When creating a brand or business, it is crucial to define what will be our brand differentiator. Having a strong brand differentiator will allow you to stand out from the competition and be memorable to customers.
What is a Brand Differentiator?
A brand differentiator, whether for a product or service, consists of the elements or characteristics that distinguish you from others and your competitors, enhancing your brand loyalty, sales, and growth.
There are various ways to differentiate your company, and understanding how you can do so will help you create a clear and focused strategy. To achieve this, consider three main types of differentiators:
• Sales
• Branding
• Usage
• Service
Sales-Based Brand Differentiator
Using sales as a differentiator allows you to use the process as a tool to persuade consumers to buy your product or service.
Cost Differentiator
Cost is a very effective differentiator for separating your products from others. However, it’s important not to misunderstand; if there’s a trend to differentiate by being more economical, you can also differentiate by being a more expensive product, which helps change the perception of the brand.
Example of a Sales-Based Brand Differentiator:
Pepsi once differentiated itself by advertising that one Pepsi was worth more than two Coca-Colas, although this was merely allegorical.
Branding as a Differentiator
Using branding as a differentiator means using aesthetics and experiences as tools to achieve good results.
Marketing Differentiation
Having completely alternative, innovative, and unique marketing strategies can help you stand out from the crowd, making your communication and marketing a powerful tool to differentiate yourself.
Brand Differentiation
The brand is the first thing a buyer sees, and it can be a significant differentiator. Being seen differently from others and standing out aesthetically among competitors is a great way to be distinctive.
Experience Differentiator
Brands that offer unforgettable experiences and memorable moments around their product or service allow other companies to be overshadowed, and your customers will constantly remember and think of you.
Example of Branding as a Differentiator:
Popi, a brand, distinguishes itself aesthetically by breaking away from the classic communication of a soda or soft drink, using a clear and direct design that helps users identify what the refreshment is.
Service Differentiation Strategy
A strong and important differentiator is the way companies treat you throughout their process, and the attention, follow-up, and support offered to customers are excellent ways to strongly and significantly differentiate yourself.
Attention Differentiation
Providing good customer service and making customers feel like they are the most important part of your company is an excellent differentiator. 96% of consumers say their buying decisions are based on the customer service provided by the company (information from HubSpot).
Follow-up Differentiation
Having an effective CRM or a follow-up on our customers’ purchases allows us to provide adequate and efficient follow-up, and having the right follow-up and an unforgettable experience allows us to differentiate ourselves from others.
Listening Differentiation
Actively listening to your consumers and making effective changes based on their comments is not only a great differentiator but also allows you to create a large community and stand out from other companies and competitors.
Example of Service Differentiation:
The video game Helldivers made changes that the community disliked, leaving reviews that they did not like the changes, so the developers decided to revert to the previous version and gave all players a new costume to use in the game.
Usage-Based Differentiation
Differentiating by usage is sometimes one of the most relevant because it changes the perception of a product or service, and achieving this is not easy.
Quality Differentiation
Having quality products is a great differentiator because it ensures that your customers will recommend you due to the quality of the product or service and continue buying.
Convenience Differentiation
Users are increasingly looking to save time and have more convenience at all times, so achieving a differentiation by convenience will not only benefit you, but your customers will thank you, especially if you simplify their lives, whether through automation or any type of convenience you can provide.
Innovation Differentiation
When products manage to make significant changes or propose their products or services in a different and innovative way, it is highly valuable to customers or users, and this definitely causes users to look at you differently from how they perceive your competitors.
Example of Usage-Based Differentiation:
Philips Hue smart bulbs, although many bulbs do what they do, stand out from the rest due to their intense colors, the quality of the app, and their interaction with smart assistants.
Although many of the differentiators you must have because the public expects their brands and companies to always have these features, having different elements that separate you from others is essential for achieving good results. Do you already have any of these differentiators in your business?
How many times have you entered a store or searched online for a product, purchased these products, and then, perhaps without knowing why, you find yourself not wanting to shop there again, whether it’s a physical or online store, even though you liked the product and it met your expectations? This could be because the user experience was not ideal or had details that led to this feeling.
What is user experience?
When we talk about user experience, we refer to all the small details that make the user’s interaction with the brand a unique and unforgettable moment. For this experience to be truly unforgettable, it must consider all aspects of the visit, physical or virtual, and details without any failures or causing the user to have a bad time or even a negative feeling.
