How to create a standout brand
There will never be another you. Never. Ever. Again.
How do we know this? The answer is found in our genes. The human genome is made up of three billion base pairs. This means that every one of us seven billion people on the planet has the capacity for countless variations within our genomes. So while we may seem similar at the end of the day, we are all unique, down to the fabric of our DNA.
What does this mean for your brand? It means you can create a brand that is idiosyncratically YOU. And capturing that difference is what becomes critically important to every successful brand, entrepreneur and career path.
In order to discover then design your unique brand successfully, you need to approach the process strategically.
By first understanding what makes you different.
There are four aspects to what makes your brand unique:
- Peculiarity: Your offering needs to be different from any other and is a crucial point of distinction in a competitive marketplace. In essence it’s what is peculiar about you that will stand out in the marketplace. It’s the advantage your business has, by doing more, doing it better or by doing something extra that your competition or the marketplace can’t or won’t.
- Vitality: The ringing, incessant din of constant messages, ads, videos and faces is never-ending in our highly connected world. So how do you stand out? With a vitally great story. A unique interesting story about your brand that tells people about what makes you unique and distinct and the vital solution you’re bringing them helps people remember you and/or your business and why it was created.
- Significance: It’s so easy on our technology fuelled age to forget the humanity we share. Your brand needs to be human – this means sharing your values, beliefs, achievements, mistakes, challenges and obstacles you’ve overcome to achieve success – all these work together to make your brand more approachable and relatable. What’s more, putting faces to these shared stories is what adds more significance to the brand.
- Spirit: This relates to how much energy and commitment you give to your principles and how you communicate them with your audience. Your passion adds to the flames that turn you into a firebrand – a word we’ve liberated here on Ambsdr to mean brands that are disrupters, trailblazers, starters, stirrers and game changers who exist not just for their own cause but also for the cause of others.
The challenge is to create a brand that is amazingly, distinctively, significantly and even eccentrically you.
Insight Inspiration:
What are the aspects that make you or your brand and idea unique?
For a personal brand, what are best talents, skills and ideas you have to share with the world?
For a business, what do you have to offer that’s unique about you or your business?
What are the top three to five key messages you’ll use as “proof points” to support your positioning?
What attributes do you want your audience to associate with your brand every time they encounter it?
What is your brand persona or point of view? For example, are you strong, stable, creative, quirky, trusted, smart, safe, dependable, helpful, edgy, expert, etc.?
Answering the questions above will be crucial in helping you design the unique brand you’ve always wanted.
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