As the market becomes more competitive, most brands know that they must differentiate themselves, but they take the safe route when it comes to executing. Instead of being innovative, brands tend to copy the competition. Your brand must distinguish itself in the sea of sameness through a seamless harmony of messaging, branding, and product offerings. It can be intimidating to venture away from the norm on your own, but brands that are successful take on these risks wholeheartedly.
At Control Studio, we look at differentiation as part of our brand definition process. Brand differentiation involves finding innovative ways to engage customers with your brand. Differentiation refers to making your brand stand out from all of your competitors, hence making it more attractive and different from your competition. When it comes to brand differentiation, how and why you do what you do matters more than what you do. Setting yourself apart starts with knowing your purpose, your passions, and your values.
A weak brand will leave you with no option but to compete on price - which can be a race to the bottom. When building a differentiation strategy, we consider many factors about your brand. As part of strategising your brand, we explore a variety of touchpoints, such as identifying your audience and what they care about, researching your competitors and what makes them unique, and establishing your voice through your brand personality. In addition to the above, here are some key aspects of your differentiation strategy.
Innovation
Originality is key to your brand's success. People will not be motivated to choose you over a competitor if you mimic the brand of that competitor. Your messaging will not resonate with your customers if it uses clichés and sales speak.
Trustworthiness
In order to establish trust, your brand must be sincere. Responding to all customer questions on social media with the same copy and pasted corporate response may lead your customers to view you as a soulless machine that only cares about turning a profit. Put more effort into your human side and the "personality" of your brand, which is defined in the branding stage of the strategy.
Intelligence
Brands that understand their target audiences are the most successful and popular. This can be demonstrated by developing messages that are relevant to your target audience. Your wording and targeting should be adjusted based on your research of the target demographics thoroughly on an ongoing basis.
Courage
Bold brands don't back down from taking a stand on controversial issues or testing out new techniques. Your target audience will feel more loyal and respect you with one of these types of marketing campaigns, and you won't risk being seen as "boring" or "just another brand."
Consistency
Your messaging can easily become white noise if it is inconsistent. You want your followers and readers to stick around as long as possible, but to do that you need to establish a sense of familiarity.
Visibility
You can't expect people to respond to your brand in any way if they don't see it. Diversify your strategy by utilising different tactics; for instance, you might post content on external publications to build your reputation, create a social media strategy or invest heavily in advertising and promoting your products.
Our branding services can help if you have an existing brand that needs improvement or if you wish to create a new one. The average consumer won't be able to distinguish you from the rest without a strong brand differentiation, so we want to ensure that doesn't happen to you.