How the way you make money shapes your marketing

Last week, our editor dropped a video in our team's Slack channel. Anthropic's Super Bowl ad. The message: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude."

The video is genius. Anthropic just gave everyone a masterclass in how to win against a category leader.

Instead of differentiating on features, interface, model performance or "human” writing, Anthropic made a decision their competitors' economics won't allow. OpenAI can't say "we'll never run ads" without destroying their investor expectations.

But Anthropic can.

In today's newsletter:

10 examples of tech companies that differentiate themselves based on their business model, with examples of how they do marketing

Most companies compete on features

Your competitors can copy that. They can hire better engineers and build more features. 

But changing their business model? That's actually hard.

The strongest differentiation belongs to brands that find decisions their competitors' business models won't let them make.

We’ve seen this before.

Take IKEA. Their design, flat-packing products, and assembly pushed to the customer allowed lower prices competitors couldn’t match.

Low-cost airlines redesigned the airline model itself with single aircraft types, point-to-point routes, and no-frills service. Legacy carriers couldn’t just copy it. 

But what about tech? Here are a few examples where marketing comes directly from the business model.

1. DuckDuckGo vs Google

Category: Search engines

Google: Targeted ads based on user tracking

DuckDuckGo: Contextual ads, no personal data tracking

Message: 

Billboard campaign: “Google tracks you. We don’t.”

2. Signal vs WhatsApp

Category: Messaging apps

WhatsApp: Ecosystem monetization, data integration, business messaging

Signal: Nonprofit foundation, no ads, no monetization of user data

Message: 

Instagram: Every post on Signal's Instagram tells the same story: Privacy isn’t optional, it’s the way we work.

3. Shopify vs Amazon Marketplace

Category: E-commerce infrastructure

Amazon: Owns marketplace, competes with sellers, controls distribution

Shopify: Merchant-first SaaS platform, doesn’t compete with merchants

Message: 

Early positioning: “Arm the Rebels.”

This is the letter itself.

4. Netflix vs Blockbuster

Category: Entertainment distribution

Blockbuster: Per-rental fees

Netflix: Subscription streaming

Message:

Netflix and Blockbuster made history. In 2000, founders of Netflix wanted to sell their struggling DVD-by-mail startup to Blockbuster for $50 million. But Blockbuster's CEO John Antioco laughed at this offer. We all know how that ended.

5. Patreon vs YouTube

Category: Creator monetization

YouTube: Ad-based monetization

Patreon: Direct subscription from fans

Message:

Campaign: Creator spotlight films. A series of short documentaries (like this one) and articles designed to highlight the creative journeys, inspirations, and impact of successful artists on the platform.

6. Superside vs Traditional Creative Agencies

Category: Design / Creative services

Traditional agencies: Project-based billing, high overhead (offices, senior layers), utilization-driven economics, scope creep = revenue growth

Superside: Subscription model, distributed global talent, fixed monthly pricing, built for ongoing creative velocity.

Message:

Positioning (New category): “Creative-as-a-Service”

7. Figma vs Adobe (Pre-Acquisition Era)

Category: Design software

Adobe: Desktop software, licensed or enterprise subscription, file-based workflows

Figma: Browser-native, multiplayer collaboration, freemium growth loop

Message:

Marketing strategy: Community-led growth (you can read more about it here)

8. Notion vs Enterprise Knowledge Management

Category: Knowledge/work software

Traditional enterprise tools: Top-down IT adoption, heavy implementation cycles, license contracts

Notion: Bottom-up adoption, freemium, personal productivity entry point

Message:

Marketing strategy: Community-led growth, influencer marketing (you can read more about it here)

9. Deel vs Traditional Global Hiring Firms

Category: International employment / payroll

Traditional PEOs: Manual processes, country-by-country complexity, heavy compliance overhead

Deel: Global EOR platform, centralized infrastructure, SaaS delivery

Message:

Vertical integration, modularity, acquisition, speed, and automation. Read more about how Deel became a leading company in international payroll. 

10. Canva vs Traditional Design Software

Category: Design tools

Adobe: Professional suite, skilled user base, complex tooling

Canva: Template-first, mass-market usability

Message:

How to differentiate based on a business model

• Come up with a different way to make money compared to your category leaders or "traditional” companies.

• Create a message from this business model. It should let say that they literally cannot.

• Launch marketing campaigns that exploit this gap.

In our Zmist & Copy practice, we had a client with a different business model, compared to design agencies. Because of this model, they are pretty successful in marketing, read the full story on our blog: “How Eleken Generated 20+ Monthly Leads in the First 3 Months of Content Marketing.”

My previous issues on positioning and differentiation:

• How to create differentiation (if a different business model isn't your story) 

• What is positioning

• Positioning vs brand

• Why you might think you have differentiation

• Broad positioning is a business risk 

See you next week

We’re currently fully booked with positioning projects. These are intensive engagements and we take on no more than two clients per month. If you’d like us to do this for your company, we have two spots available for mid-March to April. Just send me an email.

Kateryna

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P.P.S. Need help with quality content? Zmistify your content with Zmist & Copy