Today, it’s not only necessary to have a product or service that fulfills expectations—everyone does that, and it’s a standard, no longer a differentiator nor will it help you sell better. What we need to do now is create unique and unforgettable experiences that take your customer to another emotional place, something that makes them remember their experience with your brand.
How to create an unforgettable experience
When we talk about experiences, we must remember that people learn and remember in different ways. Some people are more visual, auditory, or kinesthetic than others, so if we design experiences that involve all five senses with which we experience life, there’s a higher likelihood of staying in their memory more positively.
Design experiences that encompass all five senses:
Hearing
Smell
Touch
Sight
Taste
Each of these should be considered in our experiences to cover every learning style of our users. It’s important to clarify, even though it may seem obvious, that this is intended for physical mediums; you must consider that it changes for digital mediums. Would you like to learn more about UX for digital mediums?
At some point in your life, you’ve likely needed to create and develop a business plan, whether as an entrepreneur or while working on a project for a client or your employer. Crafting a business plan can be an interesting challenge, and you may try to include many aspects that might not be ideal, ending up with lengthy and tedious documents. This is why building your business model with a Business Model Canvas allows you to produce a document that is legible, well-crafted, and competitive, bringing much clarity to your business.
What is the Business Model Canvas?
The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a strategic business tool that helps you conceptualize, present, and visualize your entire business model quickly and efficiently. It is a framework where you can find all the relevant points of your business innovatively and easily.
The Business Model Canvas consists of the following elements:
• Business model: This is your company’s business model, explaining how you will create value and how you will achieve economic and financial benefits.
• Business plan: This is the economic projection expressed in numbers.
• Canvas or Framework: This is the format used to visually present the elements.
What is the Canvas model used for?
Creating your Business Model Canvas will help you discover growth opportunities in your business model. You can identify key partners, discover new ideas, and even plan future actions for your business. The BMC is organized into a matrix of 9 boxes that cover the basic components of your company’s business plan.
The Business Model Canvas was created by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, authors of the book “Business Model Generation,” which has become essential for entrepreneurs worldwide.
What should a Business Model Canvas include?
The business canvas includes 9 boxes, each with relevant elements:
Key Activities
These are tasks that get your business going, the ones that make your business move. They are not your products or services but are the activities that need to be performed for your business to function and progress. Osterwalder suggests you should have three types of activities in this box, and answering the following questions can help identify them:
• What activities are essential to deliver our value proposition?
• What tasks are key to the proper functioning of our distribution channels?
• What activities are crucial in our customer relationships?
• What activities are key to revenue streams?
Key Partners and Associations
Your key partners aren’t necessarily individuals; they can also be associations, companies, or entities that help complement your efforts. It’s important to consider these partners from the start as they are crucial for achieving your objectives.
• Who are our main partners?
• Who are our key suppliers?
• What key resources do we acquire from our partners?
• What key activities do our partners perform?
Key Resources
These refer to the essential resources needed for your business to operate properly, whether they be tools, personnel, financial resources, or technology.
Which communication channels will you use to inform your target market about the value you will provide? This also dictates how you will communicate.
Customer Relationships
Managing your customer relationships is crucial for business growth. Establishing and defining the type of relationship you want with your customers is important for maintaining a stable business and achieving customer loyalty. Here are some questions to consider:
• What kind of relationship does each of our customer segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?
• What relationships have we established?
• How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
Understanding your cost structure is fundamental; remember, a business that doesn’t generate money isn’t a business. Consider fixed and variable costs, economies of scale, and outsourcing. Here are some questions to help:
• What are the most substantial costs inherent in our business model?
• Which key resources are most expensive?
• Which key activities are most expensive?
Revenue Streams
A robust revenue stream is crucial. You must clearly understand why and what customers will pay for in your business. Here are some questions to help clarify this section:
• What value are our customers truly willing to pay for?
• Why do they currently pay?
• How do they currently pay?
• How would they prefer to pay?
• How much does each revenue stream contribute to the total revenues?
Having a Business Model Canvas for your business not only allows you to start with a clear and effective structure for what you want to achieve but also enables you to quickly view all relevant aspects of your business and may even propel you to new horizons by providing clarity.
When we start in digital marketing, it can be overwhelming with all the communication channels available, but don’t worry, each channel has a purpose and functionality. If you are wondering, “What is the best social network for my brand?”, here, we’ll tell you what you can use each for. We won’t cover all of them, but we will address the most common and easiest to use.
First, let’s list the channels we’ll discuss today: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, email, and website. There are many more, but these are the most common ones you can start using.
