Product Design For Differentiation: Lessons from an Expedition Developer

As a former expedition developer for Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic, I helped create extraordinary travel experiences that stood out in the small ship expedition market. Now, I’m applying so many hard-earned lessons to help entrepreneurs and product developers like you design for differentiation.

Think about this: what makes your product or service the 'Galápagos' of its market—something so unique that people can’t resist engaging with it?

Today, I’ll share the five core lessons I’ve learned from crafting one-of-a-kind voyages and show how they can transform your approach to product design and business strategy.

Lesson 1 - Know Your Audience Like You’ve Lived With Them

I don’t want to necessarily tell you to move in with your potential customers, or stick yourself together with them out at sea. But I kind of do. Surveys and focus groups are useful tools, but they usually don’t deliver the subtle insights that help you truly get to know your customers. Often, they deal in hypotheticals, and people’s memories are only so good. They don’t enable you to take differentiation to the molecular level. Customers may even forget subtle but key aspects of their product use in direct interviews.

In product development, differentiation starts with understanding this target market. What problems are they trying to solve? What emotional connection do they crave? We don’t just think about the destination; we think about the journey they want to take.

I can’t tell you how many hours I’d spend pouring over expedition reports, comment cards–or customer feedback–only to travel aboard our ships and see enough non-verbal communication in a day that told me everything I needed to know about our “product.”

In the glance a husband gave his wife that the offerings that day felt repetitive. Or that a naturalist wasn’t engaging well. Or that little things–a stewardess deciding to bring coffee refills on deck–warmed people up and melted their hearts. Rarely would these show up in written feedback.

Another example: again, hundreds, and thousands of comment cards over the years, discussions with customers, staff, everything a product developer does. Then one day on deck with a passenger in a remote bay in the Inside Passage in Alaska. The surface of the water was just black. The passenger and I are scanning the water and the shoreline when he says, “Man, I wish I could see what’s under there.”

By the next season, we became the first to deploy cold water divers from the ship. They captured incredible video of sea stars, anemones, kelp forests, crabs, a thriving and colorful undersea world that no other travelers were able to see without putting on a drysuit. It was a huge competitive advantage as well, and I have that passenger to thank. No one ever mentioned it in comment cards.

How can you immerse yourself in your customer’s world? Shadow them or use tools like empathy mapping to uncover what truly matters.

Lesson 2 - Craft Your Unique Value Like an Expedition Team Crafts Their Route

When planning an expedition, it’s crucial to break down the core components of the journey into specific parts, just as you would when designing a product or experience. The key is to make sure that beyond one standout, pinnacle differentiator, each of those parts stands out on its own. That way, the differentiation is so deeply built into the product and customer experience that your market position remains strong.

No matter where a ship-based voyage might go, every destination has a peak season, an off season, and the shoulder seasons. For years, we saw decreasing sales in the shoulder seasons, mid May and early September, when our ships sailed from Oregon and Washington north to Alaska.

The summer season in Alaska’s remote wilderness is a lifetime goal for many–the migrating humpback whales, warmer weather. We rarely had difficulty filling the ships during the peak season. However, sales for the shoulder season trips along the coast of British Columbia were always soft.

At the same time as our shoulder season sales were slumping, a competitor entered the market. Armed with a vetted mailing list from another travel company that went out of business two years earlier, they entered the market with ultra-aggressive pricing, similar messaging, and–because their ships were similar size and the Parks Service allotted a similar number of entry days in Glacier Bay National Park –the ability to visit the same remote destinations.

What could we do?

It was time to take stock of every element.

Like any product or business, every expedition contains core and sub elements or dimensions. Any given expedition might include these dimensions:

Location, route and activity level, expedition length (with resource demands), support systems, supplies, specialized gear, hospitality and food, team expertise and size, local knowledge and partnerships, etc.

Let’s call this the expedition architecture. You’ll have your product or service architecture.

I knew that each of these architectural dimensions represented a point of potential differentiation. “What makes this special?” “Why am I the person to do this?” “What will that mean for the industry in general?”

And, in that way, competition.

Lesson 3. Identify the Differentiator Dimensions Like They're Your Galápagos

Let’s look at both the standard dimensions and differentiators more closely.

Parity dimensions are your table stakes—the essentials that are expected for any similar product. These are the baseline standards that will meet the needs of any user or customer.

Differentiator dimensions, on the other hand, are where you can position your product as truly unique. These are the aspects where you choose to excel and offer something others don’t—and, hopefully, can’t.

You may decide to match on a few of the most basic dimensions.

But, your core differentiator could be the remote, untouched locations you explore, offering participants access to wilderness that few have ever seen, or people that few get to meet. This provides a unique challenge and an unparalleled sense of adventure.

Additionally, you can identify supplementary differentiators:

1. Sustainability focus: You commit to leaving no environmental footprint, using eco-friendly practices, and partnering with local Indigenous groups to ensure respect in all aspects of the experience.
2. Personalized adventure: Rather than a one-size-fits-all trip, your expedition could include tailored training sessions in survival skills, photography, or glacier navigation, offering more value and personalization.

With your core and supplementary differentiators identified, you’re ready for the next step.

