How would you craft messaging when your differentiator is extremely technical and proprietary? Think a proprietary algorithm that has been tweaked for a decade.
The key is to translate the complexity into clear, customer-focused value. You can use this approach:
Focus on customer benefits: Highlight how the proprietary technology solves key customer problems more effectively than competitors, without overwhelming them with technical details.
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Tailor messaging to the audience:
For technical audiences, emphasize key innovations, unique features, and performance metrics that demonstrate the algorithm's advanced capabilities.
For non-technical stakeholders, focus on the tangible outcomes—speed, accuracy, scalability, and impact on their business.
Translate complexity into value: Ensure the messaging makes the technology feel accessible by showcasing how it directly enhances customer experience or business results.
We went through a similar exercise when messaging our AI capabilities for SurveyMonkey (what we call SurveyMonkey Genius). Similarly, we have a lot of proprietary/technical differentiation, but AI is noisy and everyone's doing it now. Here are a couple bits of advice you can consider:
Know what your ICP cares about most when it comes to your technology:
Sometimes the best way to craft messaging is to see your product through your customer's eyes. Interview existing customers to understand how they'd describe your tech & what they get from it.
You can conduct message testing with your ICP to see what resonates.
Produce claims that are more relatable:
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Instead of stats around processing power or complexity of your algorithm, try something like:
Outperforms [alternative] 99% of the time
Saves you XX hours a week
Improves [annoying process] by YY%
I even like what you wrote in your question: Has been tweaked over decades by PhDs
Consider naming or branding your unique capability:
This creates a tangible entity that becomes a differentiator.
Here are some examples: Nike Flyknit fabric, Apple Retina Display, Tesla Autopilot
Having a very technical and proprietary differentiator is great!
To craft a message around this, the key is understanding for whom you are telling the story around this differentiator.
For a more technical audience, you may not need to change much about how you describe the differentiator - just work with your technical subject matter experts to ensure it’s described as accurately as possible.
For a less technical audience, you’ll need to lift out why this algorithm is differentiated, minimizing what it contains or how it works exactly. To do this, you’ll still want to partner with your technical subject matter experts, but have them help you validate that your descriptors - this algorithm is faster, more accurate, more personalized - are not getting watered down as you simplify your language.
And of course, you’ll probably need to do both if you have multiple personas to serve in a B2B buyer journey.
In a prior role, we had to do exactly this - we had a proprietary statistical model that calculated experiment results, which we developed with two Stanford PhD students, who both developed the model and submitted the research to academic journals and conferences. We did a launch around it and leaned into it as a differentiator. For our technical buyer personas, we shared the academic paper without changes with any statistics or data science teams for credibility.
We also created a “statistics for marketers” guide, where we streamlined our description of the model into what it was and why it mattered to their needs (a faster and more accurate, trustworthy result from our product). We focused on how to interpret results and communicate them internally in this guide.
To craft any messaging, I recommend always starting with the customer and defining specific value your product delivers. Depending on how technical your customer is, you can either lean into the specifics of what makes your product special or zoom out to focus on expected results. For example, a more technical audience may get excited about some of the specific inputs into your algorithm, or critical milestones achieved across the past decade. Whereas a less technical audience will want to ensure that your technology will fit their needs and use cases ... and is easy to use. You don't want to scare them away with complexity.
My current company Watershed is actually a similar case here so I'll use them as an example. Watershed is a software platform that helps companies measure their carbon footprint so they can report on it and make plans for reductions. Measuring emissions is an incredibly complex data cleansing, standardization and calculation process that can be highly error-proned and one of the ways Watershed differentiates is by the level of rigor that goes into its proprietary methodology for measurement. But... that's not exactly easy to understand or defend. Here's how I approach differentiation when the secret really is in the sauce:
Don't lead with the proprietary algorithm: People won't be able to fully grok it and the words will fall flat.
Instead, lead with the benefit that the proprietary algorithm provides: Is your solution the most secure on the market? Is it the most accurate? Can it innovate 10x faster? The algorithm is the how, but it's the end-goal that matters. Make that benefit your differentiator, BUT don't stop there...
Next you need undeniable proof points: If your algorithm makes your product the most accurate, the go after ways to prove that. Hire a third party to test your product vs competitors. Find specific places where your algorithm differs from the pack and show those points.
