Stop hunting for the USP. Start owning the tension.
Every B2B messaging brief has it.
“We need a USP.”
“What makes us different?”
“What’s our point of difference in a crowded market?”
It’s the holy grail of positioning. The killer line that sets you apart. The clear, crisp, ownable thing that no one else can claim.
But here’s the problem:
The USP won’t be the answer to every question.
In mature B2B markets, everyone is saying the same thing, in slightly different words:
- “We put customers first.”
- “We’re flexible, scalable, secure.”
- “We combine innovation with deep industry expertise.”
- Yawn.
What makes great messaging land isn’t a unique feature.
It’s a unique tension.
The thing your audience feels but can’t yet articulate.
The pressure they’re under.
The gap between how things are and how they should be.
That’s where you go.
The USP is About You. Tension is About Them.
That’s the shift.
Most messaging starts inward.
“What do we offer?”
“What’s our story?”
“What are our differentiators?”
That is very useful for brand teams.
But it doesn’t always connect with buyers under pressure.
Buyers don’t want to hear how great you are.
They want to feel like you understand the problem behind the problem–the thing no other vendor seems to get.
That’s the difference between surface messaging and strategic messaging.
Between being interesting and being essential.
What Tension Sounds Like
Here’s what we mean.
Surface-level:
“We help IT teams manage infrastructure more efficiently.”
Okay. So do a thousand others.
Tension-led:
“IT teams are being asked to innovate with one hand while firefighting legacy systems with the other. We help them break the cycle.”
Now you’ve got something. That’s a truth buyers recognise. A pressure they live in. A tension they want resolved.
You’re not just a vendor. You’re an answer to a deeper problem.
So Where Do You Find This Tension?
You don’t find it in your product specs.
You find it in the in-between spaces:
- The thing your audience is told to do… vs. what they’re resourced to do
- What they aspire to… vs. what their KPIs measure
- What the market says is important… vs. what their reality looks like on a Tuesday afternoon
At Fuel, we surface these tensions through:
- Stakeholder interviews
- Sales team call shadows
- Reading between the lines of competitor claims
- Listening to the buyer, not just the brand deck
And then we build messaging that doesn’t just “position” you, it makes you relevant in a way that feels real.
Tension Gives Messaging a Spine
When you own a clear tension, everything sharpens.
Campaigns get stickier…because they dramatise something the market already feels.
Sales decks get shorter…because they orient buyers fast.
Product narratives make sense…because they ladder up to something bigger than features.
Internal teams get aligned…because they’re no longer pushing vague benefits. They’re solving something that matters.
Tension is what makes a message punch through.
Not Just Tension for Tension’s Sake
This isn’t about being provocative for the sake of it.
It’s about creating constructive contrast:
- Expose the tension.
- Frame the impact.
- Position your brand as the resolution.
The best B2B brands aren’t just differentiated, they’re needed.
Because they clarify the tension everyone else is dancing around.
TL;DR: USP = Good, Pressure Point = Even Better
If you’re still trying to find your one unique feature, you’re already behind.
Because in complex markets, the thing that makes you stand out isn’t just how clever your product is.
It’s how clearly you see the gap between what your buyer has… and what they actually need.
That’s where the message lives. That’s where the fire is. That’s where Fuel works.
Ready to stop selling features and start owning the narrative tension that makes people act?
Let’s build messaging that matters.