Zigging Instead Of Zagging

“In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”

— Seth Godin

Most companies treat competitive research like a blueprint to copy. They spend weeks analyzing what the "industry leaders" are doing, only to mirror their playbook word for word, feature for feature, and discount for discount.

That isn't strategy. That's just blending into the background noise.

Real competitive research isn't about figuring out how to play the same game 5% better. It’s about spotting where the entire crowd is rushing so you can turn around and head in the exact opposite direction.

When you stop obsessing over low retail prices and product spec sheets, and instead focus on the people you serve and why you do what you do, standing out becomes completely natural.

Here is what zigging actually looks like in the real world when everyone else is zagging:

Trading Automated Efficiency for Real Humanity:

While every competitor in the service space is rushing to hide behind AI chatbots, automated phone trees, and self-checkout counters to trim overhead, one local repair company did the exact opposite. They put a warm, real-life human on line one who answers by the second ring. Why? Because their core mission is relieving anxiety for stressed-out homeowners in an emergency. Hearing a calm, empathetic voice doesn't just resolve a service call, it completely changes a customer's day.

Replacing High-Gloss Sales Pitches with Kitchen-Table Honesty:

Instead of sending high-pressure salespeople with glossy brochures and limited-time price cuts, a home restoration team started sending grounded technicians who sit down at the kitchen table, listen, and share real stories about how they helped neighbors through the exact same situation. They don't push product features; they build genuine relationships rooted in trust.

Competing on price is a race to the bottom, and product features can be copied overnight. But nobody can copy why you exist or how much you care.

Your "Why" isn't a clever slogan. It's your commitment to making someone's life easier, safer, or brighter.

Your "Why" positively impacts lives by treating customers like human beings rather than transaction numbers on a spreadsheet.

When your entire business is built around lifting people up, you don't need to go with the flow. You become the breath of fresh air everyone's been looking for. ☕️

Your Authentic Brand Self

With a barrage of constantly churned out content splattering all over the interwebs on the daily, it's becoming more and more challenging to garner attention for brands. Today's consumers are hit at all angles with slick marketing messages, content being created by influencers, and ads. It's become so much that our brains can't process all of the content being thrown at us so we start to ignore the nonsense automagically.

The Humanity of it All

Some brands have a tendency to speak their own language. They do this because its the path of least resistance, it's easy. They craft messaging points about their bundles, or their products that are riddled with engineer speak or worse yet, lawyer speak. This is the stuff that becomes noise, this is the stuff that today's consumers will simply ignore.

Heroes Of The Day

The brands that are breaking through are the brands that make their consumers/prospects the hero of the message. They don't obsess about the details of their products in their messaging, rather, they focus on the impact of their goods on the target consumer. The end result, the brand triggers an emotion in the prospect, that emotion leads to a stronger connection, that stronger connection could lead to a sale, or at least, be top of mind for the consumer when they are ready to buy.

A Fine Line

How can your brand be more authentic? It starts with defining what's at the core of the business. What drives the business, why does the business exist, what does the brand care about? Articulating this "stuff" into the brand's messaging, social media content, ads, and most importantly, internally, is mission critical. Ensure that your internal messaging and reality matches your external messaging and reality, this is often the trap where consumers start to see chinks in the brand armor.

It's also critical to know your customer. What fuels them, what will make their life easier, how can we save them time, money, and aggravation? Weaving that knowledge into our brand footprint allows us to always put the customer first and ensure that any messaging point puts them first.

The Feel Good

When your prospects feel good about your messaging, or an ad brings a smile to their face, you win. You many not win this second, but you are changing something within them. That's what true marketing is, changing the way that someone feels about something. That's what we're after in all of our messaging and in all of our interactions. The brands that ask themselves, "self, how can I spark joy today" already set themselves up for success.

The Bottom Line

Be human, be sincere, be genuine and always put your customers first in all of your messaging. Striving to be different for the sake of being different will almost always result in tripping consumer bullshit detectors. Thanks for reading and sharing!