“So, how do we cut through?”

It’s the billion $ question that every CEO, marketer and revenue leader is asking.

And they’re all searching somewhere over there, in the crazy mess of distribution tactics that are promoted by LinkedInfluencers running their 1-2 person agencies.

But the results don’t come.

Because those same publicly shared tactics are known to everyone, including their competitors, which means the competitive advantage yielded is precisely 0.

It leads to more of the same. More noise. More questions.

So how do you cut through?

The answer is actually as obvious as it is hard: you have to stand out. Be different. Stand for something. Develop a Unique Point of View!

Unfortunately, it’s deeply uncomfortable to be different. To zig when others zag. To go against the grain.

But being exceptional requires that you’re the exception!

So you need to throw off the deep-seated fears developed at high school, and make a decision to take a risk.

If you want to cut through, you must develop, then share, your uPOV.

What a POV isn’t

A POV is not a marketing strategy, but it does inform it; it’s the lens through which your company views the world, your industry, and the challenges your customers face.

It’s not a reactive ‘hot take’ to jump onto the latest trend. When brands try this, it frequently comes off as inauthentic and does more harm than good.

It’s not a brand or style guide, concerned with colour palettes and logo placement.

It's more substantial than this. It’s what gives your brand a unique voice and a distinct personality in the marketplace.

The benefits

Building Trust and Authenticity

When selling SaaS, where contract values are typically 5-figures and can run into the millions, decisions are rarely made on a whim.

This is even more important given the budget pressure being faced by many, and the resulting CFO scrutiny put on spend.

Companies want to partner with brands they trust, and a well-articulated POV helps establish that trust. It shows that your brand stands for something beyond just selling a product.

It creates a more emotional connection, which is often what’s needed in order to help buyers move past their indecision and fear of making the wrong decision..

Basecamp is an excellent example of this. They always have a strongly held POV, which runs through all of the marketing and communications.

Even in a super competitive market for project management software, they maintain raving fans and a devoted audience, in part due to the fact they consistently share their own authentic view on how communication is best forged in organisations.

Differentiation in a Saturated Market

With the cost of building software cratering, and the ease of access to capital at the pre-seed and seed stage, every SaaS market is now highly competitive, with many players offering similar products.

This doesn’t mean that the best products don't have a competitive advantage (they do), and building a best-in-class product should always be a focus for startups…but it isn’t all you need to win.

A strong POV can be the differentiator that sets your brand apart.

A great example of this is the explosion of RB2B onto LinkedIn, with the founder Adam Robinson picking fights with incumbents but also sharing super transparency his highs and lows when building his company.

The product was simple enough there’s already a couple of dozen competitors in the market, but nobody has the cut through like he does in front of his target audience.

Engaging Your Target Audience:

A strong POV helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

It’s not just about selling a product; it’s about engaging with your audience in meaningful ways.

People buy from people like them. They like to re-enforce and justify their existing beliefs.

Imagine if you try selling an SaaS solution for booking dental appointments to a dentist who believes that a personal, human touch is essential to maintaining their customers…and your PoV is that AI should be replacing inefficient front-end workers. It’s dead on arrival.

But then 8/10 dentists actually believe that automation is key to the success of their practice.

You’ve lost 1 potential deal, but potentially gained 8 engaged leads.

Because what you say resonates strongly with them.

Whereas if you left that PoV out, you might have ended up with the bad-fit dentist in your pipeline, but you probably wouldn’t have had even half the engagement of the others, because you sound and look like everyone else.

A good real world example is Mozilla’s commitment to user privacy and open-source software, which deeply resonates with its audience, making it a beloved brand among tech enthusiasts.

When your POV aligns with the values and beliefs of your target audience, it fosters a sense of community and loyalty.

Driving Content and Messaging:

Your POV serves as a foundation for all your marketing and communication efforts.

It guides the content you create, the messages you send out, and the stories you tell.

With a clear POV, your content becomes more consistent, focused, and impactful.

It helps you craft messages that resonate with your audience, making your brand more memorable and being pointier.

If you smooth off all the rough edges (and remove the PoV), everything becomes ‘meh’ and forgettable.

