How to sell when your product is not much different from the competition?

“If there is no difference, there is only indifference” said Louis Nizer

Customers may think the same when your products are not much different from the competition. Of course you can lower the price but this may start a price war.

Thousands of companies have faced a similar problem so let’s go back 40 years and move to the lecture halls of Harvard.

 

In the 80s Michael Porter, legendary professor at Harvard Business School, wanted to create a method for evaluating the attractiveness of a given industry.

After much analysis, he identified five factors. The more of them fit a particular industry, the harder it will be to generate solid margins there.

 

What are these factors?

  1. Every supplier has the same product.
  2. All suppliers have similar costs and access to similar technology.
  3. Customers are price sensitive.
  4. Customers have a broad knowledge of the market.
  5. Customers are able to change suppliers at virtually any time to get a better contract.

As you can see, having an identical product is considered a serious problem. However, some companies deal with this situation quite well. Most often in three ways.

Three standard methods of distinguishing an identical product on the market

 

Loyalty programs

The more customers buy, the better rewards or discounts they receive. An example is gas stations, where everyone has more or less the same gasoline. To compete, they have introduced loyalty cards that are then redeemable for rewards or meals.

In B2B, where the rewards for loyalty are attractive, this can help keep the best customers.

 

Bundling or selling sets

This concept became popular in the 1980s, when Taco Bell ran a campaign called “Taco for 59 cents.” Rival McDonald’s didn’t want to lower the price of hamburgers, so they combined a hamburger, fries and a drink into the now famous McMeal.

Instead of fighting a “Taco vs. Hamburger” war, which they could have lost, they started a “Taco vs. McMeal” war.

 

Focus on customers who need delivery or express service

When we want to order a pizza at 2pm, there’s plenty of choice of locations. But when we get hungry at 2am, there are so few pizzerias open that we can pay a lot of money for one. The same is true for print shops, computer services or factories that can make a project “yesterday”.

Loyalty programs, bundles and express services are not the only method of competing when your product is not much different from the competition.

What they all have in common, unfortunately, is that they have one fundamental flaw – they require a lot of interference with the business, which means that implementation can be difficult or time-consuming, especially in larger companies.

 

What is this interference?

  • In the case of loyalty programs, margins are effected, which may not please the CFO.
  • Bundling requires negotiations with other departments in the company, which may require diplomatic skills.
  • Changing operating hours may mean modifying the structure of the company.
availibility client produkct differences man standing mc dolands

We will show you how to make an identical offer not identical anymore, without any interference with the product.

seller selling match methods

Competing with small things

Let’s look at auto mechanics.

Whether an auto mechanic is fixing a car in a Himalayan village or in the desert crossroads of Texas, the service looks more or less the same:

The car is dropped off. The mechanic diagnoses the problem and offers a solution. Once the quote is approved, the parts are ordered and installed and the car is ready for pick up.

But we all know that not all mechanical workshops are the same. In some places we may be taken advantage of. And in some… they serve us like in Mr. Andrew’s shop.

Mr. Andrew is an elderly man, who is always neatly dressed. He is a mechanic who started running his workshop in 1981 and after a few location changes his shop is now located next to the Warsaw printing school.

I met him a few months ago when my car started to fail. The lockdown was approaching and I did not want to be dependent on public transport, and I was looking for a good mechanic.

The steps in our interaction were:

I took my car to the workshop and Mr. Andrew diagnosed the situation. The next day, I received a proposed solution with estimated costs (lower than I expected) and the repair time (shorter than I expected).

Then received a phone call, in which Mr. Andrew said that he could replace a few small things and the car would run quieter. I agreed and Andrew purchased the parts and installed them in the car and checked that everything worked.

I picked up the car.

I looked in the trunk and saw that my scattered cables, gloves and boxes were neatly arranged. I looked in the cabin saw that it had been cleaned. I turned on the engine and it really was running quieter and the replaced brake pads were working.

I went down to the workshop and talked with Mr. Andrew.

“How much did it cost me to replace the parts that made the car quieter?”

“8 EUR, 3 EUR labor and 4 EUR parts” – and he pointed to the invoice.

On the invoice from the car parts distributor, I saw all the parts listed. I also received a separate invoice for the repair service, so I knew how much the installation and repairs cost.

For each part I was given the box in which it came, and the old part that had been replaced.

Is such transparency a standard among mechanics? Certainly not with the mechanics I had used before.

  • Why do companies like Intel, SHARP and Herbalife choose our animation studio?

  • How we can help you reach your goals?

It is the details that make one workshop better than others and it’s those details that can make you stand out and have a competitive advantage.

Let’s see how to put your differentiation into practice:

Step #1 Describe the features and benefits of your product on three levels

I’ve been working with B2B companies in various industries for many years and I make the bold claim that it’s likely that your offer has many valuable elements that you’re not talking about.

