Why video-first marketing doesn’t kill differentiation

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April 28, 2025

11:03

Why video-first marketing doesn’t kill differentiation

Today I want to talk about differentiation.

It’s a question that’s come up a lot recently on discovery calls — especially because our approach is very clearly video-first.

The concern is understandable:
If everyone is using video, won’t all the ads end up looking the same?

The short answer is no.
And in practice, the opposite tends to happen.

Differentiation doesn’t come from the format.
It comes from:

Business model
USPs
Personality
Positioning choices

Video actually gives you more room to express those differences, not less.

This video breaks down why local and national installers naturally diverge, why personality matters more than polish, and why trying to be someone you’re not is usually the fastest way to lose trust.

We’re also transparent about something most agencies avoid saying out loud: we will work with multiple installers in overlapping areas. That reality makes differentiation more important — not less.

This is how we think about it in the real world.

For context, this video was originally recorded on 5 December 2024, views & strategies may have changed since.

Featuring

Jude Cornish

Chief Commercial Officer

Video transcript

Hello. Today I’m going to talk about differentiation, and it’s a question that has come up a lot on discovery calls recently. Our approach is very much video-first. You don’t need to be a genius to see that from what I post on LinkedIn and elsewhere. The natural next question is: if we use video for all clients, won’t everyone’s ads end up looking the same because they’re all using video?

There are a few ways I address this. The first is ensuring that the video ads we produce align with the client’s specific USPs—unique selling points—and that we present those in the right way. We don’t just create boilerplate ads that all feel identical. Of course, there are some hooks we like to use across clients because we know they work, but the bulk of each ad’s content is specific to that client and what makes them different.

For example, you might have a local installer whose ads focus on a bespoke approach, being customer-first, offering no-obligation surveys, workmanship, and their contribution to the local community. That will work very well for a local business. A national business will have different USPs: price match guarantees, nationwide coverage, thousands of qualified and vetted engineers. Very different propositions. So even though the platform and format might be the same—Facebook and Instagram video ads—the content itself is fundamentally different.

Unless you deliberately try to make everything look the same with identical animations, identical structures, and the same editing style, the substance of what you’re presenting will naturally create differentiation. There’s a huge difference between the reasons a prospect should choose a local installer versus a national company, and that difference comes through in the ads.

Personality is another major differentiator. You might have someone who’s a real “Jack the lad”—a bit out there, a bit controversial—and wants to ride the wave of something like Elon Musk being controversial. They might create ads that call out Tesla and lean into that tone. That can work really well and attract a certain type of customer. We have clients who do fantastic with that approach.

On the other hand, you might have someone who is the complete opposite—someone who can’t stand that style, doesn’t want to attract those enquiries, and doesn’t want to speak to people who respond to that type of content. That person will do very different ads. They might even call out that kind of style and instead focus on professionalism, friendly customer service, clear process, and a more reassuring tone.

This is something we always tell people when they come on board, because for many clients, recording video—especially being on camera—is completely new. There’s a misconception that to succeed on social media, you have to act like “Jack the lad” or do silly things. That’s not true. There’s a huge demographic that will scroll right past that. They’ll engage with someone who presents professionally—maybe in smart attire—explaining the benefits of solar in a calm, clear manner, with different mannerisms and a different editing style. Both styles can work. If anything, being stuck in the middle is often the worst-case scenario. Actually, the worst case is trying to be someone you’re not. If you’re naturally “Jack the lad” and you try to be the opposite, or if you’re naturally professional and you try to force that other persona, it feels unnatural and gives people the creeps. You just need to be yourself.

Those differences—business model, USPs, and personality—are more than enough to create differentiation, even if we worked with every renewable installer in the UK. The ads would still be different enough.

Then there are some additional points. It’s easier to differentiate on video than it is on an image, because an image is one frame, while video is potentially 60 frames per second. A minute of video is thousands of frames. There’s far more opportunity to present differently, act differently, show more context, and demonstrate differentiation. This is why image ads often look the same—templates, similar layouts, and limited room to stand out when everyone is trying to communicate the same core benefits.

The final point is a bit harsh, but it’s reality. We’re probably going to work with three or four companies with overlapping service areas around you. That’s part of growing our business as well as growing yours, and I’m fully transparent about that. It wouldn’t work if we gave everyone an exclusive huge territory and refused to work with anyone else in those areas—we’d end up limited to a handful of clients and we wouldn’t get as good at what we do.

There are around 5,000 MCS-registered contractors in the UK. In your service area, there might be 500 or so. We might work with three or four. So you can either choose to be one of the three or four who are on the winning side, or you can opt out because you’re worried about similarity and let those competitors take the business while you carry on competing with the other 497. That doesn’t really make sense.

Of course originality matters, and we can help facilitate that, but the fact that the format is video doesn’t eliminate originality or having your own approach.

Hopefully that gives you some food for thought. It’s a question that’s come up a lot recently, and it’s never actually stopped someone from going ahead, because once you think it through, it becomes clear that it’s still worth doing. Yes, we roll out video with every client we sign, but that means the videos get better and better for everyone. Hopefully this was useful and cleared up some doubts around differentiation. I’ll hopefully see you in the next one.

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