How to Build Internal Consensus on Your Competitive Tone

Mara Konrad tackled one of competitive enablement’s trickiest challenges: getting everyone aligned on how to talk about competitors. Through practical examples – like Samsung’s subtle iPhone digs – she broke down four distinct competitive tones (ambiguous, indirect mention, direct mention sensitive, and direct mention bold) and provided a framework for getting organizational buy-in. The goal: stop the endless approval cycles and get competitive content moving faster without sacrificing legal compliance or brand standards.

🌶️ Pipin’ Hot Takeaways:

1. Build tone recommendations into your standard content creation process – add competitive tone guidelines to landing page briefs, design docs, and content requirements.
2. Match competitive tone to context. For example, keep your homepage ambiguous, but be more direct in late-stage sales materials where prospects are actively comparing options.
3. Getting organizational buy-in requires showing the business impact of misalignment (delayed assets, stalled deals) and building clear frameworks for when to use each tone.

🎤 Mic Drop Moments:

1. On Ambiguous Messaging: “The problem is that’s our default as product marketers, as CI practitioners, sales, because it’s easy with our legal teams and with our leadership.”
2. On Mixed Messages Internally: “It’s really awkward when we’re not on the same page and then it becomes a game of telephone and we’re not saying the same message.”
3. On Team Alignment: “Everybody that has met me knows that I always lean into the gossip Girl piece of it… but we’re doing it in a way where we’re trying to find out what actually has value rather than being necessarily a complete rumor mill.”

Slides below: