Much of the content contained in this eBook was gathered through first-hand experience working with Jaynie Smith,

CEO and President of Smart Advantage, Inc.

When Smart Advantage, Inc., helps companies identify and articulate their competitive advantages within their

marketing and sales message, those companies often experience a 20 to 40 percent increase in sales within the first

year of implementation. These results are pure evidence of how important it is to differentiate yourself from your

competitors, especially in today’s rapidly changing world.

Table of ContentsForeword .............................................................................................................................. 1

Understanding Competitive Messaging: What is it and Why Does it Matter? ................................ 2

Competitive Messaging Defined ................................................................................................2

An Array of Business Benefits...................................................................................................3

The Key Players ......................................................................................................................5

Competitive Messaging in Action: Getting Started .................................................................... 6

Checklist for the CEO/Executive Team .......................................................................................6

Checklist for the Internal Manager ...........................................................................................7

Quickstart Guide for the Internal Manager .................................................................................8

Choosing Your Target Segments ..........................................................................................8

Auditing Your Current Messaging ........................................................................................9

Identifying Your Company’s Deliverables ............................................................................10

Creating Competitive Messages ........................................................................................11

Using Market Research to Understand Customers and Competitive Messaging ......................12

Revisiting Competitive Messaging Statements ....................................................................17

Implementing the Findings ..............................................................................................18

Common Pitfalls, Practical Solutions ......................................................................................19

Metrics for Reviewing Progress ...............................................................................................20

Competitive Messaging as a Company-Level Strategy ................................................................21

Next Steps ...........................................................................................................................21

Additional Resources .............................................................................................................22

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 1

Foreword

I wrote the book Creating Competitive Advantage because in my research with mid-market com-

panies, I found that only two CEOs out of the 1,000 I spoke with could clearly name their com-

pany’s competitive advantages. The other 99.8 percent could only offer vague, imprecise gener-

alities. Even today, having now asked more than 4,000 CEOs what their competitive advantages

are, only five have been able to give me a clear answer.

Don’t let this become your story. Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or service provider, if you can’t

articulate what your competitive advantage is, you’re surely losing customers and market share. Identifying your com-

petitive advantage is a surefire way to close deals, retain clients, and stay miles ahead of the competition.

Technology is increasingly allowing consumers to pick and choose who they buy from based on price. As a result, many

industries are painting themselves into a corner for the simple reason that they can’t compete on anything but price.

My personal mantra is, “If you can build confidence while also eliminating risk from the buying decision, price becomes

much less of an issue.” When you are able to clearly articulate and communicate your competitive advantages to

your customers and prospects, and convince them to do business with you rather than with a competitor, you don’t

have to rely on price as a tiebreaker.

“Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging” is the result of a seminar I delivered for a group of OpenView’s portfolio

companies. OpenView understands competitive messaging and has created an excellent guide to help expansion-

stage technology companies begin uncovering what differentiates them from their competition.

Both OpenView and Smart Advantage would love to hear about the success your company has achieved with the help

of this eBook and the concepts in Creating Competitive Advantage. Please share your stories with us.

Jaynie L. Smith

CEO and President

Smart Advantage, Inc.

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 2

Prospects buy from you — and customers buy more from you — when they perceive that your company, and its

products or services, are better than those of your competitors. One of the best ways to enhance this perception is

to develop competitive messages that truly resonate with your target audience and convey all of the things that allow

you to create unique value and set your company apart from the competition.

Competitive messages can be developed by following a fairly simple process that consists of analysis, writing, and

market research. Before you get started, you should ensure that your prospects and buyers are segmented into dis-

tinct groups with similar needs and purchasing criteria. This step will ensure that your messaging is focused and

specific to your market targets.

“Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging” provides an overview of competitive messaging and can help you create

the kinds of messages that will increase your perceived value in the marketplace and help you win more business. The

first section of this eBook will help you understand competitive messaging, while the second part outlines a process

for creating and executing a competitive messaging strategy.

COMPETITIVE MESSAGING DEFINED

Competitive advantage is what separates your business from that of your competitors. Harvard Business School pro-

fessor Michael Porter describes competitive advantage as when a company performs better than its rivals by pursuing

different activities or performing similar activities in different ways. The advantage is gained by either providing greater

value to customers or by offering greater benefits and services. These advantages are ultimately what shape your com-

petitive messages.

Understanding Competitive Messaging: What is it and Why Does it Matter?

ANALYSIS

MARKET RESEARCH

WRITING

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 3

Being able to articulate why your company is different through messaging is an essential component of an effective

marketing strategy. After all, your unique value statements will most likely appear on all of your marketing materials

(e.g., your website, blog, e-newsletter, etc.) and be used throughout the sales process.

