This occasionally confusing differentiation shows up even in the most modern companies and marketing.

OpenAI’s product page, for example, features the headline “Transforming work and creativity with AI.” Adjacent to that header is the text, “Our API platform offers our latest models and guides for safety best practices.”

Source: OpenAI

I don’t want to pick on the copywriting team, but I wonder why they separate work and creativity. Are they different? Is it important to transform them separately? Do the writers believe their customers rank those elements as most important? Or are the writers taking a horizontal approach to showcase AI’s variety of benefits?

In the page copy, they focus more on vertical differentiation by highlighting the qualitative features of their API platform to differentiate it from other generative AI products. But do they succeed?

Therein lies an inherent challenge with mixed differentiation – intentional or otherwise. It often amounts to just clever ways not to say much at all.

Storytelling can help you differentiate

Storytelling often shows up in content and brand marketing, where it lets you tell customer experiences more effectively or relate your brand’s origin story.

But storytelling also works to position product marketing differentiation. When done well, a great story connects and aligns audiences to bigger themes or points of view. It aligns those views with the marketer’s desired differentiators. Stories can help people care about things they didn’t know they cared about.

Tech vendor SAP’s nine-part podcast series Searching for Salai is a great example. The content campaign supported the launch of a product and service solution called Leonardo, which combined AI technology, blockchain, and the Internet of Things.

The podcast told the story of a time-traveling art history buff’s investigation into (and an interview with) a mysterious person who may be the long-time apprentice of Leonardo DaVinci. The time traveler demonstrates how innovation arises from the combination of technology, data, and people.

Can you guess which solution differentiators SAP wanted to focus on in their marketing for Leonardo?

Storytelling gives you the best of both worlds (irony duly noted). It lets you choose how to differentiate while helping you convince your customer to care about your differentiators.

Classic product differentiation is about trying to meet customers’ prioritized preferences. Great storytelling helps you create preferences that customers will prioritize.

It’s your story. Tell it well.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Brand Storytelling Structures That Build, Strengthen, or Repair

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute