People don't see why they should choose us

Does this sound familiar?

Your website could swap names with a competitor's and nobody would notice.
People who need what you offer don't realize you can help.
Even happy customers struggle to explain what you do.
You keep losing deals to companies you know you're better than.

We sound like everyone else

A message stands out when it connects three things: a problem your customer urgently wants solved, something competitors miss, and something you can prove you do well. Most marketing says what a company does and stops there.

Try this first

Put the main claims from your three closest competitors next to yours. Cross out anything they could also say.
Write down the urgent problem your best customers came to you with, in their own words.
Find what competitors miss. Their negative reviews are a good place to look.
For each strength you listed, ask "So what?" until you reach a result a buyer cares about. Then add proof.

How you'll know it's working: prospects can repeat back what makes you different, and you hear "How are you different?" less often.

Go deeper

Customers don't recognize that we solve their problem

Sometimes the gap isn't the product. People may not know they have the problem, may not know it can be solved, or may not connect it to what you offer. Start where they are: with the symptoms they already notice.

Try this first

Go through your recent sales conversations. Write down the symptoms people mention first, in their words, and the real causes you uncover.
Publish a plain explanation that starts with the symptom and covers what causes it and what it costs.
Lay out the ways to solve it, honestly, including options that aren't you.
Create a short guide your contact can use to get others in their company on board.

How you'll know it's working: prospects arrive already describing the problem correctly, and first conversations spend less time on "What is this?"

Go deeper

What we do is hard to explain

If your own customers struggle to describe you, they can't recommend you and your contacts can't sell you internally. The best description often comes from how customers already talk about the result.

Try this first

Ask three good customers how they would describe what you do to a colleague. Write down their exact words.
Rewrite your description in one sentence, using those words: who it's for, the problem, and the result.
Try it on someone outside your industry and ask them to say it back to you.
Give your team and your customers the same short version, so everyone tells the same story.

How you'll know it's working: customers and staff describe you the same way without being prompted.

Go deeper

We keep losing to competitors

The best product doesn't automatically win. Buyers choose based on what they understand and believe, so find out what actually decided your losses before you change anything.

Try this first

List your last 10 lost deals and find out what decided each one. Call the buyer if you can.
Read your competitors' reviews, especially the complaints.
Make a three-column list: competitor, their weakness, your opportunity.
Decide the comparison you want buyers to make, then gather proof that supports it.

How you'll know it's working: you win more often against the competitors you named, and the reasons for your losses start to change.

Go deeper

Want help getting this done?

You can do all of this yourself. If you'd rather move faster, or you know it needs doing but don't have the time or in-house skills, we can build the plan with you and hand it off, so a local or lower-cost team can run it.

Keep learning: sign up at the bottom of this page for a weekly email with one practical marketing idea and a link to the full article.
Get an outside look: the free Marketing Reality Check shows you what your web presence is telling buyers.
Compare your words with theirs: the Marketing Disconnect Diagnostic ($350) finds the gap between how you talk about yourself and how customers describe the value.
Turn features into outcomes: the Value Translation Workshop ($500) translates what you do into results buyers care about.
See how competitors are positioned: the Competitive Intelligence Snapshot ($500) shows where they're strong and where they leave gaps.
Get a plan built for your business: Market Education Strategy ($3,500 to $12,000+) helps your buyers recognize the problem you solve, scoped to your market and how you sell.

Common questions

Do we need a new website?

Probably not yet. Get the message right first. A better-looking site with the same words won't change much.

Which of these should we fix first?

Start with how customers describe you. Their words will help with every other section on this page.

We only have a few customers. Can we still do this?

Yes. Three honest conversations can give you the words you need, and competitor reviews fill in much of the rest.