Competitive messaging doesn’t always reflect your company’s strengths or product features, as those types of state-

ments may only explain why you exist. Often, prospects and customers don’t really care why you exist. It’s your job

to find out what they do care about through research and use that information to craft messages that speak to those

concerns, making prospects and customers want to learn more and eventually buy your product. The best messages

are typically based on specific characteristics, actions, or behaviors that set you apart. But the only way your mes-

sages will distinguish you is if your prospects and customers believe them and that you offer truly unique value.

AN ARRAY OF BUSINESS BENEFITS

Going through the process of identifying your competitive advantages, conducting research to see how customers

and prospects rate those advantages in terms of importance, and crafting competitive messages based on your

findings will help you in a variety of ways. Through this practice you can:

Understand exactly what your target prospects care about. You’ll find out what your target prospects

want by hypothesizing important purchase criteria and then testing them until you get them right.

Improve your sales and marketing productivity. Using the right messages gives you the opportunity

to differentiate your company from the competition in a succinct and meaningful way, making your products and

services easier to market and sell.

Measure how well you are communicating your value proposition to improve your messaging over time. If you perform this practice regularly (e.g., annually), you’ll be able to measure

and adjust your messages as the market changes.

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 4

Prospect and customer research will also help you:

Understand how your company matches up against the competition, which will help your product

development efforts.

Gauge the brand awareness of your company and its products vis-a-vis your competitors in the marketplace,

which will help you adjust the marketing and influence channels you’re using to reach your market targets.

Understand the effects that your current marketing efforts have on the perception of your company and

its products in the minds of your target prospects, which will help your overall communication efforts.

Why Competitive Messaging is Critical for Early Stage Companies

“The act of creative competitive messaging involves placing yourself in a market and positioning your

offering against others in that market. For early stage companies, particularly ones in emerging spaces,

this gives prospects a frame of reference to help answer the question ‘What do you do?’ Contrasting your

offering with the ones that your prospects are already familiar with can make it easier to understand.

“When a company expresses the value of their customer offerings, it is important to provide proof. You

can say that you are ‘the leading provider of...’ but unless you demonstrate some evidence of that claim,

the statement is meaningless. Customer proof points, third-party reviews, and quotes

from industry experts can all serve to increase the credibility of a competitive claim.”

April Dunford, Founder and Principal Consultant, RocketWatcher

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 5

THE KEY PLAYERS

The CEO and the rest of the executive team must buy in to the value of the research, determine the long- and short-term strategic goals for that research, communicate the importance of the practice to employees, and dedicate proper resources to the effort.

At the executive level, this means:

•Appointing an internal manager such as the VP of Marketing or the Chief Marketing Officer to oversee the process

•Approving an approach and plan that is right for the company based on its goals

•Properly resourcing the effort with the appropriate staff and budget

•Communicating the importance of the initiative to the entire company during a company-wide meeting

•Reviewing the impact of the messaging statements on your company’s goals and making adjustments on a regular (e.g., annual) basis for each segment

Key Roles for the Implementation

There are two primary internal roles for this practice, and this eBook contains corresponding checklists to help each role get started:

1. The CEO/executive team, who set the primary goals and strategy.

2. The internal manager, who implements and manages the process.

A third role relates to the market research component of competitive messaging. Use an independent, third-party resource to manage the market research for your customers and prospects. Doing so will help ensure that your findings are objective, as third-party firms can perform the research on a double-blind basis (neither the survey taker nor the person delivering the research knows who the client is).

“From a market perspective, competitive messaging separates you from everyone else, helps to promote

buzz about you because of your differences, and helps prospects answer the question, ‘Why you?’

“From an economic perspective, it allows you to have some combination of a premium

price, faster sales cycles, lower customer acquisition costs, higher gross margins, and

higher renewal and upsell.”

Scott Maxwell, Founder and Senior Managing Director

OpenView Venture Partners

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 6

Competitive Messaging in Action: Getting StartedYour company can initiate

a competitive messaging

process immediately with

the proper focus and

resources. Now that you

know what competitive

messaging is all about and

why it is important for your

business, here’s how to

get started. This part of the

eBook contains checklists

and quickstart guides that

will help each of the people

in key roles perform their

activities relatively quickly.

CHECKLIST FOR THE CEO/EXECUTIVE TEAM

Use the following checklist to ensure that your competitive messaging efforts

have the greatest probability of success. The executive team should ensure

that all items are checked off, while the internal manager should be respon-

sible for working with that team to complete the various tasks involved.

We believe in the value of a competitive messaging process for our brand.

We have discussed, prioritized, and approved this effort as a corporate

marketing initiative.

