Brand Differentiation: 12 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

Building recognizable and compelling brand is one of the key things company need to accomplish in order to gain success in these uptight times. Otherwise - if consumers can’t tell difference between your company and the competitors - why even bother trying? One needs to find ways to differentiate his brand from the competitors, set it apart by highlighting unique features and substantial advantages in the field.

That is what brand differentiation is all about. It covers every aspect of business operation - from the way the logo of the company looks like to the features of the product and its representation. It is directly connected with the perception of the brand by the consumers - the way company positions itself, its price policy, presentation of the products and services, etc, etc.

There are dozens upon dozens of different ways of constructing differentiation strategies. It is relatively easy to get lost in this goodness.

Here are 12 most effective ways to differentiate your brand.

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1 Meaningful concept

Here’s obvious fact - The Idea comes first. Everything else is built around her. It must ooze intensity like it has to defuse a bomb. Meaningful concept opens up the potential of your brand. It shows what it is all about - as a company, as a symbol, as a product. It attracts and builds the audience. It includes thorough definitions of the following things:

• Target audience the company is trying to appeal;
• Engaging value shared by target audience;
• Research of the market;
• what other companies are offering?
• what are the competition possibilities?

• Probable benefits the company can offer for their customers;
• Compelling reasons to trust company;
• What are the guarantees that the company will deliver what it promises?

2 Ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃｓ

The first and foremost thing you have to think about upon constructing differentiation strategy is solid and consistent brand iconography and overall aesthetic.

That goes well beyond memorable logo to every external aspect of the company - the way buttons on your website looks like, specific fonts of choice, the style of illustration, color schemes, etc. All this builds up brand identity. All these elements must be appealing to the customer and be able visually present what the company is all bout.

While doing that you need to keep in mind that all this must serve to highlight the advantages of the company and its product and complement its presentation.

3 On-site user experience

Website is the cornerstone of your brand. It is a calling card of your company. In many cases - the way it looks defines the perception of the company. Because of that it can’t be just an info dump with some generic mumbo-jumbo and contact information.

In order to make your website relatable but in the same time distinct - you need to go beyond slapping holy trinity of logo, tagline and hero images. You need to combine appealing and utilitarian elements in order to forge comfortable user experience. This includes:

• Action-oriented intuitive navigation;
• Relevant information that is useful for target audience;
• Blog with tips, updates and other content;
• More specific guides on important topics;
• Possibility of further communication via chat or comments or contact form;
• Thorough company info.

Also keep in mind mobile experience. Website must be adaptable to mobile platforms. That means some changes in presentation. First of all - it has to simplified. Little mobile screen can handle too many things - the design scheme must be streamlined. Everything must be on the surface - easy to find.

4 Accessibility

The best way to differentiate your brands and increase its level of recognition is to make it the brand visible and easily accessible. It doesn’t mean you have to spend more money on ad campaign or something. It means you need to use internet creatively in order to boost visibility and accessibility of your brand.

This achieved through combination of search engine optimization and keyword-induced snappy catchy copywriting. Mixed with brand identity that pulls double duty of providing information for those who are looking and giving him taste of your style.

5 Smart & adaptable pricing

One of the key elements of making the brand distinct is the way prices for the products and services are formed. Price must reflect the qualities of the product.

There are two distinct approaches.

• One strategy is to make price slightly higher than the average for similar services or products and that must be directly connected and justified by notion of the higher quality. It is called differentiation via perceived quality, engaging service and other commodities.
• The other solution is to make the product economic bestseller affordable for everyone - countering higher priced competitors with basically the same package. It might be barebones, no-bullshit version or “just essential” variation.

Either way - the price needs to be justified and explained to target audience in detail so that they could understand what are they paying for.

6 Use of emotions

This might seem odd but emotions are very important factor in brand perceptions. Sometimes certain positioning or design seem scare off potential customer just because it has the “wrong vibe”. In order to impact decision making - you need to create appealing impression that is further assisted by reasonable proposal. You need to convince customer that your product feels like the right option.

