What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this video
you're going to learn what differentiation strategy is so you can define a compelling
reason for your audience to choose your brand and create an advantage over your competition
now if you're new to the channel and you want to build brands that go beyond the visuals using
strategy psychology and creative thinking then you're in the right place hit that subscribe
button and the notification bell if you want to fast track your results make sure you grab the
program strategy blueprint it's a free download and the link is in the description now when you
develop a brand whether it's for yourself or for a client the overarching goal of developing that
brand is to make the business more appealing to the audience now a brand identity on its own is
not going to do that for you a beautifully clean modern brand identity might look good but without
a compelling reason to give your audience then it's not going to matter and that's where the
differentiation strategy comes in so what is differentiation strategy well in a nutshell it's
why your brand is different now that's an overly simplistic explanation so let's break it down in
a little bit more detail within every market you have a group of people with a want or a need and
meeting that want or a need are a group of brands now a brand with a solution is just table stakes
you need a solution for the want or the need of the audience just to sit at the table but more
often than not how you deliver your solution is the defining factor within the buying decision
so the unique way in which you deliver your solution is your differentiation strategy now
not only is this the reason that you give your audience to choose your brand or your competitors
ultimately it is your competitive edge so why is differentiation strategy so important well when we
buy goods or services we want value for money now every person is different of course some people
will be more attracted by the best price whereas other people will be attracted by the best quality
but as i said we're all very different people and there are many more buying considerations
than just price and quality if you're short on time for example you might value convenience
but if you have plenty of time on your hands you might put a higher value on the experience
now the list of buying decisions may be very long and the differentiation strategy will put a focus
on the buying decisions that the brand wants to be known for and in doing that they will attract
the type of people who place a high value on those buying decisions and these are the reasons
that you provide your audience to choose your brand of your competitors and this is why brand
differentiation is so important a brand without a differentiation strategy is a brand that has an
audience without a reason to choose them a brand with a compelling differentiation strategy has
by nature a competitive edge provided of course they can back that up now every business wants
a competitive edge over their competition so they can attract more audience towards them
and away from their competitors the more unique and defensible your differentiation strategy is
the more valuable your competitive edge so let's have a look at the types of differentiation
strategy that you can use but before we do don't forget to hit the like and subscribe
and the notification bell will let you know when i've got new videos just like this
now differentiation strategy and brand strategy in general is a creative game and it's limited
only by creativity there are many different ways to differentiate your brand but there are specific
categories of differentiation that show up time and again so let's have a look at those price
differentiation so this could be low price or high price now low price has obvious advantages but it
has high risks as well and high price has this value perception that there is an added quality
there so price differentiation can be either high or low product differentiation so examples here
include features performance efficiency effectiveness durability reliability or
warranty etc service differentiation so here we're talking about delivery installation convenience
accessibility production value or customer service channel differentiation can include coverage your
expertise or performance or even accountability and being in channels that your competitors aren't
relationship differentiation so here we're talking about the competence of your service or
the courtesy that you're offered the credibility the reliability responsiveness communication or
support image differentiation so here we're talking about brand identity your personality
your tone of voice your brand attributes anything that influences the perceived image of your brand
and then experiential differentiation so examples here include content marketing education
user experience customer service checkout experience brand activation
or interactive engagements now currently there are more businesses in more industries in more
markets trying to attract more people than ever before so standing out in any market today
is difficult and if you don't have a compelling reason to give your audience to choose your brand
over your competitors then you're simply not in the game these are just table stakes
to be able to provide your audience with a solution is not enough anymore you need
to provide a unique experience or unique way you can deliver that solution when compared to
your competitors if you take the time to do this well you might just create something that every
business and every brand strives for which is a competitive advantage if you want to dive deeper
into differentiation and positioning and you want to know how to position your brand effectively in
this video will help you out until next time brand like a master and i'll see you in the next video