Lesson 4. Establish the Value of Your Differentiators Like You're Trying to Compel a Loved One to Travel Around the World Just to See Something

As a marketer, I'm keenly aware of how often companies boast features instead of benefits. Yes, you want unique features. But they will fall flat unless you clearly communicate why these differences matter. How do they benefit your customers?

For myself and the British Columbia voyages, I saw it like this:

Core Differentiator – Access to Haida Gwaii and Haida artisans and cultural leaders

• Why It’s Different: No other US-flagged vessel sailed between Seattle and Alaska and includes a multi-day visit to Haida Gwaii and Gwaii Haanas National Park Preserve and Haida Heritage Site. Also, our personal relationships enabled guests to have unprecedented access to Haida artisans and cultural leaders on an intimate level. Forming relationships with them truly filled my soul on a personal level, and I knew after nearly two years of planning that the visits would be mutually beneficial.
• Why It’s Valuable: Travelers experienced parts of British Columbia and Alaska few people ever see. It provided a sense of discovery, accomplishment. It also satisfied a desire for exploration beyond the usual tourist paths, so it made them feel unique.
• So What?: It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that brings authenticity and true adventure, offering a deeper connection to the wilderness, people, and the spirit of exploration and connection itself.

First Supplementary Differentiator – Expert Staff with Unrivaled experience

• Why It’s Different: We were able to staff the voyages with National Geographic experts and photographers who wrote or shot stories along the route. While we saved cabins for local Haida representatives to travel with the group and tell their own stories, our staff complemented the guest experience over the long haul in a way that others couldn't offer.
• Why It’s Valuable: Travel is as much about the people as it is the place. The quality of our expedition teams not only added value to the customer's experience, but made them feel more comfortable about their decision to travel in the first place. They knew they'd be in good hands.
• So What?: Even the most inspiring destinations suffer when you’re not with the right guide. It fosters a positive, lasting impact on the environment while offering participants an expedition aligned with their values.

These points not only serve as the focal points from which to operate but they are also crucial ingredients for marketing and sales departments. Just as you want to produce something unique as a product designer, marketers and salespeople want to go out to the world with something unique too. Together, you help each other stand out in competitive fields.

(To take this concept further, I recommend checking out Value Proposition Canvases and the book by Strategyzer Their entire education series is awesome.)

Lesson 5 - Adapt Like an Expedition Team in the Wild

No matter how well we plan, nature always throws surprises. The key is adaptability—reading the environment, the group, and adjusting the experience without losing sight of the core mission.

For example, Haida Gwaii lies about 30 miles out to sea, separated from the coast of British Columbia by Hecate Strait--a notoriously rough stretch of water. So while we were planning the voyage down to the hour, there was actually a chance the entire time that we wouldn’t be able to get to Haida Gwaii at all! Or, that we’d get stuck there!

Markets are just as unpredictable. Technologies evolve, customer preferences shift, and competitors emerge. Businesses that fail to adapt often lose their edge. Differentiation isn’t just about what you offer—it’s about how you adjust while keeping your unique value intact.

So you ask yourself, how can PLAN B, C, AND D be differentiated too?

When you work to differentiate all of the smaller pieces, then if one becomes out of play, you’re still offering a unique product that uniquely speaks to your customer’s needs and wants.

This means that you have to build adaptability capabilities into your product development, right?

To do so, I recommend:

Scenario Planning:

Expedition leaders create contingency plans for every major risk—storms, mechanical failures, illness. Entrepreneurs can do the same by brainstorming potential disruptions to their business and crafting strategies to navigate them.

List 3-5 'what if' scenarios for your product and business. For example:

What if a key supplier fails?

What if a major competitor launches a similar product?

What if your customers’ needs evolve unexpectedly?

Identify potential responses, whether it’s diversifying suppliers, developing unique features, or creating a faster iteration cycle.

Build Feedback Loops:

In expeditions, daily debriefings help the team assess what worked and what didn’t. Entrepreneurs should adopt this habit with their customers.

Set up regular check-ins with users or clients to gather feedback and identify changes they want. Use tools like surveys, focus groups, or even social media polls. Actively listen and pivot your product roadmap as needed.

Adopt Agile Methodologies:

Think of your product like an evolving expedition plan rather than a fixed destination. Agile methodologies help you respond to change while staying focused on your core value.

Break your development into smaller, manageable sprints. Each sprint should focus on testing one key feature or improvement. This approach allows for rapid iteration and faster alignment with customer needs.

Design with Modularity in Mind:

Flexibility starts at the design level. On expeditions, gear makes adaptation easier.

Build products or services with modular components. For example:

A SaaS platform could have customizable features based on user needs.

Physical products could have interchangeable parts to appeal to different markets or use cases.

The options are endless.

Create a Culture of Experimentation:

Expedition teams thrive when everyone contributes ideas and feels empowered to suggest changes. Businesses that foster this culture are more adaptable.

Encourage your team to test new approaches or ideas in low-risk ways, such as A/B testing marketing campaigns or prototyping new features. Celebrate lessons from both successes and failures.

If you can take some of these lessons to heart, you will be able to create a more enduring product and company. The best explorers and entrepreneurs don’t just survive the unexpected—they thrive in it.

If you’re ready to go deeper, check out my other articles at explorersleadershipgroup.com, where I share more insights from the intersection of exploration and entrepreneurship.

Thanks for joining.