In the first Power (Half) Hour of the new year, Mara Konrad Senior Content Services Manager at Klue helps you tackle one of competitive enablement's trickiest challenges. This 30-min replay teaches you:

1. The difference between four distinct competitive tones (ambiguous, indirect mention, direct mention sensitive, and direct mention bold)
2. A framework for getting organization buy-in on your tone
3. How to match competitive tone to context

and answers questions such as:

"Do you do any testing with established customers with proposed messaging that might be more aggressive than what you usually do?” - Tracy Berry, Principal @ Berry Insights

“How often should we keep looking back at our competitive tone? What are some parameters to understand if our competitive tone is resonating well with the audience?” - Jagruti Bhargav, Marketing Specialist at LeadSquared

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“Do you do any testing with established customers with proposed messaging that might be more aggressive than what you usually do?” - Tracy Berry, Principal @ Berry Insights

MK: Use existing touchpoints, like advisory councils or power users involved in alpha or beta testing. Instead of adding a separate conversation, integrate the messaging test into these ongoing discussions for organic and actionable feedback.

“How can we design this landscape if our products serve different industries and each industry might have a different niche competitor?” - Jagruti Bhargav, Marketing Specialist at LeadSquared 

MK: The goal of internal tone consensus is to establish a unified approach to how your company speaks about itself and competitors, regardless of vertical. Identify areas of alignment across industries and tailor tone only where absolutely necessary. Leverage existing segmentation in marketing strategies and copyediting processes to maintain consistency while allowing for specific industry nuances.

“How often should we keep looking back at our competitive tone? What are some parameters to understand if our competitive tone is resonating well with the audience?” - Jagruti Bhargav, Marketing Specialist at LeadSquared 

MK: Review your competitive tone annually, ideally before SKO, to align it with your organizational direction. Major events like M&A, leadership changes, or restructures should also prompt a review. Include competitive tone in broader process checklists to ensure it’s considered during key organizational shifts.

“After exploring methods to get buy in for our analysis and battle cards from our sales reps, we've thought of trying a collaborative compete, not just crowdsourcing but actual discussions. Any tips/best practices will help!” - Tal Ne’eman, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Kaltura 

MK:I absolutely agree that discussions are valuable in addition to the standard crowdsourcing! A few areas that I’ve seen work well are to incorporate monthly "office hours" for reps to ask questions and provide insights. Use methods like wargaming to engage reps in real scenarios and assess their responses. Partner closely with sales enablement and leadership to align with the sales methodology, ensuring mutual value and reinforcing collaboration.

“How do we define & align the competitive tone across all touch points in the buyer journey? How do you suggest incorporating "competitive tone" into any/all briefs?” - Olivia Edwardes, Product Marketing Specialist at Entertainment Partners

MK: Map competitors’ presence across the buyer journey. Assess how buyers discover your brand (e.g., SEO) and align tone to those entry points. Evaluate the materials sent by sales and marketing at each stage to ensure consistency in competitive messaging. Use tools like CSAT scores, churn notes, and win/loss analysis to gather feedback and refine tone. If you’re a Klue customer, Review Insights offers valuable data from public forums.

“Why would different stakeholders care?” - Ankita Singh, Market Research Specialist at Assent

MK: Getting alignment on competitive tone ensures consistency and prevents confusion—both internally and externally. Without it, teams risk delivering conflicting messages that can undermine credibility or cause wasted effort when multiple teams unknowingly tackle the same work in different ways. Internal consensus encourages true collaboration, reduces redundancies, and ensures everyone is working toward a unified strategy.

Here’s why it matters, illustrated by the impact on a few different common stakeholders:

1. Demand Generation: Enables relevant content and campaigns tailored to buyer stages, with clear guidance on tone
2. Legal/Compliance: Provides confidence in approved materials, reducing risk and ensuring involvement on outliers
3. Leadership: Streamlines approvals, eliminating bottlenecks and saving time
4. Sales Enablement: Aligns messaging with sales methodology, enhancing training and reinforcing reps’ credibility