Because customers don’t know about some of your advantages, they’re less likely to decide to do business with you, resulting in your sales being lower than they could be.

Why does this happen? Partly because of the curse of knowledge – we assume our customers know as much about our products and services as we do and partly because we think too narrowly about our products and our offer. 

Product core

 

Here we answer the question:

What does the customer get out of buying our product?

For example, a hammer allows you to drive nails. A CRM system helps to organize and monitor sales. Cloud services allow you to pay only for server usage.

This is quite clear for many companies.

circles circle product core

Product – measurable attributes

 

This is where we get into more detail.

What functionalities does your product have?

E.g. the ability to connect to a machine via Bluetooth.

How much can you use it before it wears out?

E.g. tires wear out after 100,000 km driven.

How efficient is it?

E.g. this modem can connect to the Internet at speeds up to 100Mbps.

What features does it have?

E.g. these screws have threads of 4mm diameter.

What quality is it?

E.g. these pallets are made of the highest quality wood.

There is usually no problem with talking about these basic product elements. Salespeople and marketers are well trained in this.

The problem comes when our product is similar to the competition in these areas. In the case of an auto repair shop, anyone can say they do “Good, fast and cheap work”. It’s not much different for industrial products.

What should we talk about then? How do we promote and sell our products?

Consider the slightly less obvious attributes of your product.

Product – subjective attributes

 

Not only measurable things matter.

These can also be important:

How is the product packaged?

E.g. smaller packaging – more products will fit in the warehouse. Anyone who has transported an IKEA closet knows this!

How easy is the product to use?

E.g. if the product or application is easier to use, then less time (and money) is needed to train employees and this is a concrete and quantifiable benefit.

In what form is it?

E.g. is CRM in the form of Excel, a program installed on the computer, or a SaaS product that is launched from the browser? This matters.

What style is it in?

E.g. does the car in the company fleet look like a Fiat Multipla or a Volkswagen Passat? That can make a difference to the people who will be driving it.

 

But these are not all the features. There is also the whole environment of your product.

circle product features style functionality illustration

The environment of your product

 

Here are all the services surrounding your product.

What are the warranty terms like?

E.g. is it one year, two years or five years and what are the conditions? DELL can send a courier to a customer in case of a broken computer and send back a repaired computer within two days.

What are the financing options?

E.g. do you have short or long payment terms? Is there an option to pay in installments? Or maybe – like Volkswagen or Toyota – you cooperate with a bank which is able to finance the purchase?

How strong is your brand?

E.g. if a customer chooses your product, will they risk their reputation? Or is it a market standard like Microsoft or IBM?

What kind of after-sales service do you have?

E.g. can the customer count on product training? Does your support respond quickly to requests? Do you have a loyalty program?

What kind of delivery options do you have?

E.g. do you deliver at the price and time the customer expects?

What installation options do you have?

E.g. will someone from your company come to the customer and help them with the installation? Or is the product so easy to install that the customer can assemble it themselves?

 

So we have at least 15 dimensions to describe our product. It’s easy to forget these if we don’t consciously do this exercise.

Step #2: How do we know which features to bet on? Ask

If we have all the 15 features, new clients will probably come to the company but not all those traits will interest your customer.

There is a temptation to overload the customer with information, especially in technology, where there is a multitude of features of the product.

So what to do?

You can call the customer and say:

“We are thinking about changes in the company and what to bet on and we are asking our best customers why they chose us. Could we talk for a minute?”.

We might then hear in response:

“I hope Ms. Natalie is not leaving!”.

At least that is what a CEO of a printing company heard from one of his clients when we suggested him asking this question.

It turned out that Ms. Natalie was adored by customers for how helpful she was. When a client heard about the changes in the company, he was concerned that Ms. Natalie might leave.

The CEO talked with some more customers and most resulted in the same comments:

– “Customer service is great.”

– “You solve out problems.”

– “I can give you a project and not stress about it.”

With so many customers providing feedback, the answer to the question of how to sell becomes simpler – we know that customer service is an important selling point on the website, in ads and in conversations with customers.

So the CEO and I moved on to the next step, which is to see if their communications were putting the emphasis on the key points.

And this is where you might be surprised. 

Check if your communication is consistent with your product features and customer needs.

There was hardly a word about customer service on the printing company’s website. They were not communicating to customers about what they were most interested in.

As Javier Sanchez Lamelas, Coca-Cola’s global marketing chief, once told me:

“A real brand means a promise kept.”

If the client identifies for you the items where their needs are, it will be easier for you to meet their needs.

If you would like to receive sample questions to ask your customers, fill out the newsletter box in this article and we’ll send them to you by email.

This is a low-key minimalist approach, and it is best to create a full Buyer Persona. However, with this simplification you can call 10 customers this week and collect insights about their preferences.

