Most technology marketing these days reminds me of the old Humphrey Bogart detective movies made in the style of “film noir” (dark somber tones permeated with a feeling of despair, disillusionment, pessimism and despair) … or at least that’s how I feel when doing market intelligence research. It's a monochromatic experience of tracking and profiling competitive offerings and/or browsing websites and their muddy and hard to differentiate marketing messages.
The Importance of Differentiating Your Business Offerings
Despite the necessity and importance of profiling, the current process is really a recipe for The Big Sleep (pun intended). My eyelids get heavy trying to see shades of grey that really aren't there. All of the solutions sound the same. I imagine every marketeer is guilty of this from time to time, but it’s really getting ridiculous … a regular “marketing crime spree” if you will.
There are no original ideas and plenty of copycat messages. Every vendor seems to make the same claims about their solutions (whether true or not). They all use the same buzz words … cloud or AI this … security or mobile that … which makes me wonder how customers can be expected to understand and know the truth among all the misleading claims, hype and outright lies.
Be Different ... Clearly State What Makes Your Offering Valuable
They can't when everything sounds the same. ... unless your offerings are innovative, valuable and differentiated from the competition ... ideally all three. Position them with the right messages and be seen as the obvious choice (based on your value).
You may not win an Oscar ... but you will stand out like a technicolor film at a black and white film festival. Customers will appreciate the clarity ... and choose you over the competition.