Uncovering your differentiation can be difficult.

Most B2B service founders settle for lazy differentiators — quality, personality, being the best, or caring for their customers.

All good things. But none that actually make you different.

It's understandable. Trying to find the thing that your competitors can't or won't do is tough when you're embedded in your company.

It's like trying to read the label from inside the jar.

Your differentiator is there. You're just so used to it that it doesn't seem unique.

So, how do you find it? Keep reading to find out.

What is Differentiation?

Before we dive into the how, we better clarify the what.

Your differentiator should meet two criteria:

• Something you do that your competitors can't or won't do.

Meaning, it's found in your process, operations, deliverables — one core element of your methodology that your competitors just don't do.

Take Shft, for instance.

Our differentiator is that we extract your uncopyable advantage from your operations instead of from who you are, or, as I like to say it:

We brand your how, not your why.

Most branding agencies focus on your why. Purpose, mission, vision, values, personality, the core of who you are as a business.

Nothing wrong with that. But it's not how we do it.

Which leads to the second criteria:

• Something that presents a choice

Your differentiator should give the market a choice.

Just look at Tesla.

When they came to the market, the EV market was flooded with boring, slow, uncool sedans.

Instead of creating their own boring, slow, uncool sedan and just calling it better or safer, they came to market with an EV sportscar. Fast. Interesting. Cool.

It gave the market a choice: you can either buy a boring EV sedan or a sexy EV sportscar.

That's what you're looking for:

• Something you DO
• Something that presents a choice

A Simple Way to Extract Your Differentiation

One of the simplest (not easy!) ways to uncover your differentiation lies in writing a positioning statement.

Simply put, a positioning statement is a single sentence that defines:

• The unique value you bring to the market (transformation)
• for whom (your ideal customers)
• how (your differentiation)
• category (how you'll define your company)

We use a variation of Marty Neumeier's Onlyness Statement when writing positioning statements for our clients.

It looks like this:

Here's Shft's positioning statement for reference:

Shft is the only brand positioning agency that makes you the only choice for your ideal customers by turning what you do, not who you are, into a brand operating system for 7-8 figure B2B service CEOs looking to scale their business.

Don't be fooled. This is an incredibly hard sentence to write.

It takes me 3 workshops and 2 weeks of iterating to nail this sentence for our clients because it's a balancing act.

One word can change the whole meaning and feel of the statement.

Here are some tips I use to make this balancing act easier:

• Category: choose a category your ideal customers actually know and search for. We didn't use "operational positioning agency" because no one searches for that. It's not a category they recognize.
• Ideal Customer: focus on 1-2 key attributes of your ideal customers. This is not a customer profile. It's a customer label that helps you quickly qualify who you are for.
• Unique Value: this is not your differentiation. It's similar, but it's ultimately the transformation you bring to your ideal customers. Choose a transformation your competitors don't bring and you'll win.
• Differentiation: this is your differentiated method — the thing you do that your competitors can't or won't do. Think process, operation, or deliverable.
• Only: this is the filter to run the four other points through. You need to be the ONLY category to provide that differentiation. If not, you don't have a differentiator.

The Most Frustrating Part of Brand Strategy

Take some time and wrestle through this statement.

Don't be surprised if you get frustrated, start pulling out your hair, or want to beat your head against a wall.

I do this for a living and I'm starting to lose my hair because I keep pulling it out trying to write these statements.

It's hard.

But, once you nail your positioning statement, it drives everything else in your business.

Need help writing yours?

Grab my Onlyness Strategy Template.

You'll get an editable Google Doc and 5 video lessons with expert tips and insights to help you uncover your differentiation and create your brand strategy.

It's driven 6-7 figures of new revenue for my clients.

Because that level of clarity helps you market and sell your services faster.

Until next week,

#SassyJason out.

✌🏼