Better Is a Debate, Different Is a Choice
Don't sell a better version of the old thing; create a new category people must choose.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 87%
Bodnar credits HubSpot's rise partly to coining and owning the 'inbound marketing' category. The core insight, borrowed from a quote he lives by, is that 'better is a debate, different is a choice.' If you merely claim to do the old thing better, prospects argue about whether the improvement matters. If you create a new category and frame the incumbent approach as the outdated thing everyone hates, you force a clean choice in your favor. It takes longer because you must educate the market, but for a long-horizon business the differentiation compounds.
Origin
HubSpot coined 'inbound marketing' roughly 20 years ago, contrasting opt-in content-driven marketing against interruptive 'outbound' TV ads, billboards, and direct mail that everyone resented, creating a category they then owned.
Core principles
- 01Claiming to be 'better' invites an endless debate the incumbent can win.
- 02Being 'different' forces the buyer to make a clear choice.
- 03Create a new category and frame it against the tired old way.
- 04Category creation takes longer and requires education, but yields durable differentiation.
How to run it
- 1
Name the hated status quo
Articulate the old way your market operates and why people quietly dislike it.
Pro tip The more universally disliked the old way, the sharper your contrast.
- 2
Define and name a new category
Create a genuinely different approach and give it a memorable label people can choose.
Watch out It must be truly different, not a repackaged incremental improvement.
- 3
Frame the choice
Present the decision as the new thing people love versus the old thing everyone hates.
Pro tip A clear either/or choice is far more persuasive than a features comparison.
- 4
Commit to market education
Invest in teaching the market the new category, accepting it takes longer than selling a familiar 'better' product.
Watch out Only worthwhile if your business is a multi-year opportunity that can absorb the slower ramp.
In the wild
Rather than offering to help companies do direct mail 'a little bit better,' HubSpot defined inbound marketing as a new opt-in, content-driven category and framed outbound as the stodgy thing everyone hates.
→ People chose the 'new cool thing,' letting HubSpot own and lead a category it created.
Common mistakes
Positioning as merely 'better'
Claiming a slightly better version of the incumbent product triggers a debate where 'good enough' lets the customer stay put.
Skipping the education work
A new category is unfamiliar; without patient education the choice you're offering doesn't land.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders with a long-term horizon who can create and educate a market around a new category.
Not ideal for
Short-term plays or businesses that can't invest in the slower education period category creation demands.
From the transcript
“Better is a debate, different is a choice. And you have to when you force somebody to make a choice and you do that by…”
“If we had just said, hey, we can help you do your direct mail a little bit better. Who cares?”
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