We often hear that messaging should be differentiating. How can that be achieved?

IMHO, the best way to do that is through a unique competitive, consumer or industry insight -- if no other company is leaning into that type of insight, you will be novel and differentiated. You can also try validating how differentiated your messaging is through customer testing -- they will tell you if they have heard what you are trying to say or not before.

My favorite product marketing mentor always gave me the best advice to ensure my messaging was differentiated. What is the one thing you can say that your competitor cannot say about this product or feature. If another company's name can easily be swapped out with your own, then your messaging is not differentiated enough. Get specific with data proof points to create solid evidence to support your messaging and build differentiation. If you aren't sure what makes your product differentiated from the rest of the market, talk to your customers. Ask them what improvements or benefits they've discovered using your product.

Easier said then done but do a 'pinch test' when reviewing your messaging. Ask yourself if you removed your companies brand/name from the message could any other brand/name be swapped in and the message still hold true? If so, it's not very differentiated is it? However, if its unique enough then it would be harder for another business to 'mirror' your messaging/value prop etc. It's a great litmus test to continually apply as you work through messaging evolutions as it keeps you 'honest' on whether you are TRULY differentiated or not!

Achieving differentiated messaging starts with a deep understanding of customers and actively listening to their needs and preferences. By prioritizing the customer's perspective, finding differentiated approaches to messaging that resonates uniquely and stands out amidst the noise. Here's how we approach this:

Customer-Centric Research: Conducting research to understand our target audience— their pain points, aspirations, and the factors that influence their purchasing decisions. This involves qualitative methods like interviews and focus groups, as well as quantitative data analysis.

Listening to Customer Feedback: Listening to customer feedback at every touchpoint— whether it's through support interactions, surveys, or social media engagement- their word choices often can be the spark of a new message.

Emotional Connection: Your customers and prospects are humans. With feelings, needs, frustrations- not just buying criteria. I try to anchor back on this and ensure I'm leading with them first and looking for meaningful ways to connect the message or story back to them.

Testing and Iteration: We continuously test and iterate our messaging based on customer responses and market feedback. This iterative process allows us to refine our messaging over time, ensuring that it is resonating. Depending on the channel or type of message, this may be an iteration of one word, a phrase, or a structure.

Perhaps implicit in this question is one of my philosophies that a PMM should be customer obsessed and competitor aware. What I mean by this is that we as PMM should really understand our target user and deliver on what they want. We obviously do this in a competitive landscape but if you take your focal point off the target user and spend too much time on competition it will just simply not be as productive.

To ensure your messaging is differentiation starts with your positioning - getting this right is critical. Then from this you know what you want to highlight and then can work to iterate on your messaging to make sure the language resonates and drives the CTA you are looking to deliver.

Your product is not the exact replica of any other product—if it is, your problem starts there. Your product has it's own identity and that should come through in tone, offerings, etc. Differentiating should never be for the sake of differentiating. Your message should always be in your brand's voice, but it's okay if the overall message may be similar to others.

I don’t think I agree messaging should be differentiating but I do think it should make your company easily distinguishable.

What I mean by that is that folks that focus too much on making their messaging sound unique against competitors often lose the plot for what their audience is trying to solve, and the words they use to describe their pain and ideal solution. It’s very rare you and your competitors do the exact same thing in the same way for the same ICP. Tune your messaging to your specific audience.

And make it consistent everywhere. The weight you place on personas, value drivers, process, and outcomes should feel similar everywhere your message exists—which is what makes it distinguishable in a sea of others.