3 Ways to Differentiate Your B2B SaaS Brand
In the ever-evolving world of B2B SaaS, new companies emerge daily, each striving to capture mindshare and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. With so many players vying for attention, standing out requires more than just a competitive price or user-friendly features. Here are three tips to help your B2B SaaS brand carve out a unique identity and build a lasting connection with your audience. With each recommendation, we’ve paired an example from our work with Eppo, a leading experimentation platform, and G-P, the leading Global Growth Platform.
1. Go Beyond Replicable Attributes
While price, ease of use, and basic functionality are important in product marketing, they are not enough to set your brand apart. Competitors can easily replicate these attributes creating a “feature race” where companies copy what their successful competitors say in marketing language to attract the same customers. Try this—take screenshots of your competitor’s website language without their logo, can you tell which competitor said what? This is a sign to think differently.
Instead, focus on your company’s unique attributes beyond product or platform features that make your brand truly unique. This can be anything from your rich, double-digit history that started in a completely different field to your founder who doesn’t take herself too seriously and whose tone you replicate in communications.
How to do it:
Develop a robust brand strategy that highlights your company’s unique value proposition.
Emphasize elements that competitors can’t easily copy, such as your company’s mission, values, and vision.
Incorporate these elements into your marketing language to become known for these elements.
Example:
Eppo
When working with Eppo, a B2B experimentation platform, we learned that their key competitors were founded by engineers. We leaned into the fact that Eppo was founded by a data scientist to differentiate its positioning. By celebrating things like rigor, a known data science attribute, we highlighted Eppo’s commitment to the craftsmanship of their products, taking care of their customers, and ensuring reliable expertise to pull themselves apart from their competitors and deliver value to their customers.
2. Emotionally Connect with Your Audience
In a space often dominated by technical jargon and functionality, creating an emotional connection with your audience can be a powerful differentiator. Consumers are used to emotional connections in D2C brands, and bringing this approach to B2B can set you apart.
How to do it:
Identify your company’s unique tone of voice derived from the human qualities that define the brand.
Design your website and marketing materials with these tonal elements to evoke emotions and build a narrative that resonates with your target audience’s key needs.
Foster transparency and authenticity in all communications to build trust and loyalty.
Example:
Eppo
For Eppo, we knew that we had to connect with multiple different audiences, including data scientists, engineers, product managers, marketers and more. To do this, we sought out the connective emotional thread between all of them, instead of looking to individual needs. We discovered that the people using and finding success with Eppo were those driving meaningful change in their organizations—Transformational Leaders. With this in mind, we were able to cater our messaging directly towards the Transformational Leader and emotionally connect with their needs of bringing change to the organization.
3. Target Specific Segments to Build Communities
Building a community around your brand can amplify your reach and create loyal advocates. Instead of trying to appeal to a broader audience, many successful B2B SaaS companies target specific industries or use cases, tailoring their products to meet unique needs.
How to do it:
Identify your power users and create a community where they can share insights, provide feedback, and connect.
Leverage your community to disseminate information and build brand advocacy across the industry.
Use a targeted approach to address the specific pain points of niche markets, making your offering more relevant and valuable.
Example:
Eppo
Eppo is a tool that can be used by most positions within an organization that want to test hypotheses and drive agile change. However, Eppo first created widespread recognition through the Data Scientist community. By focusing its marketing efforts on talking specifically to their needs and making them feel seen, they were able to generate a notable and trusted following. With Data Scientists on their team, they then have been building awareness of additional capabilities and solutions that fit other team member’s needs throughout the organizations.
Conclusion
In the competitive B2B SaaS landscape, differentiation is key to capturing mindshare and building a loyal customer base. By going beyond replicable attributes, emotionally connecting with your audience, and building communities, your brand can stand out and thrive. Implementing a thoughtful brand strategy, leveraging effective website strategy, and prioritizing design will help you create a distinctive and compelling brand that resonates with your target market.
Interested? Message me to see how I can help you reach more customers.