The 4-Step Framework for How B2B Brands Get Chosen

TL;DR: Your competitors probably solve the same problems you do. So why would buyers choose you? Louis Grenier argues that the answer lies in understanding what triggers buyers to act and making sure your brand is remembered when those moments happen.

If you strip your branding and logo from your latest campaign, could buyers still tell it was yours? Or could the same messaging just as easily belong to one of your competitors?

It’s uncomfortable to think about.

B2B marketers are constantly looking for ways to stand out, but the reality is that many of us operate in categories where products and promises look remarkably similar.

According to Louis Grenier, founder of Stand the F*ck Out, most brands don’t have a genuinely unique product or proposition. But that doesn’t mean they can’t stand out.

In a recent episode of the Attributed Podcast, Louis challenges the assumption that standing out has to start with something competitors can’t offer. He shares four pillars for finding a compelling position in a crowded market and building a brand buyers recognize and remember.

Keep reading to learn how to stand the f*ck out, or listen to the full conversation here.

What Buyers Did Matters More Than What They Say

It’s safe to say that most B2B marketers have access to plenty of customer data. In our CRMs, across our ad platforms, in sales calls, from customer interviews and surveys. What’s not as clear is knowing which of those insights are worth acting on.

For Louis, the answer starts with looking at what buyers have actually done, especially those who have already invested time or money in solving the problem.

That means paying attention to real decisions your buyers made rather than what buyers say they might do.

Customers who made their first purchase within the past three months are a good place to start because they have a fresh understanding of what they based their decision on. They remember what happened before they started looking, which alternatives they considered, and what ultimately pushed them to find a solution and choose you.

But there’s one question Louis believes marketers often overlook: what triggered the purchase?

A buyer can experience a problem for years without doing anything about it. The trigger is what finally makes solving that problem a priority for them.

For example, a marketing team might struggle with unreliable reporting for months (or even years) without replacing the tools they’ve always worked with. Then the company starts preparing for a funding round and suddenly proving marketing’s impact is a top priority.

The reporting is the problem. The funding round is the trigger.

Instead of collecting another list of buyer pain points, the goal is to uncover what turns those problems into something worth solving now. That’s a much stronger starting point for deciding how to position your brand.

Most Brands Aren’t That Different, and That’s Fine

“The problem for most brands,” Louis argues, “is that most of them do not have a true differentiation. They don’t solve problems that others don’t.”

One of the biggest assumptions in B2B marketing is that every brand has (or needs) something genuinely unique to say. That we need to constantly be finding a new angle or challenging the standard of our category.

Louis says the reality is different: many B2B marketing teams are operating in crowded markets, alongside competitors who solve similar problems, offer similar features, and make similar promises. Add in the ease of creating messaging with AI, and it’s even harder to maintain a meaningful difference.

His answer to this is to get specific about who you’re trying to win over.

The same product can be a fairly ordinary option for one buyer and exactly what another buyer needs. That’s where the insights you’ve foraged for come back into play. If you know what triggered someone to start looking and what they’re trying to solve, you have a better sense of where your brand has a compelling reason to be chosen.

Rather than trying to find something unique no competitor can claim, focus on the buyers who feel the problem you solve most acutely, or have a particularly compelling reason to pick you specifically.

Memorable Brands Don’t Have to Make Sense

Netflix’s “tudum”. Coca-Cola’s pop-drinking polar bears. HubSpot’s bright shade of orange.

When you think about the brands you instantly recognize, it’s often a particular color, a character, a sound, or a visual style that gives them away. You don’t need to read the company name or understand what makes its products different – you already know.

Louis highlights an important distinction: “you can be differentiated without being distinctive. You can be distinctive without being differentiated. Or you can be neither.”

You might offer something unique and still be forgettable. Because distinctiveness is about whether buyers can recognize and remember your brand, regardless of how different the product actually is.

Those distinctive assets don’t need to make much sense in the grand scheme of things.

We often try to tie every creative choice back to our product, our audience, or the messaging we’re trying to communicate. Louis challenges that instinct: “The more you create meaning into your brand, the more likely you are to create something that is quite average that people won’t notice because it looks like everyone else’s.”

Recognition works through repeated association, rather than how cleverly an asset communicates what you do.

We’ve talked with Jenni Romaniuk about the science of being remembered: buyers build memories of brands long before they’re ready to buy, and those memories influence which brands come to mind when they start looking for a solution.

Being memorable is how you get onto the shortlist. Buyers rarely consider every available option. They start with a handful of brands they remember, and distinctive assets help make yours one of them.

It’s tempting to refresh a campaign and try something new when we’ve seen the same assets a hundred times ourselves. But we’re too close to the messaging and imagery; buyers haven’t seen them nearly as much as we have and those repeated encounters are what make a brand memorable.

Buyers Need to Remember You When Something Changes

Most buyers aren’t actively looking for a solution when they encounter your content. And even if they do recognize your brand today, there’s no guarantee that they’ll remember it seven months from now.

Memories fade, so brands need to keep showing up and reinforcing the associations they’ve worked so hard to build.

But showing up consistently is only half of the argument. What do you actually want buyers to remember your brand for?

Buyers may be living with problems for months, maybe years, before something finally pushes them to act. Louis argues that brands should build associations with those moments, so when a buyer experiences a trigger, your brand is already familiar and comes to mind as the solution.

That doesn’t mean every piece of content needs to persuade someone to act immediately: “It doesn’t have to convince them to do anything as long as they associate you with a couple of things you want them to associate you with.”

Louis’ one warning: the obvious triggers are crowded.

Everyone knows when someone changes jobs or raises a round, and most signal tools are selling that data. Identifying the specific triggers that led your actual customers to take action is a valuable opportunity and it’s in those moments that your brand should build associations.

Conclusion

Your competitors probably solve many of the same problems you do. And yet, buyers will still choose one brand over another.

Louis’ point is that the difference often comes down to knowing which buyers have a particular reason to choose you, understanding the triggers that finally push them to act, and being the brand they remember when that happens.

Having a better product on paper doesn’t guarantee you’ll be considered.

About the Speaker

Louis Grenier is the founder of Stand The F*ck Out, a positioning and GTM consultancy for B2B companies. For over a decade, he’s brought his contrarian approach to branding and positioning, advising brands including Dropbox, Hotjar, and Ahrefs.

He’s also the author of Stand The F*ck Out, which breaks down his four-step framework, and hosts the podcast Everyone Hates Marketers.