How to Hijack Demand with Content Differentiation

Every company is in a category. How you differentiate yourself within your category, or how you create a “new” category, sets the trajectory for your business.

It also sets the trajectory for your messaging and content. If your content tells a confusing story, you face an uphill battle.

Listen in as MarketMuse cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer Dustin Robertson, multi-time CMO and partner at DRMG, for a conversation about the impact your differentiation has on your story and your customer’s journey.

Get insight into:

• Tips and warnings of using AI for speed and scale
• The importance of messaging pillars to guide content strategy
• Why quality trumps quantity 
• Myths of category creation and design 

Content differentiation can give your marketing strategy serious leverage and is critical when creating a new category and positioning your brand. But to have a differentiated point of view, it’s important that you fully understand your customer needs.

You can hijack demand with content differentiation, focusing on buyer journey, and using AI to fast-track processes. Plus it’s a powerful strategy to compete with larger market players.

Interesting Insights

1. Focusing on the outcomes customers want rather than product features can lead to more effective messaging and positioning.
2. The Rise framework (Research, Insights, Story, Execution) can be used to develop a differentiated point of view and create a new category.
3. AI can be used to analyze customer transcripts and extract insights to improve messaging and positioning.
4. Adopting a mindset of questioning where not to use AI, rather than where to use it, can lead to better adoption and integration of AI in business processes.

Key Quotes

• “You’re going to go ahead and get the demand where you’ve been getting it from and then when you bring them into the pipe, however it is, whether it’s self-serve or they’re booking a demo, you’re going to lead them to this path of something they didn’t know about.”
• “You always need to figure out your niche. And the other thing you can do and then the other trick on the Internet is anytime you can pick a demographic characteristic you can target off of, it makes it a lot easier.”
• “We’re just trying to figure out where should we not use [AI]? Honestly, the question we need to ask, we’re not asking where should we use it? I think the question is where should we not use it?”
• “If you don’t have buy-in from the very top of the company, I would say don’t even try [category creation]. You can go ahead and remove the comparison and try to do what you can, but you will not be able to create a movement unless the founder or CEO is leading it.”
• “The best way to compete with [larger competitors] is to be different than them, right? And so wherever they’re getting their demand, get right in there. Right in there and get out there with whatever your point of view is, that questions those people’s reality and bring them on over and have that conversation with you.”

Featured Guest

An experienced executive with more than two decades of experience in B2C ecommerce and B2B SaaS, focused on leveraging digital strategies to create winning brands. Highlights include buildingbackountry.com, turning around Vegas.com for a successful exit, and subsequently moving into SaaS tobuildingCategories at DRMG. I’ve been afforded the opportunity to build brands from the ground up and pivot brands to better align their go-to-market strategy with the needs of their target audience. As a pioneer in digital marketing, I’ve been entrenched in data my entire career and have always embraced measurement to guide the revenue-acceleration strategies I implement. This has resulted in repeatable, measurable, and sustained growth. From mass-media awareness campaigns to conversion-focused demand marketing, performance measurement is ingrained in everything I do—you might even say it’s in my DNA. On a personal level, I’m an avid learner and am passionate about helping others. During the past twenty years, I’m most grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to build and lead amazing teams while honing both my business and leadership skills.