.png)
When every competitor sounds the same, brand differentiation becomes the strategy behind market preference.
Whether you’re repositioning in a crowded market or reimagining a legacy brand, you already know the value of brand differentiation. No matter what your company sells, you’re probably not the only one selling it. In a sea of similar competitors, customers need a compelling reason to choose you. You need to offer them something that no other business can. You need a brand identity that stands out from the crowd. And, to tie it all together, you need a great story.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- What brand differentiation is and why it’s important for your business
- Effective strategies for brand differentiation
Differentiating your brand from the pack takes some real time and effort, but the fundamentals are surprisingly simple. To build a brand differentiation plan from scratch, or to revise one that’s not working as well as it could, it helps to review the basics and implement a few proven strategies.
What is brand differentiation?
Brand differentiation is the process of making your business stand out from the competition by highlighting what makes you unique. At first glance, this seems almost too obvious to bother getting into, but brand competitors are usually shockingly similar to one another. Their services or products are alike, their target audiences overlap — the language they use to talk about themselves might even use the same sets of words. The goal of brand differentiation, therefore, is to give your customers a clear reason why your business is the one that speaks directly to their needs. To do that, you need a clearly defined brand strategy.
How to build your brand differentiation strategy
To stand out in a crowded market, think of your brand like a story. There are only about six basic plots in Western literature, but think of how many ways talented authors have reinvented, reinterpreted, and remixed those plots. After thousands of years and thousands of books, we’re still finding new ways to tell stories. You can find a new way to tell your brand’s story, too.
1. Find your USP
If you haven’t already, the first thing you should do is identify your unique selling proposition or unique selling point (USP). Your business does something better than any of your competitors. Maybe your products are the highest quality, or your customer service goes above and beyond. Perhaps you have expertise the others don’t, or you serve a small, but dedicated, audience. Whatever it is, your USP is the backbone of your brand personality. Distill your USP down into a single sentence, and use that sentence as your guiding principle.
2. Craft an ICP
When you think about your target audience, a specific kind of person probably comes to mind. That person is your ideal customer, and once you add some realistic details, you’ll have your ideal customer profile (ICP). Figure out which marketing channels this customer prefers and what pain points would bring them to your business in the first place. Make your ICP as lifelike as possible, with a specific income, age, race, sex, family situation, and even a name. As you plan every step of your strategy, think about whether it would appeal to your ICP. You could even turn your ICP into an AI persona and “talk” to them directly.
3. Tell a good story
Building a brand means building a connection with your audience. That’s where brand storytelling comes in. Your business didn’t just spring into existence out of thin air. Someone with a vision made it happen. Your brand story can be about your origins, your values, the challenges you’ve overcome, your goals for the future, or all of the above. These ideas help build an emotional connection with your audience, and emotional experiences stick with people. You can tell your story through blogs, podcasts, videos, social media, or whatever form makes the most sense for your customers.
4. Leverage your looks
We get our first impressions about people within seven seconds of seeing them. If real live humans get seven seconds of consideration, you can imagine how much time a logo or a website gets. Your aesthetics are a huge part of your brand identity, from the design of your insignia to the fonts in your marketing materials. You know that you need something eye-catching, but that’s only part of what makes a brand stick. “Cohesion” is the word to remember. Your logo, color scheme, fonts, and layouts should all reflect your USP. They should also be consistent across your website and social media pages.
5. Experiment and see what happens
One effective brand differentiation strategy is simply to do something that’s never been done before. Unfortunately, there’s no surefire way to make that happen. What you can do is try new things frequently and see what pays off. Reach out to bloggers and podcast hosts in your industry and see who wants to collaborate. If someone really likes your brand on social media, lean into it and amplify their voice. Not every bold idea will pan out, but interesting failures can be valuable in the long run.
6. Stand out from the crowd with Highwire
Maybe you’re about to start a brand differentiation project. Maybe you’re in the middle of figuring out your differentiation strategy. Maybe you’re already done, and now you need to get the word out. Whatever stage of the process you’re in, Highwire can help. Our experts can help you pinpoint what makes your business unique, and how you can share your story with the world. Contact us today to start the conversation.
.png)
.png)