June 19, 2024

Meaningfully Different

In order to avoid a race to zero, you have to stand out from your competitors in a way that your ideal buyers think is meaningfully different from the alternatives.

For example...

Let’s say you’re looking for a fast spaceship to escape from Imperial stormtroopers.

You meet with the pilot of the Millennium Falcon and ask him if his spaceship is fast.

NOTE: At this point, you’d be happy with ANY fast spaceship.

In reply, the pilot (let’s call him... oh, I dunno... “Han”) says indignantly:

“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?... It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs!”

What Han is doing here is a form of marketing.

He’s telling you a story meant to differentiate the Falcon from any other fast ship.

Han’s tone implies that it’s an impressive feat, but if you don’t know anything about how many ships have made the Kessel Run, whether or not twelve parsecs is a good time, or heck... even if “parsec” is a unit of time, then his story will not impress you one bit.

(And oh, by the way, you additionally have to believe that Han is not lying, but that’s a story for another day.)

Here’s the thing...

To stand out from your competitors, you need to tell a credible story in your marketing that meaningfully differentiates you from everyone else.

It is not enough to pick some difference that’s arbitrary or is merely important to you.

Your difference has to be important to your ideal buyers or it won’t matter at all.

Yours,

—J

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