Slack, Rippling, Basecamp, and Gong all compete in crowded markets. None of them sound like their competitors. Here’s what they did differently — and what most B2B tech companies are afraid to copy.
By Erik Garcia
Marketing Specialist, Screenfire
Most B2B tech companies don’t really have a “positioning” problem. They mostly have a courage problem.
Positioning a product in a crowded market sounds like an MBA course. Workshops, frameworks, competitor analysis. For a startup, this means hours spent debating whether you’re a “platform” or a “solution.”
Sadly, most of that work leads to the same predictable result.
You have a website that says you’re easier, smarter, faster, and cheaper to use than your competitors. You attach a tagline that could easily belong to any of your top ten rivals. Finally, you detail a pitch that makes prospects nod politely and forget you by the amount of time it takes to click out of your landing page.
What’s the reason? It’s unintentional, but companies tend to optimize their messaging for internal approval, not external clarity. The copy and wording gets softened in every review cycle until nobody objects to it. It probably also means nobody remembers it.
Positioning that works in a crowded market does the complete opposite. It makes a specific claim about a specific problem for a specific kind of buyer. And it accepts that some people won’t like it. It’s designed to be such. They’re not trying to be the one’all, be-all solution. They’re trying to find a wedge. Even an emotional wedge. Even in B2B! For most startups, finding that wedge is at least possible if you decide to be different.
Below are four ways to solve your positioning problem:
1. Own the problem, not the category.
Slack didn’t lead with “team messaging software.” They led with the problem every office worker instantly related to — email is broken and killing productivity. The category followed the problem. Your buyers didn’t wake up thinking about your product category either. They woke up dreading how much time and money they are going to lose responding to emails when they logged on. So start there.
2. Name who you’re for.
HR software is about as competitive a category as it gets. Yet Rippling didn’t try to be HR software for everyone. They built their messaging around fast-growing companies scaling headcount quickly and needing solutions for onboarding and payroll. That specificity is relevant to a smaller addressable market, but it’s one that instantly relates to that problem. Generic positioning tries to appeal to everyone and ends up resonating with nobody.
3. Say what you don’t do.
Basecamp has made an entire brand identity out of this. They have been openly vocal for years about what they aren’t. They’re not an enterprise project management platform constantly trying to chase more features. They don’t want to build out complex workflows. Their software is simple and easy to use. That declaration made their actual audience more loyal, not less. Saying what you don’t do signals confidence and filters out the wrong buyers before they waste your sales team’s time.
4. Find the language your buyers already use.
Gong built its entire category around the phrase “revenue intelligence,” a phrase that came directly from how sales leaders were already describing their problem. It was an intelligent way of complaining about biz dev leaders not having visibility into what was actually happening in their pipeline and on their calls. They listened before they built and then certainly when they positioned. The best messaging rarely comes from a brainstorm. It comes from sales call recordings, support tickets, and the exact phrases prospects use when they describe their pain.
The crowded market isn’t your biggest obstacle. The obstacle is your messaging that tries to appeal to the crowd.
Pick your corner of the audience. Say something intentional and specific to them. Be comfortable that some listeners from the rest of the audience won’t hear you.
That’s how you get remembered.
Reach out to Screenfire if you want to see how we can help your B2B tech company with its marketing needs. Visit us at www.screenfiremedia.com.
