The essence of marketing is differentiation – separating your product or business from other, similar competitors in the minds of potential customers. Not exactly rocket science, but it’s astounding to me how many businesses of all stripes fail to grasp this fundamental precept.
If you’re doing it right, your first marketing consideration is your competitive edge: the specific way your product or service will be demonstrably superior to your competition. The key words here are specific and demonstrably superior. If you aren’t specific, your planning will lack focus. If your superiority is not demonstrable, it is not real. If you say that you offer lower prices, for example, then you must be able to prove that your prices are lower. If you say that you offer higher quality, then you must find ways to demonstrate that quality to prospective buyers.
Other ways businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors might include “fastest”, “most experienced”, or “widest selection”, but there are scores, hundreds, even thousands of others that are equally valid. David Ogilvy helped Dove soap become a top-seller by claiming it made other soaps “old fashioned” and capturing Dove’s unique competitive edge with the memorable headline, “Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream.” He could have positioned Dove as a detergent bar for men with dirty hands but chose instead to position it as a toilet bar for women with dry skin. It’s still considered a brilliant example of market differentiation.
Once you’ve settled on a competitive edge, concentrate on crafting a clear statement that communicates the difference. Better still, especially if you have the luxury of being in the start-up phase, choose a name that communicates the difference. For example, if you saw a series of caterers with the names Chuckwagon Catering, Elite Catering, Quickee Catering and Exotic Catering, you know which one you’d call for a dinner party tomorrow night, and which one for an outdoor barbecue. And if you saw one named T&S Catering in that list, you might be hard pressed to think why you’d want to call them at all.
Establishing and communicating your competitive edge is an important aspect of branding — but that’s a topic for another time.