The 6 Most Powerful Ways to Differentiate Your Brand

One of the most important things a brand should do is create relevant differentiation for its products and services. Most brands strive to do this. But some do it far better than others.

First, these are important considerations in creating brand differentiation:

• Brands should focus on delivering one or two customer benefits or shared values that are unique and compelling within their product/service categories.

• Emotional, experiential and self-expressive benefits are much more powerful than functional benefits.

• Related to this, appealing to the “heart” is much more important than appealing to the “head.” Emotions drive behavior. Reason justifies it.

• Finally, it is not enough for a brand to promise benefits. It must consistently deliver those benefits.

These are the 6 most powerful ways to differentiate your brand.

1. Stand for something. Have a strong set of values. Align these values with your customers’ values. Create a community around those values. Examples of this: FOX News, Tesla Motors, Patagonia, Harley-Davidson

2. Brand as a badge. Focus on self-expressive benefits. People love to use brands to reinforce their self-concept or to make a specific statement to the world. Examples of this: Mercedes-Benz (I have social status), MINI-Cooper (I am unique-notice me), Apple (I am hip/cool), Toyota Prius (I care about the environment)

3. Create a superior customer experience. Examples of this: The Ritz-Carlton: Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen, Apple with its aesthetically appealing, intuitively easy products, the Build-A-Bear experience compared to buying another teddy bear brand off a retail shelf

4. Innovate, disrupt the industry, deliver value in new unanticipated ways. Examples of this: Netflix, Amazon.com, Toyota Prius,