After a decade of helping B2B tech companies differentiate, Emma shared why traditional differentiation is getting harder (saturated markets, copycats, minimal technical differences) and offered a fresh perspective for standing out: stop obsessing over being different, and start obsessing over getting closer to your buyer.

🌶️ Hot Takeaways:

1. True technical differentiation is increasingly difficult to achieve, but buyer-centric messaging that shows deep customer understanding can be a powerful differentiator
2. Translate features by contrasting “life before” and “life after” your product—instead of saying “actionable forecasting,” try “track weekly forecast changes without manual calculations”
3. Stop sanitizing your message. B2B buyers are humans who worry, stress, and want life to be easier—reflecting this reality builds trust and drives action

🎤 Mic Drop Moments: 

1. On Tech Messaging: “Messaging’s job is to cross that divide. It’s about helping someone see how your product might fit in their life and make it a bit better.” – Emma
2. On Being Real: “Why are we afraid of touching emotion in B2B messaging? I’ve interviewed over a thousand buyers—none of them talk like robots, yet we insist on writing like this.” – Emma
3. On Jargon: “Jargon and buzzwords are like refined sugar in our industry. It’s secretly added to everything, even if you think it’s not there. Look again—it’s there.” – Emma

Session slides 👇