Facebook
Although everyone wants to seem too cool for Facebook, it remains one of the most used platforms today. It can help you maintain informal communication, but more importantly, it’s one of the platforms that best aids conversion or sales for online stores, ideal for generating and distributing videos.
A great tool for diversifying your campaigns and trying new things, not just for B2C but also for B2B. If done right, it can yield excellent prospects and sales. Additionally, What is the best social network for my brand is a common question, and Facebook often ranks high for its versatility.
Instagram
Facebook’s cooler sibling, this platform allows you to be a bit more informal and fun. You can communicate your daily activities and run clear campaigns that attract a more demanding audience. You can afford to relax your communication here, share your day-to-day in reels, keep people informed about your brand with stories and carousels. When wondering, "What is the best social network for my brand?”, Instagram often comes up for its visual appeal and engagement.
TikTok
This social network is coming on strong. It’s common to fear it because of the ages of its users, but 71% of TikTok users are between 18 and 34 years old. If your audience isn’t in this age range, well, they’ll grow into it eventually. TikTok is ideal for gaining new audiences and positioning your brand. Allow yourself to be fun and different; the more casual, the better. When asking What is the best social network for my brand, TikTok might be ideal for reaching younger demographics.
LinkedIn
The corporate buddy, on this social network you should share work events you attend, achievements, and if you can post videos or articles, they are super useful for your organic positioning. It’s a great tool for business positioning and very useful for B2B, though it’s also good for B2C.
WhatsApp
While easy to use and allows for mass messaging, it’s very private for the user. It’s important to be careful with the communication we make through this medium and when we do it, we seek prior user authorization to start anything here. Ideal for informing about new discounts, shipping guides, or any other type of information.
Mail
Email is ideal for more formal or slightly more intrusive communication. From cold prospecting to email marketing with relevant information for users, it’s a very good tool as if they open the email, they are completely captivated and only read your information. Is email the best social network for my brand? While not a social network per se, it serves a complementary role.
Website
A website is essential today. A basic for starting a business, having a website allows you to communicate and sell, especially if it’s an e-commerce. The website is ideal for sharing news, discounts, or writing about topics relevant to your business or users. This is a basic for all types of businesses.
These are some of the communication channels you can use, though there are more in this era like Yelp, YouTube, Eventbrite, and many more channels. We can’t cover everything, but we can tell you that it’s important to have direct communication spaces with your users and customers. So, when considering What is the best social network for my brand, think about what aligns most with your goals. Do you already have some of them or what are you waiting for?
When we think about a value proposition, we sometimes get confused and think about the product or service, but it’s not just that. The value proposition goes beyond; it focuses on giving the brand a heart, a spirit.
A value proposition is not necessarily the product; sometimes it is an intangible concept that represents the brand. For instance, Tesla’s value proposition is “To accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy.” This value proposition is so strong that consumers defend the product despite the brand’s issues.
Having a solid and clear value proposition will not only help you sell products or services but will also allow you to build a community that will not only purchase from you but will also defend you because they share the same values. Where your brand aims to go is where they want to go too.
What is a value proposition?
The value proposition is the spirit or heart of your business, which encompasses all the approaches, desires, and objectives of the company; it clearly explains the product or service and how it solves problems, the specific benefits it provides, and why people should choose you. It is a way to show the unique value you bring.
What is the purpose of a value proposition?
Having a value proposition brings many benefits as a business, among which it allows customers to clearly identify the specific needs you cover, enabling you to be clearer in your messages and products.
How do I create my value proposition?
To create a value proposition, you can use tools like the business model canvas, which will help clarify your value proposition.
Creating a powerful value proposition for your business might seem difficult, but it’s not impossible. It’s important to consider all points.
Process for creating your value proposition:
1. Identify the problem your product solves: Before defining a solution, you must understand the problem. This problem should arise from your customers’ frustrations. If there is no customer frustration, there is no problem to solve. Without a problem, there is no solution, and without a solution, there is no product. It’s that simple.
2. Define your target audience: The target audience refers to the specific group of people who are most likely to need your product. This group can vary based on interests, gender, location, age, and even income.
3. Differentiate from the competition: The value proposition plays a crucial role here. It’s essential to know your competitors thoroughly to understand what makes you unique.
Once you can answer these three questions, you will be ready to create your Value Proposition Canvas following the appropriate outline.
You can use the value proposition canvas.
This canvas will guide you and help you better address your value proposition. Do you already know your value proposition clearly?
