My CEO is always saying we are selling a commodity. How do you create messaging and positioning around something that is considered undifferentiated?

Even if you’re selling a commodity—stop selling it like a commodity!This means that the most important part of knowing how to sell commodity products is to stop focusing on price as the primary determinant for why a prospect should buy from you. Reflect on the value that you create in the lives of your prospects or inyour existing customers—ask them if you have to. Understand the value your customers are gaining from your product, the unique use cases your product offers them, quanitfy the value ...Read More

Obviously you want to lean into your leading value props and what makes your product uniquely not a commodity, but I understand that could be difficult depending on the situation! In this case, you can lean into proof points to really underline the key value points. Those proof points can be both qualitative and quantitative. Customer case studies and testimonials from highly influential/well-known customers can really strengthen your messaging, especially if you're in an industry where social c ...Read More

When positioning your product against competitors, messaging should really focus on the key differentiators (i.e., what do you do better than competitor X?). To accomplish this, I start with the core use cases that our product supports and then map our features accordingly. From there, you can do a compare and contrast with your competitor's capabilities, and find that white space you can turn into compelling messaging. And don't forget to connect those differences back to your core value props ...Read More

Others have said this but it bears repeating: if you product is truly undifferentiated, then marketing is your path forward. Feature/function is a losing battle in this scenario. Figure out your brand marketing and how to give the buyer a little something extra that makes your product the top-of-mind choice. Frankly, I think consumer brands have this on lock. What's one brand of orange juice compared to another? In a blind taste-test, not much. But I'll buy Florida Natural because somehow the wa ...Read More

I am not the expert here. But as someone who has been studying brands and companies her whole life for fun I find that with companies that sell things that other companies do too, the most impactful thing is to create a really memorable brand. If possible an 'identity brand'. This may be a made-up term and may not apply to pure commodity companies, but it basically means that people personally identify with (or really want to) what vibe you are giving off --so they become attached to it.Nike mig ...Read More

The world does trillions of dollars of business for FMCG products every year. They are all commodities, and yet they are continuously fighting a positioning and messaging battle against one another.  In the first episode of the TV Series Mad Men, Don Draper when consulting for the cigarettes brand Lucky Strike, selects an attribute from the production process - toasting. He then uses that attribute to create positioning "It's Toasted" and associates the product with freedom and youth.  So the pr ...Read More