What's up brand builder Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video you're going to learn how to create a differentiation strategy so you can put in place
effective and repeatable processes to give the brands that you build a competitive advantage
now if you're new to the channel and you want to build brands that go beyond the visuals and
the logo using strategy psychology and creative thinking and you're in the right place hit that
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now i created a video recently on what brand differentiation strategy is if you haven't
seen that yet i'll leave a link in the description below but in a nutshell it's the reason that you
give your audience to choose your brand over your competition now targeting a broad market
might take a different approach to targeting a narrow market and that is where the strategy
comes into play so let's have a look at broad differentiation versus focused differentiation
now there are many different ways to differentiate and there is no one-size-fits-all approach
two of the overarching strategic directions that you can choose are broad and focused
differentiation now the size of the market and the goal of the brand should influence which direction
that the brand takes so let's have a look at these two overarching strategies in a little more detail
so what exactly is broad differentiation strategy well it's the strategy that a brand takes when it
aims to differentiate itself from the competition while also appealing to a broader market now this
tends to be a little bit more difficult as there are more competitors across broader markets and
less opportunity to appeal directly to specified segments
so how's that different to focus differentiation strategy well this strategy takes a narrower
approach and within this approach brands will aim to appeal to more specified segments
of a given market now through specified and relevant features of products and services
and offerings they become more relevant through the outcomes that they offer and the communication
that they lead with as well so the focus communication strategy
and the focus differentiation strategy gives brands more relevancy to talk to smaller or
niche market segments so let's take a look at an example but before we do don't forget to hit that
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just like this so let's take a look at a differentiation strategy example with whole foods
now whole foods core difference is the organic and natural characteristics of
their products yet they haven't gone so far as to niche down into a small segment of the market and
only appeal to a small segment of the market whole foods strategy is broad based because they target
all market segments and the products that they sell are suitable for all customers regardless
of their age or gender now because they target all market segments their popularity and broad
appeal has allowed for this monumental growth of the brand and that avoids the limitations of
smaller and niche markets as well so how do you go about developing a differentiation strategy for
your brand well developing a brand from purpose to difference to personality to identity it's
all about systems when you have step-by-step repeatable processes to follow that's when you
can achieve the best results for your brands and find that consistency in the quality of your work
so let's take a look at the step-by-step process that you can use to develop differentiation
strategies for your brands step number one define your audience now before defining a difference you
need to understand exactly who you're appealing to so that you can define a different that's most
likely going to appeal to who they are now this is where many brands fall short they put the cart
before the horse and they define a difference then try to make that difference fit into the audience
but if you approach your difference in a customer-centric way by understanding who they are
and what they want what their needs and challenges and desires are then you can design a difference
to speak to who they are and what they want step number two conduct competitive analysis now when
you know who your audience is then you can see your competitors in a brighter light now these
are the brands who are already meeting the wants and the needs of your defined audience and the
better you understand their strengths and their weaknesses the better you're positioned to compete
now to do this effectively you need to become the customer and really experience these competitors
as immersively as you can the deeper you go into the customer journey of your competitors and their
brand experience the more insights that you'll be able to find step number three identify gaps and
opportunities now conducting competitive analysis is not about finding your competitors and seeing
what they're doing well and replicating what they're doing it's about identifying whether
not meeting the wants and the needs of your audience as effectively as they could be
now effective competitive analysis uncovers insights yet these insights are only insights
to uncover real gaps and opportunities needs time attention exploration and creativity as well
deep exploration from these insights is where the disruptors are born step number four define your
difference now once you have these opportunities and you've identified clear gaps then you want to
put these under a microscope you don't want to just take them as is and say that's good enough
we'll run with that difference you really want to put this under the microscope and analyze the
viability the difficulty and the profitability of that opportunity as well an opportunity may exist
that's out of your reach due to the difficulty of execution or it might be easy to execute
but it lacks profitability a truly effective differentiation strategy has to add value to
enhance the experience of your audience but it also has to allow the brand to increase revenue
and market share as well now today there are more businesses in more markets competing for more
customers than ever before in history fulfilling a want or a need is not enough anymore that's
only the beginning it's only table stakes and it certainly isn't enough to get that attention
only when you can define the difference that provides your audience with an alternative to
what's already out there that they deem valuable are you in with a shot of attracting the right
audience who values what you do otherwise you're just another business making up the numbers and
contributing to that market noise now if you're about to define a difference for your brand and
you want to look at the different approaches that you can use in your positioning strategy then this
video will help you out until next time brand like a master and I'll see you in the next video