Pull up five B2B SaaS websites in your category. Cover the logos. Can you tell them apart?
Didn't think so.
In our recent original research report B2B SaaS branding is stuck, we surveyed 100 marketing leaders from $50M+ B2B SaaS companies. 94% of B2B marketing leaders admitted their brand messaging barely stands out. Only 6% said they're truly distinctive.
They have the budgets to fix it. The strategies to change it. Yet 86% remain trapped in what one CMO called "the sea of sameness."
The real question isn't why this happens. It's why an industry built on innovation and differentiation keeps choosing to build forgettable brands.
"Everyone seems to be running off the same playbook... afraid to branch out and be different," one CMO told us. Another put it more bluntly: "We have to hit numbers so maybe it is better to say we're like everyone else."
This is the heart of it. When your job depends on this quarter's pipeline, playing it safe feels smart. Except safe is killing you slowly.
The fear shows up in predictable ways:
One VP captured the tragedy perfectly:
"When everything is measurable, everything converges."
Think about that. We've A/B tested ourselves into identical messaging. We've optimized the personality out of our brands. We've data-driven our way to invisibility.
When buyers can't distinguish you from competitors, you're competing on price and features. That's expensive. You need more touches, longer sales cycles, bigger discounts. Your sales team works harder for every deal.
Meanwhile, that 6% with distinctive brands? They get:
One leader from our research learned this the hard way:
"You have to see warning signs in data that you're tracking and then dig into to figure it out. We've seen it in drop-offs in conversions on our site, a brand survey that we did where we asked about what we were known for or whether they knew us, and in cross-sell conversations we hear 'we didn't know you did that'."
They were literally hiding revenue because their messaging hadn't evolved. How much money are you leaving on the table because buyers don't know what you actually do?
Here's what most miss: In a sea of sameness, different isn't risky. Different is your only shot at being remembered.
Our research found four main reasons companies stay generic:
1. Herd mentality (36%)
"Most buyers are still quite safe and don't want to be first movers. If you're selling to large enterprises many buyers want to avoid rocking the boat."
Translation: We assume buyers want boring, so we give them boring.
2. Lack of true differentiation (26%)
"Most of them don't have any real USP and they are also afraid to communicate in different tone and voice."
The brutal truth: Many products really are similar. But that's exactly why brand voice matters more.
3. Copycat syndrome (20%)
"You can copy someone else immediately, and vendors feel most comfortable copying competitors over researching and testing."
The transparency of digital marketing created an echo chamber. Everyone watches everyone else, creating an endless cycle of sameness.
4. Underinvestment in brand (18%)
"Brand strategy is often viewed as more visual when it really must be threaded through the organization."
Companies treat brand as logo updates instead of strategic advantage.
We asked marketing leaders about their previous experiences with messaging that felt "off" to their customers. The top mistakes they made were:
Buzzwords nobody understands (18%)
"We speak a lot about an 'aligned' model but the market doesn't understand what that is without a lot of explanation."
The most common issue involves using internal terminology or industry buzzwords that mean nothing to customers.
Disconnected from customer reality (14%)
"We see our teams talking about a specific product and its features - vs talking about customer problems."
Teams fall into the trap of talking about what they build rather than problems they solve.
Brand evolution creating confusion (14%)
"We evolved but hadn't done a big brand messaging update. We didn't notice how hidden it was until someone said, 'I see nothing about this feature.'"
As companies grow and expand their offerings, some companies didn’t update their messaging accordingly, which meant their websites were outdated, new features were hidden away and their messaging make little sense.
Here's what the 6% who've broken free actually do:
1. They find their "only we" angle
Stop listing features everyone has. Find what only you can claim:
One company told us they focused on "specific backend functionality that sets us apart." Not the most glamorous, but ownable.
2. They pick a side
Generic brands try to appeal to everyone. Distinctive brands know who they're for and who they're not.
Take a stand on:
Remember: When you try to be everything to everyone, you're nothing to anyone.
3. They use customer language, not company language
"People don't reach out to tell you that your brand messaging is confusing. You have to see warning signs in data - drop-offs in conversions, brand surveys where they don't know what you're known for."
The fix is simple: Use the words your customers use. If they don't say "orchestration," neither should you.
4. They maintain consistency religiously
Only 10% of companies maintain very consistent messaging across all touch points. The rest let sales do their own thing, let product teams interpret guidelines differently, let content creators add their own spin.
Consistency compounds. Every time someone encounters your brand and it feels familiar, trust builds. Every time it feels different, confusion grows.
5. They measure what matters
You can't improve what you don't track. The distinctive brands measure:
Without data, you're guessing whether your differentiation works.
When we asked what marketers would do with unlimited budget, something interesting emerged. 26% wanted more advertising and dreamed of being bolder:
"I want to take really bold risks and see if they stick. Bold messaging, bold executions. Today we have to be very methodical about how we invest because we are constantly trying to tie our investment to ROI so it gives us very little opportunity to take bold risks."
Another said:
"I would love to take huge risks creatively."
And what's most interesting? 68% of marketers didn't ask for bigger campaigns or more advertising. They asked for:
These aren't necessarily budget problems. They're courage, organizational and leadership problems.
From our research, it's clear marketing leaders know exactly what would help differentiate their brands. They have the strategies. They have the ideas. What they lack is an executive team that understands the real value of brand and who treat it as an investment, not an expense.
Stop reading your competitor's websites for inspiration. You'll just end up sounding like them.
Instead:
Remember, the bar for differentiation is shockingly low. When 94% of your competitors sound identical, you don't need to be revolutionary. You just need to be recognizable.
Now, it's your choice: Join the 94% racing to explain their focus on features and price. Or join the 6% who decided being memorable beats being safe.
The market has plenty of room for another "somewhat distinctive" brand but it's desperate for more that actually mean something.
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