To Whom Does the Difference Matter? And Why?

The point of creating a category is to make sure you and your customers understand  what your key differentiation is. What makes you different? To whom does that difference matter? In the minds of those people, you are number one.¹

But do make sure there are enough of those people. Every difference defines a category, but not every category matters.

setup a category in which you can be first. But size does matter. Make sure the category you choose is not too large and not too small.

To whom does the difference matter? And why?

I think this is one of the keys to understanding your customers better. If you have several competitors (like we do) but some customers stick with us for long periods of time, we  keep asking ourselves these questions:

1. Why are they staying with us and have not drifted off to other similar (and even free) services?
2. What is it that we do or don’t do, that appeals to them?
3. How can we  use this knowledge to find more such customers?
4. How can we make ourselves discoverable to these customers?
5. How can we continuously deliver more value to various customer segments?

To us the last question is one of the most difficult.  Our customers come from different companies and different jobs.  Increasing the core value for each category of customer  is a constant quest.

I would love to know how you think about or solve this problem with your product/service.

¹The Law of Categories – from Immutable Laws of Marketing