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October 11, 2005
More on Differentiation: Building Aspirational Brands
The more similar competing organizations are, the more important any difference becomes. And when meaningful differences are difficult (or impossible) to find in a product or service, the market will find differences outside of them.
Your customers will define you, if you don’t define yourself.
That’s why, for many organizations, the key to success is differentiation. Even if nearly identical in many ways to other competitive offerings, your prospects and customers do perceive differences. And these differences influence purchase decisions, and relationships.
But how do you define these differences? You start by gathering information, and understanding the essence of your brand as perceived both internally by your employees and externally by your customers, and the market.
Where do you want to go… tomorrow?
This research, and analysis of the data that must both drive and validate your approach, doesn’t tell the whole story.
It’s relatively easy to capture both “present state” and “aspirational” brand attributes, values, and differentiators if you are smart, are a research expert (or have a team at your disposal) and understand both your business, and the underpinnings of high-performing brands. But what isn’t easy – perhaps impossible – is to create true differentiation by relying totally on what exists today.
Startegy+Creativity
Yes, building a brand based on “present state” values and attributes takes both strategic acumen and research skill. But defining a brand that truly says “We’re Different; We’re Better; We’re Special” takes something more. It takes creativity. Simply interpreting the numbers without a focused creative lens won’t drive the type of category-defining brand that many high-performing organizations wish to become.
As Harry Beckwith points out in the book Selling the Invisible, "Create the possible service; don't just create what the market needs or wants. Create what it would love."
Creative? I plead guilty. But creativity with a purpose, grounded in solid, proven methodologies that allow a confident leveraging of who you are and who you wish to be, with a focus on who you have the potential of becoming.
Posted by MCorp. at 11.10.2005 08:50 | Permalink
Comments
"Even if nearly identical in many ways to other competitive offerings, your prospects and customers do perceive differences. And these differences influence purchase decisions, and relationships."
You prove that perfect competition does not exist!
My Econ professor was right! Imagine that...
Posted by: Patrick at October 26, 2005 9:38 AM