Does Your Brand Have a Point of Difference or a Red Flag?

During a recent hotel stay, I saw a brochure promoting a cultural destination that singled out two of its accomplishments. This destination was chosen as “one of six best buildings in the world for 2007.” It was also the first building of its kind in the world to meet a set of exacting environmental specifications.

While both accomplishments were surely hard-earned and worth touting to some degree, are these dusty factoids drawing visitors to this destination? Similarly, if it turns out I’m the tallest marketer in the 45202 zip code, does a basic fact do anything to establish my abilities?

When choosing ways to differentiate your brand from the crowd, claims like “first one in the world” seem like a safe bet. But if these claims don’t resonate with your target audience and reinforce your goal they’ll come off as overcompensation.

The next time you’re establishing a brand, topic or source with a target audience make sure you ask an important question on behalf of your audience: “Who cares?” This will help you stand out for the right reasons.

Altered Reailty VI uploaded by Yushimoto

Comments

[Stuart Foster]

Just ensure you appeal to your customers/target audience. If you do this and directly engage them in an effective manner you will have actually fulfilled a unique value prop.

[Stuart Pearcey]

I've long believed there's a real danger that much literature is produced by some organisations not to satisfy an external audience, but to satisfy senior people within them, who THINK the external audience is interested to the same degree they are.

To pick up on your example, my first thought would have been "What are the first five?; let's go there!", because, let's face it, saying that anything is amongst the top six of its kind makes it the sixth...

[Promotional Products]

Very interesting article, I like what you're saying here. You must be able generate that 'care' gene in people, if you will. What makes you different and why should people care. This can be a difficult task sometimes and it take a creative person to come up with this distinguishing factor(s).