Lack of Differentiation Limits Your Available Talent

I’ve talked about differentiation ad nauseam, and even created a video about it last spring.

And I’ve provided some examples of lack of differentiation from my own industry:

  • (Company I) “Reimagine trust.”
  • (Company J) “To protect against fraud and financial crime, businesses online need to know and trust that their customers are who they claim to be — and that these customers continue to be trustworthy.”
  • (Company M) “Trust is the core of any successful business relationship. As the digital revolution continues to push businesses and financial industries towards digital-first services, gaining digital trust with consumers will be of utmost importance for survival.”
  • (Company O) “Create trust at onboarding and beyond with a complete, AI-powered digital identity solution built to help you know your customers online.”
  • (Company P) “Trust that users are who they say they are, and gain their trust by humanizing the identity experience.”
  • (Company V) “Stop fraud. Build trust. Identity verification made simple.”

This isn’t effective. Trust me.

But prospective customers aren’t the only ones who are turned off by “me-too” messaging.

Further ramifications of lack of differentiation

What about prospective employees who don’t want to apply to your company because they see no compelling reason to do so?

I’ll grant that the tech job market is so out of balance right now that people are applying to ANYTHING.

But the more choosy ones are…more choosy in their applications. Just like choosy mothers choose…you know.

From funkystay, https://imgur.com/gallery/choosy-mothers-choose-gif-ykZIPRe.

I recently received this message from a product marketer after I shared a particular identity/biometric job description with them.

Not so sure that company is well positioned for evolving identity landscape.

From a selfish perspective, this benefits me, because I DID apply for this position while they DIDN’T. Reducing the competition increases my chances of getting the job.

But the company (which I’m not naming) doesn’t benefit, because at least one experienced identity verification product marketer doesn’t want to work for them.

So be sure to differentiate…as long as the differentiation resonates with your hungry people (target audience). If your audience is repelled by your differentiation, then that’s a problem with your customer focus.

From the Gary Fly / Brooks Group article “7 Tips for Implementing a Customer-Centric Strategy,” at https://brooksgroup.com/sales-training-blog/7-tips-implementing-customer-centric-strategy/.

Now Bredemarket can’t help you with your job search, because I’m certainly not an expert in that. But I can ask you questions that help you create content that conveys that your product is great and your competitors’ products…are not so good.

Visit Bredemarket’s “CPA” page to learn how I can help your firm’s content (and analysis, and proposals), and to schedule a meeting.

Bredemarket’s “CPA.”

Update on the Apple Vision Pro

(Image from Apple)

For Bredemarket’s first blog post in 2025, I’m updating a blog post from 2023 with updated information from Duncan Riley of SiliconANGLE.

“Apple Inc. may have ceased production of its first-generation Vision Pro headset after the product, which came to market in 2024, turned out to be a massive flop for the company.”

Riley cites a MacRumors post as his source. Why stop?

“Apple now has a sufficient number of Vision Pro units in its inventory to meet demand for the device’s remaining lifespan through to 2025.”

You may recall that I characterized the Apple Vision Pro as a technological biometric advance. But the difficulty and the expense of capturing irises has apparently prevented Vision Pro from achieving world domination.

From Cleveland Clinic. (Link)

Back to face, finger, and voice—with some exceptions.

Who Will Tell Your Stories, the YouTube Version

There was once an old storyteller who sat by the fire near the beach, sharing his stories with the young.

Then one day the storyteller was rightsized in a move to generate efficiencies and optimize outcomes.

This is not fiction. 

Who will tell your stories? Bredemarket can try (learn about my content-proposal-analysis services here), but in the end I will probably be forced to construct new ones that lack the depth of the old ones.

From https://youtube.com/shorts/_89Jtq6AKno?si=KmcdeuSRCAA6KC9a

Who Will Tell Your Stories, the Instagram Version

There was once an old storyteller who sat by the fire near the beach, sharing his stories with the young.

Then one day the storyteller was rightsized in a move to generate efficiencies and optimize outcomes.

This is not fiction. 