 

Step #3 What if customers mention many features in interviews? Divide them

This is where a legendary Japanese professor of quality management from the University of Tokyo, Noriaki Kano, comes to our aid.

He divided product features into five categories.

 

1) Must-Have

These are requirements that are so obvious to the customer that they don’t even mention them.

Therefore, if we satisfy them, the customer will be in a neutral state – they will not appreciate our effort. Unmet Must-Have requirements will, in turn, make the customer very dissatisfied.

Examples of Must-Have:

– receiving the shipment on time,

– that sales results can be analyzed in the CRM,

– that the machine will run smoothly,

– that the car will run after repairs have been made.

2) One-Dimensional, Want-To-Have Features

These requirements are not as obvious as Must-Be.

If we satisfy these requirements, we make our customer happy. However, if we don’t, we will upset the customer.

Examples of Want-To-Have features:

– the ability to track the shipment.

– convenient use of the CRM.

– training on how to use the machine.

– car repairs at a reasonable price.

3) Attractive features, Nice-To-Have

This is where we get out of the requirements stage. Nice-To-Have elements are often bonus features that the customer does not expect.

As the customer does not expect these features, their absence does not affect customer satisfaction.

Examples of Nice-To-Have Features:

– a friendly courier who will make your day better with their positive energy,

– possibility of CRM integration with Slack or Teams,

– post-training consultations for factory employees to help them implement the knowledge they have acquired,

– clear invoices and the ability to pay for car repairs by bank transfer.

4) Don’t-Care-If-Have

These are the kind of features that aren’t worth investing in because they don’t affect customer satisfaction. If we know what these features are, we can save the company from going down a blind alley and investing in something that won’t work.

Examples of Indifferent Features:

– what kind of car the company will use to deliver your package,

– whether you will have integration with a not very popular application,

– what color the machine is,

– what tools the mechanic uses.

These features don’t effect customer satisfaction in any way.

 

5) Inverse, Better-Not-Have

These are features whose presence the customer prefers not to have.

Examples of Better-Not-Have Features:

– Having to pay by wire transfer for shipping.

– Too many functionalities in CRM which makes it confusing for salespeople to use.

– Overly modern interface that is difficult to use for older employees.

– Assuming that the customer knows the cost of the repair without having a conversation about the cost.

  • Why do companies like Intel, SHARP and Herbalife choose our animation studio?

  • How we can help you reach your goals?

When you start asking these questions, you’ll probably find that the answers may vary between customer segments.

Those willing to spend more will typically have more expansive requirements than those looking for budget options.

In a cheap hotel, your Must-Have is a clean bed and bathroom. The Nice-To-Have is that you will be served breakfast for free.

In the most luxurious hotel your Must-Have might be fresh fruit in the room, a concierge and a driver. And Nice-To-Have becomes a helicopter with a pilot.

Similarly in B2B.

A smaller company will be happy to be invited to a conference and it will be a Nice-To-Have for them, while a corporate client may be bored with such an invitation.

The market is continually evolving -15 years ago, no one expected real-time shipment tracking, software integration with other applications, or machines connecting to the rest of the system.

Today, this is the standard. Something that was once Nice-To-Have or Want-To-Have is now a Must-Have.

Once you’ve collected the features (Step 1), verified them with the customer (Step 2), and sorted them out (Step 3), then you can change your sales narrative (Step 4).

Step #4 Change the sales narrative

There are several options and each requires modifying your marketing and sales narrative.

 

Emphasize other features of your products in your communications

Let’s go back to our auto mechanic example:

Every mechanic changes parts and repairs cars (Must-Have). But anyone who has had a car repaired knows that honesty between workshops can vary. Therefore, the fact that you won’t have to overpay is – unfortunately – only a Want-To-Have.

But how many mechanics do you know who promote themselves by mentioning their honesty and guarantee of customer satisfaction? Probably not many. Opinions like “This one does a good job and doesn’t rip you off…” tend to be only spread by word of mouth.

And if even mechanics want to bet on it, they may just say “We’re honest”, which doesn’t sound very convincing. Much better is the example of Mr. Andrew’s slogan: “You have insight in the cost of each installed part and labor hours”.

If Mr. Andrew mentioned this on his website or in his advertisements, he would have many more customers.

This application is obviously not limited to Mr. Andrew.

Let’s assume that we are a software house.

They all have more or less the same service – they write software in many programming languages. If the marketing of such a company is limited to saying “we write good software”, it means that it is limited to a Must-Have for the customer.

Such a message does not say much. After all, every software house writes software.

 

However, the competition here is more advanced than among car mechanics. Most of the top companies have references, case studies or good content marketing. And they know how to convince clients that they “write good software”.

So if all software houses look alike, then betting on the Must-Have does not make any difference to the competition.

You have to find the Want-To-Have’s and Nice-To-Have’s for your customers.

