20 Ways You Can Differentiate Your Brand From The Competition

When I started my podcast and my business, the first thing that people would ask me was: what is so different about you/your product/your service?

You may have heard of Seth Godin’s concept of a “Purple Cow” - the idea that in a field of cows if there were a purple cow, it would stand out. The point he was getting at is that you have to be remarkable to stand out in today’s market. He later wrote a blog post titled “ridiculous is the new remarkable” where he argued (as the name implies) that being ridiculous is the new way to stand out in crowded markets.

All this marketer talk about standing out got my head spinning. How am I supposed to stand out in my market? How am I different? How do I become a purple cow? Am I remarkable? Should I do something ridiculous?

In the early days, when people would ask me what’s differnet about me, I’d take it as a personal attack. It felt like they were saying, why bother doing what you’re doing if you’re not different from all the other people doing it?

As my podcast and my business has evolved over time, I’ve come to find that there were several ways that I was already different. My problem was that I didn’t know how to communicate the ways that my podcast and business were different.

If you’re struggling to answer how you’re different, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide we’ll give you a list of ideas to help get your mind going and give you clarity on what your differentiator is.

Whether you have a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, or are posting on social media, there are a number of ways to differentiate the content you make from the seemingly endless sea of competition.

The key to effective differentiation in content creation is to iterate as you go. Its important to keep chugging along, see what works, what people connect with, and double down on those things. If you never put anything out into the world, you will never know if the differentiator works.

Since the barriers to entry in content are so low, these differentiators can often be replicated (except you of course). It is increasingly important to keep innovating and trying new things because what set you apart today may not be what sets you apart tomorrow. For example, you start a blog about a topic no one else is speaking about, someone else can create a website for free and talk about the same stuff. That’s when you have to start adding the other layers of differentiation into your content.

The most iconic product businesses are able to take raw materials, add some branding, and charge a hefty premium for the product. One of the best examples of this is how a can of coca cola can sell for upwards of a dollar even though the cost of the raw materials - carbonated water, syrup, plastic - amounts to mere pennies.

Here are some ideas to differentiate your product:

In order to charge a premium for your product you don’t necessarily need to be noticeably different - can you really taste the difference between coke and pepsi? However, you do need to be able to communicate how you’re different to the market. Coca cola has global distribution, is always top of mind with ads that associate the product with happiness, and has the allure of the coke secret formula.

One of the traps you can easily fall into in a service based business is too much differentiation. Here’s what I mean by that, if you do completely custom work for each client you have and its in various different domains then your work is different and unique, but it now becomes a lot harder to explain your value to a specific market. When starting out its best to focus on one specific problem you solve for your target audience and build from there. Here are some ideas to stand out while you solve that problem.

Start with one differentiator that feels most natural and start adding it to your communications. Don’t overthink this. Communicating your differentiator isn’t going to magically solve all your problems, but it does have some benefits like attracting the right clients and being able to charge a premium.

Once you’ve decided what it is that is different about your brand, its time to start communicating that to your target audience. You want to carefully craft essentially an elevator pitch for when people ask you what you do so that you can quickly explain your business and why they should buy from you.

Once you have your pitch down, don’t limit yourself to using it when people ask you about why you’re different, use it as marketing material. The people that resonate with your message will be attracted to you.

Keep in mind that your differentiator doesn’t have to be truly unique to you. It can often be more about perception than it is about actual functional differences. For some time, Apple did not have the greatest technology inside the box, but they always carried the perception that they were innovators really pushing the limit with each new product.

If you’re opening up a coffee shop you’re competing with the starbucks’ and dunkin’s of the world. When you speak to people about your coffee shop you want to let them know why they should come to your coffee shop over the coffee they’re used to. Do you have some new flavor, a different type of environment, a purpose driven mission? Make sure to communicate this differentiator every opportunity you get.

Always remember: you already have multiple differentiators, you just have to decide which one you want to lean into for your communications.