Crowdstrike does a better job of this than most. They can't share what's behind their security platform, but they've run scores of independent tests, used MITRE's attack framework and analyst firms to demonstrate how outcomes are better with them. Take a look here: https://www.crowdstrike.com/compare/crowdstrike-vs-sentinelone/
Where a lot of companies bottom out is they just say their algorithm is "the best" without actually demonstrating it in objective ways. This is happening right now with AI LLMs. They all say their quality is the best, but it's very hard to consistently demonstrate such a subjective thing. See my other answer about differentiation and how to filter by most ownable, most defensible and most closely tied to the customer pain.
Hope that helps!
If it is truly a differentiator, then it will have benefits, and that is what you should focus on. What does that proprietary algorithm allow your product to do that others products can’t, and how does that benefit your customer? Does it make your product faster? Does it make your product or its output more accurate, or more efficient? And how does that added capability benefit your customer? Does it save them time, make them more money, etc.? Even the most technical business buyer wants to know what’s in it for them. So lead with the benefits, and of course explain what you must about the “how” behind it, but don’t put the focus there.
Even with a highly technical product and audience, I've found that it's important to remember that attention spans are limited and that budget holders don't always need or want a ton of detail, at least upon the first intro to the product.
I'd approach this in a couple ways. First, I'd focus on the higher level messaging. This is to help build awareness of this product across any channel. Here you want to focus on the customer outcome that helps build a bridge for your audience on the technical product (or algorithm in this case) and the tangible value to the customer. The fact that this has been tweaked for 10+ years should already provide you a strong differentiator, but you can provide additional validation by incorporating customer stories or proof points (ie: trusted by 90% of the Fortune 500).
From there, you also want to build an additional layer of messaging that goes deeper into the nuts and bolts of your product that could be used for whitepapers, analyst reports, demos, etc...to make sure this resonates with even the most technical of your audiences.
Divide the facts vs. opinions of their existing value proposition, and then see where you can deliver a better product and/or story for the particular audience. If you don't have the facts of the proprietary technology and the capabilities are hidden, you can go after a strong story for a particular audience. I think the best example of this is Google Search vs DuckDuckGo.
Google Search vs DuckDuckGo is a strong case study of how positioning can work for a certain audience vs. a proprietary algorithm or deep technology. DuckDuckGo chose a story, a message of privacy and streamlined browsing without advertising as their differentiator, for an audience that was worried about their data being used for advertising. While Google still has dominant share, they process 100M+ daily searches are have a strong story for their why, and why they exist in a world with Google Search. They exist for the privacy-centric internet searchers.
You may not be able to win the whole game, but what part of the game and with who can you win? Focus on that message and story and try to win that audience as much as possible.
For this, it has to be about the output/what you get. Do you know what the latest spec of an iPhone’s camera lens is? But do you feel and believe that an iPhone has a better camera than its competitors? If your audience is super technical and specs matter, however, then you have to include them. But focus on how it improves their workflow and their experience with using your product vs a competitor. For example, at Pomerium, we provide a clientless experience that we think is better than legacy VPN software. Why does this matter? Because there’s no software on your machine needing to be updated at inopportune times, and we’re not routing data back through a central node causing bottlenecks and high latency. This means our customers are able to have full zero trust security that is truly frictionless from their end users perspective.
I haven't worked in a space where the differentiators were algorithms or what I would describe as extremely technical or proprietary. BUT - I think my experiences and perspective still apply. The short story is to anchor on value (not the specifics of the secret sauce) and use analogies.
So here's my thinking (mostly drawing from my experiences around API platforms and developer tools/technologies):
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Anchor in Value, Not Just Tech: Ultimately the differentiator should result in something concrete for the customer. Define what that is - is it speed, cost, precision, conversion, etc., and focus on that in your messaging. Customers care about how a product helps them, not just the bells and whistles. A great way to drive this home is by showing real-world examples. If you can back it up with metrics—like how another business used your product to save 20% on costs—it’ll resonate more. An example from my experience was about how our company's API platform had a unique feature that could drive massive improvements in conversion for clients. We didn't focus as much on the secret sauce and focused much more on the messaging around the core outcome.
Use Analogies: At a previous company and role - I was focused on scaling a recently launched API platform. The challenge was the sales team was traditional and not really familiar with APIs. This was further challenged by the fact that our "buyers" and traditional points of contact for our sales team were equally unfamiliar. So analogies helped a lot (e.g., APIs are ways for applications to talk with each other, or showing real world examples of how APIs power their everyday experiences). Weaving these types of analogies into the messaging helped quite a bit in breaking through the initial challenges of audience (and sales team) comprehension.