A Want-To-Have could be, for example, the ability to plan work in such a way as to stick to a budget and schedule.

A Nice-To-Have is a talented and friendly team that you can get to know through a YouTube channel.

Knowing how customers perceive the features of your products makes the work of marketing and sales much easier.

It makes it much easier to create campaigns, marketing materials and sales conversations.

And it looks like this:

Must-Have:

Suppose you know that a customer’s Must-Have is the timely delivery of a package. You can then behave like FedEx did in the 1970s when it used the slogan “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”.

By doing so, FedEx subtly implied that it was a sure choice, while other companies might struggle to deliver on time, i.e., to satisfy the customer’s Must-Have.

 

Want-To-Have:

If you know that the customer’s Want-To-Have is the brand and the resulting risk assessment, then you can go with slogans similar to “No one has ever been fired for buying IBM”.

Then the client’s employees, caring about their jobs, will give your company extra points.

If the customer’s Want-To-Have is to use software easily, then Pipedrive, one of the world’s most popular CRMs, can be an inspiration.

Because the customer know how chaotic and phone-filled a salesperson’s life can be, show that your CRM has “features that help you focus”.

Sometimes your customer’s Want-To-Have is the style of your product. A good example is Pacor, an American truck manufacturer,who has made sure their style maches their customers’ taste.

By emphasizing the typically American design of their vehicles, it has made US-based drivers push their fleet managers to buy their trucks.

Nice-To-Have:

You can also work on Nice-To-Have and positive surprises in customer service. Here our local champion is Brand24 customer service, which helped customers book flights to Tunisia or find a good cinema screening in Lagos, Nigeria.

 

Educating customers on the consequences of having and not having certain features of products

Sometimes a customer – just like a driver who has their car repaired – is not aware of all the costs or risks that may be incurred, so they need to be made aware.

For example, a customer may think that a simple CRM service is Nice-To-Have.

But when the customer realizes that they need to train 100 salespeople and each training costs both money and, the customer may change their perspective.

Something that was Nice-To-Have will suddenly become a Must-Have. And if your CRM is easy to use, and the competitors is not, you are at an advantage.

Similarly with after-sales service. It is easy to underestimate it and to think that “everyone gives a guarantee”.

In an interview with Ela Pega, who for more than 20 years managed the marketing of companies such as Michelin, Schneider Electric and Saint-Gobain, said:

“(…) We all have household appliances in our homes – washing machines, refrigerators. When something happens to them, we don’t like it, we get upset.

This is the moment when we check the manufacturer: what they will do, how quickly they will react, whether we can call their hotline, whether the fitter will come the next day, and whether they will adjust to my schedule or I will have to adjust to their schedule. And finally, how much will I pay, will it be under warranty.”

If your company has a great service or YouTube videos on how to operate or repair the equipment, this is a definite advantage to communicate to your customers.

When in B2B a broken machine stops production, the losses can go into the thousands or millions. If you can quickly fix the situation, and the competition cannot, it is a tangible value for the customer, for which the customer will pay a premium.

Wise market education through marketing and sales can pay off. 

Addressing a different customer segment

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

The most colorful example of this phenomenon was the flood of cheap Chinese clothes and electronics into Poland in the 1990s. Something that most French or English people would never buy, was accepted with open arms in Poland.

This phenomenon does not only concern low quality products. It is beautifully illustrated by the story of WATCOM, a startup that created an alternative to Excel.

Initially, sales were poor. At some point, it turned out that their product was loved by salespeople because it could be installed on mobile  and this allowed salespeople to upload data while in the field.

After focusing on this customer segment, revenues grew rapidly to reach over a billion dollars at one point. The startup was later bought by Sybase.

Where to look for the most obvious customer segment changes?

SMEs and corporations

SME customers will enjoy service standards that corporations may shrug their shoulders at. On the other hand, corporations may appreciate the agility and speed that comes naturally to SMEs.

International expansion

There is a reason why this move was chosen by most Polish software houses. Their rates are much more attractive for customers from England or Germany than from Poland. During a pandemic, it is also important for manufacturing companies to maintain a steady supply chain.

Specialization

Many companies provide cloud implementation services. However, if you are a bank and you come across a company realizing “cloud implementations for banks”, knowing the specificity of regulations of the SEC and having five large banks in its customer portfolio, you will likely be more willing to work with them, than with someone who simply says that they know everything about cloud.

Of course, these are not all the ways – it’s a good idea to talk to customers who really value your product. After such discussions, you will usually have a few hypotheses about the directions to take.

That’s why it is so important in a marketing and sales strategy to understand your customers. If the opportunities to influence the product are limited – as they often are in corporations and large companies – then your role is to sell it to those that value it the most.

Summary

I hope this material has encouraged you to think more broadly about your product.

