Differentiation Hot Takes

If asked about trashy differentiation tricks that are touted as best practices, most people might hold back.

But Peep Laja is not most people. Having spearheaded brands such as CXL and Wynter, Peep steamed out hot takes one after the other, without holding back. 

"Differentiation has somehow become something you can sprinkle on top. So you're a SaaS company. And then you turn to your marketer or your copywriter and say, ‘Hey, can you add some differentiation on top?’ That doesn't work. Differentiation is not a line of copy.  It starts with the actual DNA of your company” he started. 

Makes sense, but how do you do that? 

What factors can you differentiate on? Are there upsides if you choose to differentiate on brand over pricing? What about customer experience and features? Not to forget messaging and personal brand of key stakeholders. 

And don’t even get us started on category creation. 

In a tech world with differentiation strategies aplenty, how do you ensure you don’t end up becoming yet another commodity product or service?

Tune in to the latest episode on Cuppa Press to find out!

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Topics discussed in this conversation include:

• Should affiliation (what you do) come before differentiation?
• How Peep arrived at a unique positioning - for CXL and now Wynter
• The upside and downside of differentiating based on factors like price, features, customer experience, brand itself, personal brand of founders and key stakeholders, and messaging
• What most storytelling books get wrong
• Testing for message-market fit
• Category Creation

Show Notes

0.38 - Commonly touted advice on differentiation that is trash

1.49 - Affiliation before differentiation?

10.56 - Feature differentiation

12.28 - Customer experience differentiation

14.31 - Price differentiation

16.22 - Brand differentiation

19.17 - Personal brand (of founders and key stakeholders) differentiation

22.04 - Messaging differentiation

24.17 - Gripe with general storytelling advice

26.12 - Testing for message-market fit

28.20 - A personal messaging failure

29.35 - What shouldn’t be included in messaging

31.27 - Brands standing out with messaging

32.34 - Category Creation

33.25 - About Wynter

Previously on Cuppa Press

• Content Strategy for Dummies
• Stories, Vulnerability, and Binge-Worthy Content
• How to Build Your Marketing Superhero Suit
• A Beginner's Guide to Newsletters
• Decoding Presales and Product Management
• Selling in This Digital Economy
• Content Marketing Playbook for SMBs
• LinkedIn, Quora, and Personal Branding
• All things Branding
• Brand Storytelling for Millennials

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