The Power of Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness
Creating a unique position for your brand / product and intentionally leaning into that difference is critical to rise above the noise.
By Jonathan Viner, Founder of 10Digits
When shopping for a birthday gift recently, I noticed a new board game called Herd Mentality. The winner is the player whose answers blend in best with everyone else’s and players are advised: “whatever you do, don’t stand out!”
Unfortunately, I get the increasing impression that many EdTech businesses are following this advice by trying to look and sound exactly the same. I’m not the only one to notice this trend — as Matthew Tower wrote in a recent newsletter, there are at least 17 companies currently describing themselves as “the Netflix for education”!
I can understand the thinking behind this decision — maybe it makes it easier for people to understand what your business does and perhaps it’s a simple analogy for users to get their head around? But I’d argue that it’s actually storing up future problems when your business grows or pivots and, for better or worse, your brand is always tied to the larger player, its market performance and public behaviour. Most importantly, my fear is that these companies sail in a sea of sameness — they’re ambiguous, generic and undifferentiated.
That’s a major challenge when, as EdSurge identifies, there’s an oversaturation problem in EdTech. It’s an even bigger problem when most EdTech buyers are being bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages every day. How can companies hope to grab their prospects’ attention if they look and sound like everyone else?
Creating a unique position for your brand / product and intentionally leaning into that difference is, I believe, critical to rise above the noise. Positioning guru, April Dunford, is clear on the importance: “Customers need to be able to easily understand what your product is, why it’s special and why it matters to them.” And there’s plenty of other evidence that reinforces the benefit of a clear positioning.
Importantly for startups, research conducted this year by Columbia and Tsinghua Universities found that highly differentiated businesses raised 117% more early-stage funding and were more likely to succeed in the long-term, although they did take more time to take off. Other evidence suggests that being unique and different is both more profitable and a powerful driver of brand value. And there are numerous examples from luxury fashion that highly differentiated businesses with a unique position are better able to generate a price premium from consumers.
So, if your product is sinking in this sea of sameness, what can you do to help it survive and thrive? The first step I’d recommend is to be clear about the elements of your proposition that customers really value — this helps you identify the areas where you can create genuine separation. This doesn’t have to be just about your product — it could relate to your customer support, a unique onboarding process, a powerful partner ecosystem or even a vibrant user community.
These differences and strengths can then form the core of your position moving forwards. Build on them to create distinctive brand assets and unique customer communications. Run these consistently across all media, taking the time to fully brief / update all staff. Be brave, be bold and seek the clear blue water between you and your competitors.
Take inspiration from Judy Garland, who once said: “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” Although I’ll admit, this isn’t a strategy for winning many games of Herd Mentality!
Jonathan Viner is the founder of 10Digits, a consultancy that works with EdTech entrepreneurs to build great brands and high-growth businesses. He publishes Nordic EdTech News and is a regular commentator, speaker and writer on EdTech trends.
This article was originally published in the X Report — a monthly newsletter published by EdTechX which shares features based on current trends in the world of learning and training.