You can do that through creating the right context for making decision - by taking customer’s own experience of using similar products and mashing it with information prepared for comparison. To quote Missy Elliot - “Is it worth it, let me work it - I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it”.

From a design standpoint that means you need to count in emotional perception of color and shape scheme before implementing them.

In terms of positioning it is a bit more complicated. Customer is the one makes the decision to use or not to use services of your company. But the decision is based on gut instinct and emotional reaction to the offered product.

7 Different style of competition

The way you react to the market and its transformations is also very important factor in brand differentiation. It forms the basis for the customer’s perception of the company. Because of that you need to be cautious of your actions.

You can study your competitors but you can’t copy their strategies - instead you need to sock’em your way and “make it new”. That will add drastic difference to the brand and will make it stood out from the rest.

In order to do that you need to be in the know of the state of things in the business, follow the actions of your competitors, study them, find the right spots that were unmentioned, ignored or uncovered and push on them instead. Another viable option is changing the angle of presentation - when you seemingly do the same thing but in a different way aesthetically and contextually.

8. Caring customer service

You never know what customer is really thinking when he is interacting with your brand. It is ever changing. However there is one thing that positively affects and improves general perception of the brand in any case - it is customer service. You need to show that you care about your customers through little seamless things. It includes:

• Competent technical support ready to rumble 24/7;
• Easy to follow definitions and descriptions that provide customer with full scope of understanding of the product;
• Pleasant and engaging design scheme;

It should be noted that taking care of a customer must be natural, not showy and not overbearing. Otherwise it will make the customer suspicious and turn him away from your brand. You need to be creative with the ways your service and product is presented to the customer.

9 Segment specific orientation

Another vital point in making effective brand differentiation strategy is precise and focused orientation on the specific segment of the market instead of attempting to appeal to every possible demographic thus spreading too thin and turning into “nothing in particular”.

In terms of branding it is relatively easy to pull. Design themes must circle around related subjects. The manner of phrasing and lexicon must be adapted to the segment-specific terms. These two things increase trustworthiness of the brand in the eyes of TA.

The other point is that segment-specific approach allows to build intimacy between the company and the user. You can lean into more specific things and speak directly without much manufactured buzzword-induced newspeak.

10 Expanded appeal

While you need to stay focused on the key segment of the market - you also need to think about expanding and broadening the audience. The reasons for that are simple: you can’t rely simply on those who are already interested. You need engage new users. You need to be their guide on the subject. While this is not really effective without a build-in audience back-up - it is effective solution in the long run.

This is made through careful and gradual engagement of other audience via exploratory materials and inventive advertising which shifts focus from the credentials of the segment to the things that are interesting to the projected unengaged audience.

11 Innovate Redefine Excel

Bringing something new to the table is a must for any company that wants to distinguish itself from the competitors. Not only it is rock solid guarantee of attracting positive attention and probably interest from the target audience and competitors but it also a nice way to raise the stake in the market segment. Companies are always playing catch-up with one another - whether it is new technical solution or different design philosophy or simply another way of saying same old thing.

Speaking of which - redefining the old concept is another viable option. Based on thorough market research you can find another angle to present old problem. Or you can

12 Give something back

The last but not least way of standing out from the rest is to offer something back. With a solid audience, certain level of intimacy and trust from the customers - you can act differently. You can share something else, something special with your audience. Some kind of gift or insight - some kind of gesture of gratefulness for their trust and support.

It should be noted that this approach goes way beyond interacting with audience to the community in general. You can donate money for certain causes or you create a foundation for some greater good purposes.

In any way - it should that your company is acting responsible and is ready not only to take something but also give something back.

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In conclusion

Nature of the market is such that it embraces innovative ways of thinking but also appreciates distinct connections with the past practices. That is not just some old-timer grumblings - it serves as a sort of precaution signifier that company has a clue about what they are doing and not just goof around, grin and shook the shoes.

Because of that one can’t just make up the whole thing from the ground up from out of nowhere. There needs to be a balance between tried and tested methods and new solutions.

That is the key for the effective brand differentiation.