Marketing 101 tells us that we need to differentiate our products or services from our competitors’ offerings. Many organizations create marketing materials that point out the features that they believe helps them stand out from the crowd.

All well and good. Unless you get caught by the Duh Factor.

There is the obvious duh. This happens when marketers are afraid to make a bold promise or statement. Or they really don’t know what differentiates their product. So they choose generic words that are so overused they have been rendered meaningless. Examples? Committed to customer service. Great quality, great prices.

The consumer reaction to these promises? They barely register. Pure duh.

The more elusive duh factor is harder to spot. Sometimes, the element of our business that we’re most proud of is a duh to consumers. Yes, it’s important. But they’ve already given us credit for it. We waste our opportunity to talk to a prospective customer by telling them something they’ve already assumed.

For example, if you’re marketing for a garden center, don’t tell me that you have plant experts on staff. Of course it’s important. But I’ve already assumed you have that. For your audience, that’s a duh. Instead tell me that your experts will come to my house for free, to assess exactly what plants I need. That I didn’t know.

I can hear you arguing: But not everyone has it; there are garden centers where all the clerks are teenagers. You bet. But the consumer is willing to give each business a certain amount of assumed credibility, until it does something to lose it. Think of the duh factor as your freebie. Take full advantage of it. Use it as the springboard to talk to consumers about something that really does set you apart.

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and the author of “99.3 Random Acts of Marketing.” He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com.

© Drew McLellan