What's your problem, huh?
(Yeah I'm talking to you, punk)
I’ve recently been captivated by the beef between Drake and Kendrick. Two hip-hop superstars that have been feuding in the form of diss tracks.
And having typed that out I now realise how lame I sound. Meh, come at me
Anyway, this beef has been taking the music world by storm. I won’t go into details because, in all honesty, it doesn’t have much to do with this post.
But one thing I want to highlight is the reason this story has captured the attention of people around the world:
There was a massive conflict.
Imagine a news story about Drake and Kendrick having a nice little picnic together. Nobody would bat an eyelid. Because there wouldn’t be a conflict.
Conflict is key to a memorable and attention-grabbing narrative.
And when it comes to B2B SaaS, that conflict, that beef, is often between your customers and a specific problem they’re struggling to solve.
The two main types of customer problem
So as that very literal subheader suggests, there are two main types of problem that your customers are facing. That problem is very much dependent on the maturity levels of your product’s category. I’ll get to that in a sec.
The two types are:
1 — The Unsolved Problem
2 — The Badly Solved Problem
Hopefully, these are pretty self-explanatory, but just in case I’ll explain anyway.
The Unsolved Problem is a problem that your target customers don’t currently have a solution for. In some cases they aren’t even aware they have a problem. Before Salesforce launched their “No Software” campaign and introduced the concept of cloud-based software, most people didn’t even know that on-premise was such a problem
The Badly Solved Problem, on the other hand, is a problem that your target customers currently have a SaaS solution for. But this solution isn’t as effective as it could be. A lot of people were unsatisfied with Google Docs as a solution to manage their writing, so Butterdocs came along to show a different way of doing it.
Which problem should you focus on?
There isn’t an easy answer to this question. It depends on a number of different factors and contextual information. It’s why this positioning stuff is so darn difficult.
But one of the biggest indicators that determines the type of problem you focus on is the maturity of your product’s category.
If you’re feeling lazy, here’s the summary:
New / Emerging Category = Unsolved Problem
Developing / Established Category = Badly Solved Problem
If you aren’t feeling lazy, here’s the full explanation…
New / Emerging Category = Unsolved Problem
First, let’s clear up what I mean by a New / Emerging Category. A new category is one that has been created by a startup. That startup has a new kind of product that doesn’t yet exist, designed to solve a problem that people aren’t even aware they have. This is the realm of Category Design.
One of the core components of Category Design is the narrative. It’s how you educate people on the problem, and introduce your product as the solution. With an unsolved problem, that educational piece is key. If you can’t convince people the problem needs to be solved, they won’t even consider a solution.
This is also true for emerging categories. These have started to pick up traction, and there are now a few competitors in the mix. But for most people, it’s still something they aren’t massively aware of. So the focus still needs to be on the problem.
At this stage focusing on your differentiators won’t really help. First you need to help your buyers understand why your product exists and how it helps to solve their unsolved problem.
Developing / Established Category = Badly Solved Problem
With a developing category, there are now a lot more competitors in the mix. Different startups will have different takes on how to solve the problem. And for all intents and purposes that problem is now being solved.
But… is it being solved as effectively as it could be?
Your job here is to craft a narrative around current solutions to the problem, calling out the reason those solutions fall short. And, of course, why your solution does a better job. But you can’t just say it does a better job, you have to show why your different approach does a better job. The key here is differentiation, pushing away from your competitors’ solutions.
And finally, an established category now has a market leader (or maybe a couple) who have dominated. Chances are, you’re never going to unseat them from the top. But one way to win is by focusing your narrative directly at the reasons those market leaders aren’t solving the problem very well.
Phew. Now that we’ve covered all the unimportant stuff we can go back to Drake v Kendrick. I’m Team Kenny all the way. How about you?
Oh, and I should probably add that I’d really appreciate you sharing this with anyone you think would find it useful. And signup if you haven’t already. Cheers.