Who will tell your stories? Bredemarket can try (learn about my content-proposal-analysis services here), but in the end I will probably be forced to construct new ones that lack the depth of the old ones.

From https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEPzECfJIyk/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Who Will Tell Your Stories?

(All images from Imagen 3—Google Gemini)

There was once an old storyteller who sat by the fire near the beach, sharing his stories with the young. All the kids were fascinated with the tales told by the storyteller. The story of how the fire was lit. The story of why they came to the beach.

Then one day the storyteller was rightsized in a move to generate efficiencies and optimize outcomes.

Thank you for your service.

And no one told the stories any more. So the kids ate Tide Pods.

This is not fiction. 

Companies are draining their acquired institutional knowledge, or never acquiring any in the first place. 

Perhaps today is the last working day for someone at YOUR company. Someone whose knowledge will be forever lost.

Because your company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion stops when the hairs turn gray. We don’t want any of THAT around here. Who cares about the brain drain when we have AI?

Using AI to solve the brain drain doesn’t end well.

Who will tell your stories? Bredemarket can try (learn about my content-proposal-analysis services here), but in the end I will probably be forced to construct new ones that lack the depth of the old ones.

Identity/biometric CMOs, Are You Content With Silence?

(Part of the biometric product marketing expert series)

(Silence image Google Gemini)

If you’re a Chief Marketing Officer at an identity/biometric company, you are well aware that a challenging 2025 is just around the corner. How do you claim awareness for your products and services when your competitors are posting content?

I know how many firms approach this: silence, or saying nothing. It sounds like the wrong thing to do…and it is!

Bredemarket helps its clients say something, if they choose to speak. Some of Bredemarket’s prospects have opted to wait months before letting Bredemarket create content for them—blog posts, articles, case studies, white papers, proposals, analyses.

Some prospects never become clients, so I never create content for them. A few are no longer in business today. Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but maybe Bredemarket could have helped keep the doors open.

For these reasons, I think that saying something is better than silence.

But not just anything. Before Bredemarket writes a single word for its clients, I obtain the answers to seven questions about your content:

Then I work with you in an iterative fashion to create the content you need.

So don’t maintain silence. Schedule a free meeting with me to move forward now.

Know Your…Everyone

It all started with “Know Your Customer,” a shorthand phrase used by financial institutions and related entities who need to know who their customers are.

But then various governments, industries, and entities got into the act with their own variants, such as “Know Your Business.”

I was curious about how many of these “know your” variants I’ve discussed in the Bredemarket blog. Here’s what I found:

I’m sure I’ll come up with some others.

You Need FAT and SAT

On LinkedIn, I was just discussing the difference between a controlled study and a real-world test. Think of a NIST test vs. a benchmark.

Then I started talking about some of the post-contract signature tests in the automated biometric identification system world, including factory acceptance tests and site acceptance tests.

These tests are not unique to ABIS. Healthcare (the other biometric) conducts FAT and SAT also, as Powder Systems notes.

“When manufacturing complex machinery in industries such as pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals, extensive equipment testing must be carried out before commissioning.

“It requires thorough functional, performance, and safety tests of intricate systems. These may comprise many components and interdependencies. Challenging though it may be, these must be systematically assessed before they’re put into operation. This approach is broadly known as acceptance testing.

“There are many forms of acceptance testing. Two closely related approaches that often come in for confusion are Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT). Both are critical stages in the verification and validation of equipment and systems within industrial and manufacturing contexts. However, they differ significantly in terms of location, timing, purpose, scope, participants, outcomes, and testing environment.”

You should read the entire article to learn about the significant differences between the two test types. But let me highlight one point:

“Factory acceptance testing typically involves a more rigorous and comprehensive testing process. This testing procedure includes the detailed verification of system components to ensure they function correctly and meet design specifications.”

This is based on the fact that it’s less costly to fix problems early at the factory than to fix them later out in the field.

Whether you’re testing pharmaceutical machinery or ABIS, both factory and site acceptance tests are absolutely critical. Skipping one of the two tests does not save costs.