Comments on: How We Differentiated Our Brand to Build a $5M Business in a Crowded Market

By: Alex López

Alex López — Sun, 21 May 2017 09:07:45 +0000

Amazing as always Alex.
I can’t agree more about the fact you must differentiate if you want to succeed. Nowadays it feels like all spaces are crowded, and I actually think it’s a sign of potential for a space. If you ever find a space that’s not competitive, it’s not clear to me wether you should jump in or rather run away, as it may mean it’s not interesting.
I have a question: do you think it’s negative to claim your differentiators (we’re the most simple solution for…) or you should just say “we have this very simple tool” and let the clients be who decide and state that yours is actually the most simple they’ve seen?

By: markdhansen

markdhansen — Fri, 19 May 2017 15:04:46 +0000

You didn’t mention churn, Alex, but I think your content lowers churn. Readers feel like they know you and your company and have a connection. They are probably less likely to consider alternatives.

By: Colin Hewitt

Colin Hewitt — Fri, 19 May 2017 13:51:07 +0000

Hey Alex.
Great post.

I wondered if you’d ever addressed this question…

“Do you have an exit strategy for groove?”

I know you’ve spoken about being in it for the long haul with Groove, is that because you had an exit with your first company?

Do you have a price point in mind, or do you see Groove still going in 20 years – what happens after £10m ARR? etc.

By: Olga Mykhoparkina

Olga Mykhoparkina — Fri, 19 May 2017 07:52:21 +0000

Amazing article as always Alex. It’s interesting that I’ve mentioned Groove in one of my articles on differentiation and competitive advantage a couple of weeks ago (https://www.chanty.com/blog/startup-competitive-advantage/). I believe you have even checked it out (at least that’s what my site analytics tells me 🙂 I like that you write your blog with the respect to a reader as every sentence is so simple yet contains value. You should also start a content marketing course besides the one you already have for startups growth. I’d be right on it if you did.

By: ash

ash — Fri, 19 May 2017 06:34:13 +0000

Spot on again!

The first differentiator, Simplicity, How groove came across that?
Did users say something like,
1)This is easy to get my work done?
2)The feature X in the product is simpler to user compared to same in Product Y?….
I am wondering, How did you identified the first differentiator, from the messages of users?

And regarding the second differentiator, I am writing this comment because of that 🙂
No brainer 😉

By: Angela May

Angela May — Thu, 18 May 2017 20:25:47 +0000

I love your posts and the way that you think. What are your favourite books you would recommend?

By: @AlexisKingsbury

@AlexisKingsbury — Thu, 18 May 2017 19:25:22 +0000

Great article Alex – you are totally right about your content – it is always top of my must-read list each week.

Congrats on the progress vs. your $500k/mo goal, and love that you’ve set you sights on $10m/year!!

I’m so keen to get you rescheduled for that podcast interview before you’ve forgotten what worked in the early days! 😉

By: Renae Gregoire

Renae Gregoire — Thu, 18 May 2017 17:52:39 +0000

Love this blog post; will reshare it to my audience as it reinforces the same message I’ve been preaching for years: differentiation is hard! It takes a lot more than slapping on a few adjectives or phrases to particular words in your content — especially the adjectives and phrases everyone else uses. My business coach has a saying that we’re not really in the business of X (X being whatever it is we do, in my case “marketing writing” and “content development”); we are instead in the business of “marketing.” I’ve been following you guys for a while, and it’s always seemed to me that you’ve been in the business of “content marketing.” In fact, you’re a “content marketing” company that happens to sell a SaaS prouduct! (I’m not sure who originally came up with that turn of phrase; wasn’t me though!) Keep up the great work, and thanks for sharing your journey!

By: Grow

Grow — Thu, 18 May 2017 17:00:12 +0000

Asking your users why they signed up, to then be able to use that language in your copy is really smart.

By: Michael Malo

Michael Malo — Thu, 18 May 2017 16:11:28 +0000

Awesome post Alex! It’s useful insights for me as I slowly wade into an incredibly crowded market – invoicing/accounting software. Possibly a bad idea lol. But I think I’ve found a pretty promising wedge into the market by starting with focusing on integrating with a certain project management app that seems to be quite interested in getting an invoicing solution. And with accounting being my field for the past number of years I enjoy helping small businesses with it and writing about it, so I’ve always imagined content to be a way to go. Just need to make accounting interesting, oy vey. Anyways, still just beginning, much to work out. Maybe I’ll be able to break into the “mass market”, maybe it’ll stay a little cottage product. Any thoughts there? Thanks again for the post, keep up the great work.