It can be challenging to navigate articulating differentiation when a capability is highly technical and your audience is not. As I mentioned in another response, focusing on differentiated value can be really helpful here. Rather than try to do a lot of messaging or education around the algorithm/technical capability itself, focus on what it uniquely delivers in terms of the outcome for the customer.
For example, at Seismic, our product includes a unique architecture for organizing sales content. Rather than get into the technical weeds of how, our messaging focuses on the value to the customer. Continuing with the example, we talk about how our approach allows organizations of all sizes to maintain content quality, prevent sprawl and scale as needed. We emphasize the benefits for organizations now, as well as how it future-proofs and de-risks their investment because they won't outgrow it like we often see with alternative solutions. We then highlight win-loss interviews and case studies to back this up.
You'll still need the technical information, and you'll need at least your technical GTM team members (e.g., SEs) enabled to speak to it later in the sales cycle.
The first thing to ask is, who’s your audience?
Whether you're speaking to a technical end-user or a business audience, always start by leading with the differentiated outcome or solution you unlock. This is the high-level message that sets the stage. A great example is Suno’s "Make a song about anything"—they don’t focus on their proprietary tech but the end result it enables.
For a technical end-user, once you’ve established the unique outcome and problem your algorithm solves, follow up with the details—how it works, why it’s better, and what makes it stand out. Share the specifics while keeping the focus on the "so what". For example, Fly.io’s "Public Cloud Infrastructure. Modern Platform Endorphins." delivers the key outcome, followed by specifics in the subhead: "The most flexible and powerful compute platform on any public cloud. Fly Machines are hardware-virtualized containers... for a single HTTP request, or for weeks of uptime." The details highlight the how while still reinforcing the benefits.
For a business audience, lead with the same differentiated use case but focus more on the outcomes. What does your solution deliver that competitors can’t? For example, focus on where or how your product improves their day-to-day compared to the existing way of doing things. Speak to the results first before diving into any technical specifics.
In both cases, start with the high-level differentiation:
What problem does it solve that competitors can’t? Frame it around the unique challenges your audience faces.
Why is it better than other options? Highlight specific benefits like faster performance, higher accuracy, or unique capabilities
What’s the real impact? Share concrete results—reduced processing time, improved decision-making (don't just say increase in revenue or time..everyone says that).
Proof points - Show why your algorithm is the best: specific stats, the number of customers using it, or 3rd party acknowledgment. For example, "Used by over 1,000 companies to reduce processing time by 40%."
By starting with the differentiated use case, you immediately grab attention and make it clear why your proprietary solution stands out. Then, follow up with the details that reinforce the message and show how it delivers real, measurable value.
Your solution can be extremely technical, but in the end, messaging is already grounded in the end value that your platform delivers to your end customers. It is also grounded in how your solution can solve the problem better than anybody else in the market. If you focus on the outcomes/value, I don't think messaging should be challenging.
And if you have not figured out the end value, you surely have work to do.
When your differentiator is deeply technical, such as a proprietary algorithm developed over a decade, it’s important to focus on the “so what” factor. Instead of going too deep into the technical specifics, highlight the outcomes and impact this technology enables for the customer. For example, "Our proprietary algorithm reduces operational overhead by 25%, giving teams more time to focus on high-value tasks." Tailor your messaging to your audience’s level of technical fluency, offering deeper dives for those who need it.
With any great messaging — but especially in this case — the key is articulating why this differentiator is valuable to your target audience. What standout outcomes does this proprietary algorithm unlock? What about this approach makes it more valuable to a customer than the alternatives? You may have to ask 'why would a customer care?' a few times to get to true benefits.
This was the case at Klaviyo. We spent hundreds of hours trying to compellingly articulate one of the platform's most valuable differentiators — its data architecture.
Klaviyo was the first in the industry to be built on top of a very unique hybrid OLAP + OLTP data engine.
Why does that matter?
It unlocks the ability to store vast volumes of data and query it in real time, where alternative solutions make you choose between data volume and querying speed.
(Keep asking why!)
This means marketers have millions of data points at their fingertips to use in building customer segments, personalizing messages, analyzing behavior, and more.
(Keep going...)
This makes it easy for marketers to power smarter digital relationships with their customers, because the experiences they create are more relevant and more valuable (and as a result, more profitable).
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