Remember:

#1 Consider the features of your product

Don’t just think about the basic dimensions, but all benefits, such as packaging, ergonomics, warranty and serviceability.

This step will likely provide you with many ideas for developing your marketing and sales.

#2 Ask the customer what is most important to them

It is best to ask people who have already bought from you. This will make the answers more reliable. Especially if they have simmilar observations like in the “customer service” story we mentioned above.

At this stage, you will likely have many insights and ideas on how to improve your marketing and sales.

#3 Organize customer responses into five dimensions

If there are a lot of responses – or ideas in stage #1 and #2 – it’s a good idea to organize them into five dimensions:

Must-Have/Want-To-Have/Nice-To-Have/Not-Care-To-Have/Don’t-Want-To-Have.

This will help you to navigate your product communications and will clarify your product’s features and benefits.

#4 Modify your sales narrative or target audience

Use all the knowledge from Stage #1-3 to tell a different story about your product or address different customers.

  • Why do companies like Intel, SHARP and Herbalife choose our animation studio?

  • How we can help you reach your goals?

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About the author

Oscar Krysik

With over 10 years of experience working with renowned brands such as Lipton, Listerine, and Ben & Jerry’s, I have developed comprehensive communication plans, executed brand launches, and devised effective brand strategies. I am committed to understanding key messages and ensuring they reach the right audience. My experience also includes brand creation, exemplified by the launch of Benji’s Planet, a premium dog food brand. As a brand and marketing consultant, I help businesses craft their brand identity and communicate their value propositions effectively. I regularly update my skills with new certifications and stay abreast of marketing trends to ensure my strategies are cutting-edge. Outside of work, I am passionate about design, graphic arts, and enjoy bouldering in my free time. Contact me for expert brand and marketing consultation.

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The ExplainVisually team is delighted to announce that we’ve been recently recognized by The Manifest as one of the most-reviewed video production agencies in New York. We are proud to be part of this list and excited to finally unveil this with all of you. This...

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About the company: Flobotics is an RPA (Robotics Process Automation) development consulting company that automates dual and repetitive business processes for companies worldwide, focusing especially on healthcare and finance industry. Company size:11-50 employees...

Visual thinking in business – what it is, how it works and how it can help

What is visual thinking? Imagine this situation... You get up in the morning. You reach for your cell phone and there is a black and white screen and a wall of text. You walk over to your desk and check your planner. A wall of text again! Even the division into days...

Hybrid animation – what it is, advantages, examples

Hybrid animation is, in simple terms, the integration of 2D and 3D animation. This combination of different techniques allows you to take advantage of the benefits of each technique, and thus create a better animation.An example of hybrid animation is combining 2D and...

Communication in change management: how to improve it, and what to keep in mind?

Research shows half of the company's change initiatives fail, and only 34% achieve the intended result. (Gartner, 2020) Where does resistance to change come from? Often workplace changes are perceived as “imposed” and unnecessary. No one likes imposed changes or...

Need help naming a product? Here’s how to find the best name for all your products

What’s in a name? Everything! Whether it’s the product or brand name, getting the perfect name is a critical aspect of product success. And we have a long list of terrible names to prove it.  Nintendo Wii U Drysack Wine  Nokia Lumia (Lumia means ‘prostitute’ in...

How we helped European Rover Challenge make an animation to attract sponsors

About the Client: European Rover Challenge (ERC) is the largest robotics and space event in Europe, organized since 2014. The multi-day event attracts students from universities, professionals working in the space sector and space enthusiasts from around the world...

How to write a script for an animation? 16 practical tips

Explaining how to write an animation script can take up a whole book! But if you are here, it means that you do not have time to go so deep into the topic. Therefore, in this text, I have compiled 16 practical tips on how to write an effective animation script. All...

Animation for Winaico that helped save salespeople time

About the company: Winaico is a German photovoltaic module manufacturer, that has been in existence since 2008. The company operates in Europe, USA, Japan and Australia. Company size: up to 100 people Company departments involved in the project: Country Manager...

How did we help Santander educate employees about the new way of designing the product?

About the company Santander Bank - the largest bank in the Eurozone Company size: Poland (11,000 employees), worldwide (190,000 employees) Company departments and people involved in the project: Service Design & Design Research Department: Head of Service Design,...

Animated video: 6 application examples

Animated video can serve various purposes. For example, it can advertise a new product of a company, help it enter the market, explain regulations to potential customers, or explain socially important issues to an illiterate population. This type of video is becoming...

Promotional Video Production: How to prepare to work with a studio to make your film a success

The stakes are high because the video will be shown at a trade show, a company event or during a video campaign. If the project doesn't make it to the clients, the money will go down the drain and the person responsible for the production may end up without a job!...

6 animation trends that will capture the market in 2022

When we compare animations from a dozen or so years ago with those created today, you can see the difference in the degree of advancement, and also in the style and graphics. This is largely a matter of fashion. Below I will list a few trends that I think will conquer...

