What is your strategy to crafting messaging around features that your competitors already have?

Typing quickly, so excuse any typos!

Competitors will always have a common set of features. Every pizza needs a crust and some toppings – what they are, how they manifest, how they taste – that's what's different.

So, first, I'd think:

1. What's unique about my set of features? Are they solving for exactly the same use case? How do they play alongside our other products and features, in ways that they unlock a different set of use cases? This relates to a previous question about marketing a group of products instead of just focusing on one. Combinations of ingredients can lead to different solutions.

2. What's unique about how my company approaches the problem set and delivers for customers? Think outside of the set of features for a minute. What are my company's differentiators? What's been different and defensible about our approach? (For example, intuitive design and user-centricity? or tied to a greater platform? or velocity of development and improvements? or administrative oversight? intelligence built into every step? etc). Think about how that unique approach (overall) makes the set of features more differentiated.

3. What are the competitors' weak spots? What have they gotten flak for from users, from the press? How can we show that our solutions are different in just that way? Let's poke them.

4. Some features are going to be tablestakes. If they're complete mirror images, won't lead to any competitive advantages, moats, and more of a reassuring-yeah-we-got-that, then include it and don't fret. You can't focus on every little feature. Hype up what is different, defensible against competitors, desired and beloved by users.

Messaging should focus on the benefits you deliver to a customer, not the features. When you focus on benefits, you can start truly differentiating based not just on the "things" your customer can do with your product, but also on the "why" behind your company and your product overall.

If you're focused exclusively on messaging based on features, you open yourself up to comparison from competitors. Focus instead on the value your products deliver to your customers, and you have more room to differentiate, showcase your company's unique POV and how you help your customers be successful.