Sure, it won’t alienate anyone, but it won’t act as a homing beacon either.

How to Develop a Strong POV

Understand Your Core Vision & Values

The first step in developing a strong POV is understanding what your brand stands for. What are your core values? What do you believe in?

These values should go beyond just business goals and reflect your brand’s identity. They define how you operate, who you hire, how you react in different situations.

Your POV must also flow from your vision…how should the world be? What's wrong with it today? What is it that just drives you crazy that you feel compelled to get up every day and work towards fixing it?

Hubspot did this incredibly well in their early days with their belief in the power of Inbound Marketing to stop ‘disruptive’ marketing; whilst Salesforce famously held a protest against ‘software’ whilst its biggest competitor at the time (Siebel Systems) was hosting its main conference.

Pick a villain

Chances are, if you’ve honestly got a strong POV and it involves improving the current state of things in your market…you’re going to have a bunch of folks who don’t want that to happen.

They are typically incumbents happy with the status quo, but they could be laggard buyers who don't want their current ways of working disrupted, unjust regulations (and the regulators behind them), or gatekeepers who would stand to lose out in a new marketplace.

This is where we get into uncomfortable territory, because your winning means there will be losers. This means they’ll kick up a stink. Slander your name. Attack your approach. Litigation may be involved.

But if your POV isn’t causing at least a few ripples, its very likely that its doing absolutely nothing for you.

I’ve already mentioned how Adam Robinson at RB2B picked a fight with incumbents (6Sense in this case).

Another example I love is from Lindus Health, whose tagline is ‘the anti-CRO’, defining their whole brand identity at the highest level as being distinct from the incumbent market.

Identify Your Audience’s Values

Understanding your audience is crucial in shaping your POV. What do your best-fit customers care about? What challenges do they face?

By aligning your POV with the values and concerns of your audience, you can create a more relatable and impactful message.

It also stops you from accidentally alienating your market.

If you pick a villain and describe a future that doesn’t benefit them…you better be sure you do have avid supporters on your side who also share your POV!

Articulate Your POV Clearly

Once you’ve identified your values and understood your audience, the next step is to articulate your POV clearly.

Your POV should be concise, memorable, reflective of your brand’s identity and complementary to your overall marketing and business strategy.

It should be something that your team, customers, and partners can easily understand and relate to.

If it can’t be easily understood within a few seconds or words, it’ll just confuse people.

A nice example here is Slack, who positioned themselves against email, with a POV that work is better done via message, and their tagline is ‘Where work happens.’

Integrate Your POV into Your Brand Strategy

Your POV should then be integrated into every aspect of your brand strategy, from your marketing campaigns to your customer interactions.

It should guide your content creation, product development, and even your customer service approach.

For example, if your POV emphasises customer empowerment, your product features and customer support should reflect that.

Communicate Your POV Consistently

Consistency is key when it comes to communicating your POV. It’s not enough to just state your POV once; it should be consistently reflected in all your brand communications.

Whether it’s through your website content, social media posts, or sales pitches, your POV should be a constant presence.

This helps reinforce your brand’s identity and build trust with your audience.

Evolve Your POV Over Time

Your POV should not be static; it should evolve as your brand and the market landscape change.

Regularly revisit your POV to ensure it remains relevant and aligned with your audience’s values and the state of the market as it is today.

This doesn’t mean completely overhauling your POV but rather refining it to reflect new insights, market trends, and customer feedback.

Conclusion

If you honestly want to cut through the noise out there in your saturated SaaS market, you really need to developer a strong, unique Point of View that you can hang your communication hat on.

Yes, it’s not risk-free and may well see you lose some prospects and alienate a few folks from your corner.

But get it right and you’ll be paid back 10-fold with more engaged ‘fans’ (not just prospects) who evangelise for you, and at the very least you’ll stop being a forgettable proposition that blends into everything else.

How can RevvedUp help?

If you’d like to include a POV into all of your outbound messages, which aligns to your prospect’s needs (based on deep research), we can help to automate and scale this for you.

It’s a great way to increase your positive response rates and make outbound more effective.

To learn more, just book a time with me.