Gartner amongst others) suggests that 95% of B2B buyers are not “in-market” at any one time and only c5% intend to buy in the next 30 days. Forrester data suggests business buyers have conducted more than half of their research remotely before making contact. To put this another way, B2B buyers buy into you before they buy from you. Positioning your brand with future buyers is a critical component of an effective B2B marketing program, but it’s about more than simply logos and fonts. What’s the over-arching plot to your story which credibly links each product focused chapter together?

If what you sell isn't different, your brand needs to at least look different. And if what you sell is different, look different anyway.

I totally agree with Colin, and I would like to add that phase 4: "Create a distinctive brand identity" in B2B is not necessarily being initiated by branding elements such as brand style, but instead these elements only help tell the story. Before that, you must have a solid differentiation strategy to back up the positioning process. The more innovative you are with the strategy selected, the more effective your positioning lasts.

Establishing a distinctive brand identity is pivotal in setting your B2B offering apart. Consistency in your logo, color scheme, typography, and voice across all channels enhances your brand's recognition and impact. Crafting a brand style guide and story helps ensure your brand identity's cohesiveness and alignment with your values and value proposition.

As someone who's sculpted brands from scratch, I can tell you that a unique brand identity is your business card, your handshake, and your first impression. Start by revisiting your core values and mission. These should be the foundation blocks upon which your brand identity is built. If you can't articulate these in a sentence, go back to the drawing board. Your brand's tone of voice needs to resonate with your audience while setting you apart. If you're in fintech, a conversational, approachable tone could be your differentiator. What's your USP? Are you the affordable solution? The luxury option? The most user-friendly? This needs to be clear and evident in every message you send out.

For me, the important part of innovate and iterate is to always keep your customers at the heart of the process. Bring your existing customers on the journey with you, tailoring your offering around their needs. Armed with your customer’s guidance, you can better uncover insights, both small and more significant, on opportunities for incremental improvement, as well as the giant leaps. Remember elevating existing customers value, both in deal frequency and volume, by iterating the product you offer today, you can better invest in the bigger innovative leaps creating competitive advantage for tomorrow.

I believe Innovate and iterate is one of the key component to differentiate the business vs. competitors especially for the B2B business settings. For innovation, even small changes and/or adoption of exsiting technology from other industries help a lot, as often, the specialized environment may have different stage of technology adoption. Good example could be a adoption of B2C marketing skills/items into B2B. It does not have to be a necessaty but rather a "good to have" item, which in return brings a fresh reaction and reflection from the customers. So I suggest that look for new ideas, which may already exists in other industry.

I say always be talking to people outside outside of your current network. Be curious, look at other companies, and industries, since you never know where a good idea will come from.

Innovation and iteration are crucial in the dynamic B2B landscape. Continuously seek improvements based on market trends, customer feedback, and performance metrics. Experiment with various elements like features, benefits, and messaging while tracking their impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This adaptability is key to staying ahead and maintaining your differentiation strategy.

It's crucial to specify the importance of maintaining a balance when aiming for education and engagement. It is indeed important to provide valuable content that resonates with your audience’s pain points but also remember not all audience respond positively to raw data or technical information. Consider incorporating storytelling techniques which can significantly boost long-term recall rates compared to mere facts alone.

If you don't follow Gary Vaynerchuk, @GARYVEE, then immediately do so!! You have to produce a shit-load of content and post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and TIKTOK. That's four times/day x 4 channels.....DO IT! And don't make it sales related for customers to buy. You have to build BRAND, through MARKETING. Also start a PODCAST about your industry. And if your are so inclined, do like Gary does and hire a video photographer and have him follow you around to produce content.....Remember DOCUMENT, to create content.

Education and engagement are vital for B2B success. Provide valuable content showcasing expertise and addressing audience pain points. Create delightful experiences through webinars, podcasts, videos, and more to inform and interact with your prospects and customers. This approach builds trust and drives differentiation.

Amidst B2B complexities, community-led growth shines. It transcends competition, forges a unique identity, and nurtures unwavering loyalty. Craft shared purpose, and transcend transactions into transformative connections.

Increasingly, B2B buyers are not just looking at the product or service itself but wanting to look behind the veil. Who runs the company? What are the company values? Is the company one they can stand behind? These questions that are typically reserved for B2C companies are now becoming relevant in the B2B world. It would benefit B2B companies to give their mission, vision and values a little bit more weight to help catalyze both internal and external company success. It must be more than a vanity exercise - especially for those looking to differentiate themselves in the market.

My favorite ways to differentiate your product: - Focus on a niche that is under-served and no one is focusing on. Become the only one in that market. - Use your marketing & sales as a differentiator. Most folks think marketing and sales as a way to gain customers. Yes, that's important, but what if you thought of marketing & sales as product and through the experiences, the buyer actually gains value and impact? I call this Impact-led growth. - Lastly, differentiate your product by being in tune with your customers that your messaging and product is actually very different from your competitors. This is hard but don't miss this one.

Remember People and Companies buy from people they like.....so showcase what makes your company special......and it could be for example, your CEO, restores classic Porsche's in his garage on weekends, and races at the Lime Rock Race Track, or the head of Human Resources, loves to go to garage sales on the weekend, and buys items that she sells on EBAY. Make it MEMORABLE, but AUTHENTIC!

Tell them when they're not a good fit. You're not the best for everyone. Be honest, and they'll trust you more when they say who you ARE a great fit for. You can do that with: - showing your starting at price - who you don't integrate well with - what size is too big or too small - what they can't do with your tool Not only will this endear the right customer to you, it'll pay dividends on the back-end. Meaning, your churn will drop significantly.