Tag: differentiation

How Content Helps Companies Compete Beyond Price

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Customers are establishing buying criteria before talking to vendors.  To compete beyond price, vendors can create content that moves customers past the obvious checklist. Insight-led content can do this and should be a part of your company’s differentiation strategy.

In recent surveys of B2B buyers less than 15 percent see a big enough difference between suppliers to pay a premium. That’s a lot of companies competing on price alone. One way for your company to stand out is to create content that introduces new ideas that they haven’t thought of before. The ideas connect customer goals and lead to your differentiation value.

For example, Quaker Chemical, a provider of process fluids, recently rebranded the company to emphasize not only their expertise and solutions but also responsibility. One headline on the company website reads: ““Our Fluids Come With A Special Additive. Heart.” And, “Machine’s Quit. People Don’t.”

To get close enough to your customer so that they will pay a premium you need to know and understand a few things about them.

What are their top goals and hoped for outcomes?

What do they believe drive those outcomes?

How will the outcome affect them personally?

You can then connect the dots between their goals and your company’s unique value. Customers can’t or won’t do this on their own. Prominent in your messaging is what you’ve discovered to be the customer’s top concern and your unique ability to address that concern. See the John Deere Construction website page with its emphasis: “Building. Together. “

Good content captures attention. Introduces new ideas. Addresses personal value to drive action.

When a company listens to their customers, content writers can pick up on natural language used and incorporate that language into the content. For example, in the food service industry, a chef might say “slow and low” when talking about how to cook barbeque ribs. It’s relatable phrasing. Much better than “cook ribs for 2 hours at this temperature” because conditions vary for professional chefs and they like to interpret, rather than strictly follow recipes.

Insight on natural language can be accomplished through social listening on forums, Twitter and Facebook or through customer interviews. Vendors may not get the candid, objective information they are looking for during the customer interview so you may want to outsource this part. Connecting with content writers who understand this process will help you compete beyond price.

What Do Content and Robust Seniors Have in Common?

Robust seniorWhen robust seniors were asked to share their top ten tips for productive aging I immediately saw a correlation between their advice and how good content supports the health of a business.

Is your company aging well? Use this shared wisdom from seniors to revitalize your business content.

1. Simplify. Identify priorities and trim the superfluous.

Companies often have only seconds to capture the attention of potential customers. Content that articulates in a simple form offers clarity. The most important content is positioned first and the least, last.

2. Pay attention to yourself.

True differentiation in the market place comes from knowing who you are as a company. Staying true to the vision and its expression creates authentic content, attracting the kind of customers you want.

3. Continue to teach and learn.

Lessons learned is a great topic for content. It shows that a company has humility and continues to learn. Sharing a lesson makes a company generous and likable in the eyes of its audience.

4. Be flexible: learn to navigate change.

This is a key message in Eric Ries’ book The Lean Startup (which shares insights for any size business at any age). Knowing when to pivot and redirect is vital to keeping a company strong and its content fresh.

5. Be charitable: make it a practice to give.

By giving valuable content companies receive more than an email address, an online reaction, or purchase.  They become trustworthy and authoritative.

6. Be financially astute.

If you are spending more money with little return, it is a sign your company is not aging well. Added features should command higher prices, but only when they are positioned as problem solvers for your customer.

7. Participate in activities that interest you.

Any action is a source for content. Show your industry involvement, your achievements, your subject matter expertise through blogs and forums of interest.

8. Commit to good nutrition and exercise.

Publish new ideas that feed the growth of your business in an internal newsletter and routinely experiment with executing some of them on a scale that makes sense.

9. Think about your past and future, deal with your mortality.

Business longevity, experience, and familiarity make it comfortable for customers to work with you. Surprise keeps them interested.

10. Be involved, be positive, link with others.

The social web invites you to connect in ways never before possible. Positive content is shared more often than negative. Spread your news and that of your customers with goodwill.

Which tip is your favorite?