We have determined the target segment(s) for the competitive

messaging process.

We have assigned an internal manager to supervise and oversee the

competitive messaging process.

We have agreed to incorporate the newly created competitive messaging

statements into our marketing materials; train our employees on how

to use the statements; identify and track metrics around performance

against customers’ purchase criteria; and set and manage goals geared

toward driving performance.

We have developed measurable goals so that we can track the

effectiveness of our newly created messages.

We have agreed to a budget for the research and marketing components.

All of our employees know our messages and are using them on a

regular basis.

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 7

CHECKLIST FOR THE INTERNAL MANAGER

Use the following checklist to ensure that the internal manager is set up for success and

following the best approach to create competitive messaging statements.

All of the items on the CEO/executive team checklist have been completed.

I am aware of the budget determined by the CEO and/or executive team.

I have evaluated our current messaging statements.

I have identified our customers’ and prospects’ purchase criteria.

I have developed a set of deliverables based on our capabilities and the customers’ and prospects’ purchase criteria.

I have created preliminary competitive messaging statements.

I will test the preliminary statements against customers’ purchase criteria through independent market research.

I have identified an independent market research firm to conduct the prospect/customer study.

I have developed a standard statement of work (SOW) to share with the market research firm to specify the project.

I have identified and supplied a sufficient list of customers and/or prospects for the market research firm to develop a random sample.

I have refined my competitive messaging statements, and/or developed new ones, based on the research findings.

I have incorporated the new competitive messaging statements into the marketing materials.

I have ensured that each member of the company knows the competitive messaging statements.

I have identified and tracked metrics around performance against customers’ purchase criteria.

I have set goals geared toward driving performance.

I have ensured that there is a process in place to identify operational improvements needed to align the

company with the customers’ top purchase criteria.

I am committed to revisiting the competitive messages on at least an annual basis for each target segment.

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 8

QUICKSTART GUIDE FOR THE INTERNAL MANAGER

The following quickstart guide should be used by the internal manager to efficiently run

through the practice of developing competitive messaging statements.

CHOOSING YOUR TARGET SEGMENTS

Before you can begin to develop competitive messages, you need to:

1. Segment your customers and prospects based on common needs, characteristics, and purchasing behaviors.2. Prioritize the segments based on business value.

As the internal manager, it is your job to determine which messages will resonate with each segment, because each

segment will undoubtedly have different needs and pain points. Therefore, you’ll have to walk through the competi-

tive messaging process for each segment.

It’s important to note that this kit does not explain how to segment your target markets. If your company has not

already done that, you’ll need to perform that segmentation before you begin the competitive messaging process.

Here are some resources to help you determine your target segment(s):

Market Segmentation Introduction

Market Segmentation

The Power of the Persona

Smart Advantage, Inc.

You’ve Got Your Segments, What About Personas?

Reconciling Market Segments and Personas

Digital Buyer Persona

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 9

AUDITING YOUR CURRENT MESSAGING

Now, if you’re ready to get started, begin by analyzing your company’s current messaging. You want to answer the question:

Specifically, you should:

• Capture existing “Why Us” statements/messaging at your company and at your competitors

• Identify any shortcomings with that messaging

• Identify any of your company’s competitive disadvantages

While studying your competitive messaging, review the following:

• Website homepages

• Website product pages

• Press release boilerplates

• Data sheets

• Product catalogs

• Various advertisements

• Presence on social media

• Articles or press/analyst mentions

• Other marketing materials

“ Why will a customer buy from us instead of our competition?”

In addition, consult with your sales representatives,

any corporate spokespeople, and your executive

team members to get their input on your competi-

tive messaging and to see what types of messages

they are currently using. Ask them how effective

they think the current messaging is and why.

Why Us? A Guide to Competitive Messaging | 10

IDENTIFYING YOUR COMPANY’S DELIVERABLES

Deliverables are the characteristics, actions, and behaviors that set your company apart from competitors. There

are numerous deliverables that might make your company stand out beyond the actual products or services it sells,

including:

• Customer service

• Quality or reputation

• The results you deliver for your customers

• Employees or professional network

• Resource base

• Consistency

• Innovation

• Trust/relationships

• Speed of implementation

Use the following exercise to guide you through the process — and be sure to stay away from price and product features.

Highlight all of the deliverables and offerings that apply to your business, and add any others you can think

of that are not on the list. There are only two rules in this exercise:

1. Any deliverables that you add need to be objective.

2. You must be able to quantify all deliverables.

Make certain that you record your deliverables because you’ll use them later to craft your competitive

messaging statements.

What is your competitive advantage?

http://labs.openviewpartners.com/ebook/competitive-messaging-guide/