Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways Differentiation is a long-term capital investment, not a short-term marketing expense.
Short-term optimization creates measurable activity, but long-term relevance drives enduring advantage.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jamie Dimon explained why JPMorgan Chase is spending billions more on AI. He was making a long-term bet. The same kind of leaders make when they build headquarters, factories or infrastructure that won’t “pay off” this quarter but will define competitiveness for decades.
It’s exactly how marketers should think about and position differentiation in the eyes of the C-Suite. Differentiation is a capital investment.
It’s the parallel most marketing teams miss. Buildings are capital investments. You amortize them over time. AI is a capability investment. You expense it upfront but expect long-term returns. Differentiation works the same way. But we treat it like a cost, not an asset.
Brands don’t ‘launch’ differentiation. They build it over years of consistent choices, tradeoffs and reinforcement. Yet marketing budgets are often judged like short-term operating expenses.
Did this campaign convert now?
Did awareness spike this quarter?
Can we prove immediate ROI?
... continue reading