Teaching buyers to care about what you’re good at

TL;DR

Papermark’s “Why us?” section shows how companies in nearly commoditized categories can use detailed feature education to reveal sophistication that isn’t immediately apparent. Instead of competing on basic claims like “we’re more secure,” they teach buyers what enterprise-grade document security should actually include, transforming feature explanation into market differentiation.

What makes Papermark’s website stand out

I usually focus on analyzing SaaS homepages, but this time, something else caught my attention when I landed on Papermark’s website. Surprisingly, I found myself clicking through their “Why Papermark?” navigation section, realizing they were doing something fundamentally different in how they frame and present product capabilities.

Most SaaS companies follow the standard playbook: here are our features, pick what matters to you. Papermark flips this entirely. Instead of just listing capabilities, they curate which features should define quality in document security. Then, they teach buyers why these specific elements matter.

Look at how they frame each feature page. It’s not “Here’s Dynamic Watermarking and how it works.” In contrast, it’s placed under the “Why Papermark?” category, explicitly framing each capability as a differentiation point. They’re essentially saying, “Take your time and look at how sophisticated these features are. These are the elements you must pay attention to when evaluating document sharing and security tools.”

This is narrative control through curation. Instead of letting buyers create their own evaluation criteria, Papermark establishes the framework for comparison. When prospects eventually evaluate alternatives like DocSend, they’ll likely use the quality standards Papermark taught them: “Does their watermarking show real-time viewer information? How granular are their link permissions?”

The strategic logic makes sense for their market position. As a newer player competing against established tools with bigger ecosystems, they can’t win on brand recognition or integration breadth. So, they chose a riskier path: they’re trying to make buyers care about technical sophistication they might not even have known to evaluate.

The way I see it, by framing features (which most competitors have) as differentiators rather than just capabilities, and describing their technical sophistication, Papermark transforms how buyers evaluate solutions. They’re acting as consultants first, vendors second, teaching buyers how to think about document security before they even start comparing alternatives.

When to apply this approach

This education-driven differentiation strategy works best under specific conditions, not as a universal playbook. Here are some of them:

• Sophisticated product capabilities that aren’t immediately visible or understood. Basic features don’t warrant extensive explanation, but complex functionality needs detailed education.
• Buyers who underestimate complexity in your category. If prospects think your market is simpler than it actually is, education helps them appreciate the sophistication required for proper implementation.
• Commoditized competition that competes primarily on price or basic feature presence. When competitors aren’t explaining the nuances of implementation quality, granular education creates differentiation.

Word of caution: By teaching buyers to evaluate more carefully, you’re essentially inviting them to shop around using the criteria you established. This is risky unless you’re genuinely superior on the dimensions you’re highlighting.