DARE TO BEDIFFERENT

PAUL LANG & ALISTAIR NORMAN

The age old problem

Standing out of the crowd you have to be different & consistent

The 2 biggest issues facing B2B marketers today

TP & CMI research 2017

DIFFERENTIATION IS AN AGE OLD PROBLEM

GLOBALIZATION IS DRIVING COMMODITIZATION

Beautiful accounting software

204MEmails sent

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4MGoogle search queries

227kTweets

+347kWhats app photos

2.46MShared content on Facebook

3,472Pinterest images pinned

1400New blog posts

$83kAmazon sales

216kInstagram photos

+23kHours of Skype

72Hours of new video

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AVOID BEING ONE OF THE 70% CONTENT MARKETING USUAL SUSPECTS

WHO DON'T HAVE A PLAN.

Either A Brand Is Different Or It Is Dead

In today’s world, everyone is searching for the same best practice. Everyone benchmarks against each other. And everyone optimizes their communications plans. Everyone is copying each other. And so their brands are becoming clones.

EITHER A BRAND IS DIFFERENT OR IT IS DEAD

. Sameness Strategy Threatens Brands

Our gut instinct as marketers is to go with what is working, because everything in the corporate rewards system is geared towards that: lack of risk appetite; the quest for short term results; even performance incentives. The irony for brands of course is that the more you embrace what works for others, the less likely those ideas are going to work for you.

SAMENESS STRATEGY THREATENS BRANDS

The End Of The Unique Selling Proposition

Brands need to fashion their products round their viewpoints rather than looking to drive preference around their features. And that’s led me to wonder whether, as strategists, our goal is no longer to position brands in relation to function but rather to platform brands as promoters of a worldview, even a world change. In essence, to ditch the Unique Selling Proposition in favor of the Unique Brand Perspective – an outlook on the world, and a hope for the future, that drives everything the brand does.

THE END OF THE UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

Is Brand Differentiation Still Possible?

There’s a shift of focus: from big picture, broad brush disruptive market plays to a new era of personalized, specific, individualized small plays. In the new world of the quantified self and the emerging Internet Of Everything, brand differentiation today is really about what a brand does for “me” not how it revolutionizes whole swathes of a sector.

IS CONTENT DIFFERENTIATION STILL POSSIBLE?

➔ Nearly half (40%) of marketers think their content is about the same as that of their competition in the industry.

➔ 32% of marketers don’t have a strategy in place to differentiate themselves from the competition

➔ 69% of marketers think that the main barrier to differentiation is planning.

SO WHAT'S OUR EXCUSE?

WE DON’T HAVE A PLAN!

➔ 78% measure their differentiation success through lead generation results. Compare that to 35% of customer retention.

➔ 31% of marketers don’t use audience data as a tool to differentiate and 34% of those marketers believe it’s difficult to even access that data.

WE DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT DATA!

WE NEED TO USE THE RIGHT DATA TO TAKE ACTION

➔ 70% of the audience say they improve the customer experience by differentiating their content and brand. Only 45% said is was to differentiate from the competition.

➔ 68% of B2B companies have no idea of how good or bad their customer

experience actually is.

➔ Only 7% of marketers believes their brand’s consistency across audiences and channels is “excellent”.

WE NEED TO DELIVER A CONSISTENT EXPERIENCE.

HOW CAN WE ANCHOR OUR DIFFERENCES? HOW DO WE GET BUY-IN TO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT?

1) Plan to be different?

2) Make your brand story aspiring & linked to your values.

3) Make your story engaging & full of conflict

4) Innovate to make small differences.

5) Commit to consistency across the whole customer experience?

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HOW DO WE PLAN TO BE DIFFERENT? AN EDITORIAL METHODOLOGY

HOW CAN WE INTERPRET THE WORLD AROUND?

HOW CAN WE CREATE A PURPOSE FOR OUR IDEAS?

HOW CAN WE CREATE A SENSE OF CONTROL?

HOW CAN WE BE REMEMBERED?

HOW CAN WE GET PERSONAL?

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HOW DO WE INNOVATE TO BE DIFFERENT?

4

DATA INNOVATION LEADERBOARD

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HOW DO WE INNOVATE TO BE DIFFERENT?

Add a Chatbot to the website

Change landing

pages to new templates

25

5

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● No definition of success ● No documented strategy● Campaign driven● Less than 20% of budget● Have no or basic personas● Focus on quantity● Opinion driven improvement● Focus on content production● Owned by 1 or 2 individuals● 1 or 2 channel promotion● Limited resource● No Automation

● Clearly defined success measures● Documented strategy● Managed as a continuous business process● More than 50% of Budget ● Deep continuous updated persona

intelligence● Focus on the experience● Data driven improvement● Full organizational buying● Multi-channel promotion● Multi-skilled team (internal & external)● Use automation tools

LOWER MID UPPER MID UPPER

STRATEGYTACTICS

TOE IN WATER ALL IN

HOW DO WE EXECUTE CONSISTENTLY?

LOW

5

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Customers come for content but stay for community.

THE LANGUAGE OF. LEADERSHIP...

➔ Anchor your brand with content that reinforces your purpose.

➔ Plan to be different with a strong creative editorial process.

➔ Ensure innovation is not just a “big idea” but many “small ones” driven by data.

DON’T BE A ONE HIT WONDER

➔ Commit to a business process of delivery to achieve consistency.

➔ Know that the whole is experience is greater than the individual parts.

CTA on a customer experience audit & dare to be different conversion asset

Tomorrow People’s CX audit.

Do you have differentiated content and a stand-out customer experience? Dive into our CX audit to find out. A few short questions could be the difference between grand or bland. Give it a shot…

On a scale of 0-10, we’ll ask you to rate your capability against some key statements that will ascertain whether or not you’re equipped to deliver a great CX.

● 0-4: Low capability and poor CX, with no strategic drivers

● 5-7: Moderate capability, with some strategic CX intent

● 8-10: Full capability, with a clear CX strategy in place

We’ll then send you a personalized report with our assessment, along pointers for improvement and recommendations to smash your CX targets.

What really counts is not how unique you are but how unique people think you are.