How to choose an animation studio? 9 tips

Wybór studia animacji może przesądzić o sukcesie końcowego video. I choć tekst na ten temat pisany przez studio animacji z pewnością nie jest w pełni obiektywny, przykłady własne służą tylko zilustrowaniu poszczególnych kwestii. Niezależnie od tego, na jakie studio...

Brand videos: how they differ from other videos and how to make them… with examples

Perhaps you are wondering how to reach your customers effectively? How to make them see your brand's potential and answer their needs? A brand video may help. It is a video or animation that will:   Build brand awareness Include your logo and other distinctive...

16 interesting animations from 16 countries

The following list of animations from 16 countries worldwide is highly subjective. Each is interesting and unique for different reasons, which we write about in the text.England An animation released in 2018 by the British cookie company McVitie. The campaign...

Promotional videos for businesses – 6 types you need to know

Promotional videos are usually short advertising videos. They are designed to convince customers to buy a particular product or use a company's service. There are many types of promotional videos, but we present six of the most popular. Each can be filmed using either...

Animated ads – types, examples, prices

Animated ads are one of the most popular forms of video marketing. They are usually much cheaper to produce than a traditional film shot on camera. They also allow for greater creative freedom. Below we discuss the types of animated ads along with examples and prices...

Corporate video production – 7 sins not to commit if you want a boring video

Producing corporate videos often comes with high hopes. The company hopes to enhance its image, build trust among customers and excitement among employees. Unfortunately, the truth is that most corporate films are... boring. Why is this the case? And what can you do...

Visual Thinking in Business: 6 levels you can implement in your company [+Examples]

Myślenie wizualne to - w dużym skrócie - używanie wizualizacji, żeby ułatwić dostrzeżenie, zrozumienie i zapamiętanie informacji. Jego przejawy obserwujemy, gdy widzimy na trasie znaki drogowe, oglądamy infografiki czy projektujemy nowe produkty na warsztatach Design...

Podcast Visual Communication For Storytelling featuring Maciej Budkowski

Maciej Budkowski, Managing Directorof our company, got invited to The Business Storyteller Podcast by Piktochart. As we can read on their website: "this is a series of conversations with inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience in...

Visual thinking in business – what it is, how it works and how it can help

What is visual thinking? Imagine this situation... You get up in the morning. You reach for your cell phone and there is a black and white screen and a wall of text. You walk over to your desk and check your planner. A wall of text again! Even the division into days...

Corporate videos – 9 examples to help you create the best video for your company

You want to create a corporate video. You probably have a lot of questions. What to pay attention to? What is involved in the production of a video? How much do corporate films cost? If you type in "corporate films" in Google  over two million results come up. You...

Pictures vs. illustrations vs. instructional video – when to use what to make our instruction effective

Imagine you are sitting comfortably on a plane, reading a book. Suddenly you feel turbulence that is much stronger than usual. You start to get anxious, especially since you see people around you panicking. Then you hear the captain's voice from the speakers: "Please...

Customer Segmentation: The Cornerstone of SaaS Pricing

Most personas are eye-rollingly useless. Product Managers usually create these personas to satisfy Agile’s user story framework, adding nothing (or even causing harm) to the process of creating breakthrough products and offers. The managers who create these useless...

How to get people to follow the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, doctors and pharmacists? [Visual Thinking in Medicine]

You have a fever, you feel weak, and your cough is getting worse. Normally this wouldn't concern you, but there is a coronavirus raging in the world so you have doubts. Just in case, you call the hotline. The lady on the other end of the phone patiently explains what...

Sales enablement: what it is, why implement it and how to do it

Sales enablement is primarily about making salespeople's work easier and faster for them to achieve sales targets. How does it work in practice? It is a bit like the organization of a football club. Let's look at Robert Lewandowski. Before the Bayern star steps out...

How did we help 3S Group generate leads using animation?

About the company: 3S Group - Polish provider of telecommunication services, data center and ICT solutions, and part of PLAY operator since 2019.     3S Group supports the realization of its clients' business visions by designing and implementing ICT solutions....

How we helped Israeli startup to win a 1,000,000$

About the company: Seegnature (now Reach): Israeli startup that creates an application for remote discussion and signing of contracts. Department: Company Founders. Problem: Seegnature entered the competition for the best insurance startup in Israel. The company...

How did Michelin sell tires in a country with no cars? Three examples of big brand content marketing that shows the power of good content

Before 1900, there were only 3,000 cars in France. At that time, brothers André and Édouard Michelin decided to start a company that sold tires.[1] Sound like a recipe for failure? Probably many people thought so, as how do you sell tires to people who don't need...

6 things without which your sales support and sales materials will be ineffective

You know the scenario? The conversation is going well, and the customer is interested. Finally, the potential customer says to the salesperson: "Then please send an offer. I'm having a meeting with my boss/team/partner and I'll let you know what the response is." The...

Content marketing that supports sales – what is a content funnel and how to use it

After publishing an article about content marketing of three global giants: Michelin, Pirelli and Guinness, our subscribers were strongly surprised as not many knew the stories.   The artice has not yet been translated to English, but in a shortcut: - When...

How to maximize ROI of your explainer video (22 non-bullshit practical tips)

These are the insights we got after producing hundreds of explainer videos.  Before you start 1) Check if the ROI numbers add up. Sometimes they don’t.   The easiest formula to calculate ROI is: Predicted Reach (i.e. 10 000 people) x Avg. deal size (i.e. 100$) x...

Animation versus illustration: which is more effective [based on research]

Walt Disney said: "Animation can represent anything the human mind can imagine. This ability makes it the most versatile and direct form of communication. At the same time, it is created to be appreciated by mass audiences."[1] Although this quote comes from one of...

Whiteboard animation: Best Business Cases

Whiteboard animation videos are special animated films, which educate customers about a company, a brand or its products. They have been used by marketing, sales and HR departments of the biggest companies for 10 years, but only just starting to gain popularity in...

13 ideas for using animation in business – practical videomarketing

Well-crafted animation can help in many elements of business. Most often, it supports companies in acquiring leads, training employees, presenting a product or service to customers, implementing procedures, or increasing conversions. Since you've already invested in...

Vegan food market in Poland

Imagine that you go to Facebook and there are pictures of sausages, kabanos to be exact, everywhere. They are posted by your friends, the fan pages you like, and strangers on groups you belong to. Sounds like science fiction? Meanwhile, it is reality as kabanos are...

Veganism, vegetarianism and marketing: how to advertise and sell vegan products?

Veganism is on the rise. There is no question about it. To give you just a few recent examples... New vegan product a sales hit The first example is the British bakery chain Gregg. I first heard of its existence when it released vegan sausage rolls and I read about it...

How our animation helped the „Wiecej niż LEK” website earn their first 100 000 EUR

About the project:  “Więcej niż LEK” is a Medical Information Portal which is used to run high quality e-learning courses for students and graduates of medical colleges, which prepare them for, among other things, for the Final Medical Examination and the Final...

How to calculate if the explainer video will pay off?

As we wrote earlier in the text about explainer video, the production of such an animation usually costs from 2 000 to 7 000 EUR. How to calculate whether this expense will pay off? And how to estimate the explainer video's possible results?   In this text, we...

7 examples of explainer video, which provided companies with leads and increased sales

Rypple, which provides cloud services, wanted to show that its solution increases the efficiency of managers and employees. The B2B business was showing more and more interest in modern ways of storing data, but the competition was not idle and more and more similar...

Product videos—types, prices, advantages and disadvantages (classic film, whiteboard animation, vector animation, and 3D animation)

Product videos are becoming more and more popular because they help to tell about the product in a few minutes. Thanks to them, the customer does not have to read a wall of text on the website or in the brochure. Sellers also feel relieved because they don't have to...

11 tips and tricks that will make it easier for you to make an explainer video

You want to commission a explainer video production. It is an important project because you need to talk about a strategic initiative, generate more leads, or implement a new procedure. You gave the company a general idea and...wait until they hit your vision? This is...

Our Team

Claudia Together with the late Michael (my fiancé at the time), I am a co-founder of ExplainVisually. At the beginning of the company's existence, I was a creative 3-in-1: I wrote scripts, storyboards, and drew films. This was the case with the first 84 films, but in...

The cooperation between TESCO and ExplainVisually has been extended to the Czech Republic and Slovakia

The shelves of supermarkets bend under the food. But what happens to food that is not bought? The last project in cooperation with TESCO brought us the answer to this question. We got a call from Gosia Tokarz, who asked us if we can prepare 7 by 2 meters infographics...

How did Millenium Bank educate its employees on standards of customer service? [Case Study]

About the company: Millenium Bank – one of the main banks in Poland, part of Banco Commercial Portuges. Department: Department of Quality–responsible for providing equal and high level of customer and sales service in the bank’s facilities.   Problem: Keeping the...

4 unobvious reasons that make your offer land in the basket

Thank you for the offer, we have decided to cooperate with another supplier;At this point we have suspended the project, we will contact you when we get back to it;Unfortunately, we are not interested. Every salesperson has heard these answers. Often, the reason for...

Our video telling a story about the most creative Polish School

Among dozens of projects that we have carried out this year, the film for the Kornel Makuszyński Elementary School in Radowo Małe is one of our favourites. And not only our favourite: the video scored over 1300 shares on Facebook. Why this project is so important to...

How did Orange tell their employees about the Continuous Improvement? [Case Study]

About the company: Orange – the biggest telecommunication operator in Poland and one of the main companies in the world, made it to the Fortune Global 500 list. Department: Customer Experience, trying to design the ideal customer experience and supporting the...

What is Graphic Recording (and Graphic Facilitation)?

When the lecturer starts his speech on the stage, the atmosphere of concentration fills the lecture hall. It is his name that brought the crowd to this conference. The slides complete his words, and hundreds of people are focused on him and try to remember as much as...

What is whiteboard animation (and how your business can benefit from it)?

Whiteboard animation is becoming more and more popular in business because of the clear and transparent way it provides information. Research shows that it has an advantage over text messages, and often also over static images and ordinary films. That is why it is...

What is explainer video (and how your business can benefit from it)?

  Explainer videos are short movies which explain complicated issues in an easy way. Typically they deliver information about companies, products and services. Today, explainer videos are used by thousands of companies around the world, including the largest...

The curse of knowledge: How it affects managers & marketers

Klątwa wiedzy jest efektem psychologicznym, który w ogromnym stopniu wpływa na naszą pracę oraz życie osobiste. W wielu wypadkach niestety negatywnie. Szczególnie narażone na jego skutki są osoby odpowiedzialne za komunikację w firmie – managerowanie, marketerzy,...

Goodbye to the best boss I’ve ever had

“I heard that you quit your job,” the words echoed in my ears. It was a call from Michał. How on earth did he already know?, I thought. It must have been our Lebanese friend who told him. He was the only person who knew. “Yes, that’s true. The message was being...

Klaudia Tolman of ExplainVisually in the jury of 50 Top Creative list

Klaudia Tolman, our Creative Director, is going to be one of the jurors in the 9th edition of the ranking of 50 Top Creative in Business. The ranking aims to honour companies and people: put their money on innovations and out-of-the-box solutions in their businesses,...

We got the results of the first nationwide research on Visual Thinking

Last year we co-created the very first nationwide research on Visual Thinking. Why did we decide to take part in reliable research on the effectiveness of visual thinking? For years now we have been hearing from our clients, that what we do, works. But it’s one thing...

Maciej Budkowski and Klaudia Tolman to host an “Expert” cycle meeting for Brief.pl

For the last 5 years, we have been building and developing our know-how. During that time we’ve carried out over 200 projects in 19 languages for dozens of corporations, startups and GOs. But never before have we publicly spoken about our agency experiences. This time...

Maciej Budkowski and Klaudia Tolman in the #agencja podcast

Just released, there’s an #agencja podcast featuring our managing team, Klaudia and Maciek. In the podcast we’re telling about our daily work. Link to the podcast –...

ExplainVisually’s film about European Funds submitted to Camerimage

In 2015 we made a film with the Mazovian Unit of EU Programmes Implementation in Warsaw. Its aim was to tell in a simple way how to gain European Funds. The project went very well and many organisations associated with European Funds considered it to set a good...

ExplainVisually’s infographics to support Polish Football Association

Maciek, our Managing Director, has been a huge fan of football for over 20 years and he’s always been dreaming about cooperation with the Polish Football Association. So when they actually called us to say that they needed to explain to football coaches complex...

ExplainVisually a laureate of the competition 50 Most Creative in Polish Business!

We are a laureate of this year’s ranking of 50 Most Creative in Business. 50 Creative is the biggest competition in its field in Poland. The ranking is carried out each year by Brief.pl. Amongst former laureates are CD Project, Brand24, iTaxi, LifeTube, Booksy or...

How to spend money to be happy? Our infographic in “Głos Mordoru” (“Voice of Mordor”)

“Money doesn’t bring happiness” or “You cannot have too much of a good thing”? Turns out, it depends on what you do with it. Those are the conclusions of Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, Professors of British Columbia University and Harvard University. In their book...

Summary 2017

Christmas time has passed, so it’s time for some summary. We can’t describe this year with one word. 2017 was demanding, tragic, developing, successful, sad and joyful. In the period of 12 months we made over 70 films, which means we scored almost 200 total since the...

Our video helped to win 1,000,000$ in a Israeli’s startup competition

A week ago Seegnature, an Israeli InsurTech start-up, used our whiteboard animation during a pitch - presentation to the investors. The stake was high. Pitch is a key moment for a start-up. Several minutes of presentation may determine the company’s future. Especially...

HR Case Study: recruitment video

It was the end of May 2016, when we realized we could not put it off any longer. Everybody took their place, and we started the meeting. “We have to recruit new drawing artists! I can’t do it by myself any longer! We won’t manage when the new projects come…!” Klaudia...

Explainer video production process

Explainer video production process typically takes a few weeks (3-8). The production time depends on the film's duration, its complexity, the flow of works, communication between both parties (or three parties if an Agency also takes part in the discussion), work...