Brand strategy: how to find your differential value

It is clear that the last thing you want to be is one more among the multitude. You need to find what makes you stand out, that unique competitive advantage over others. If you lack or you are not able to communicate it to your clients, you will get lost in the crowd. 

With this post we want to tell you how you can find and exploit what is a true virtue for the market: your differential value. 

There are certain techniques that will help you perform a competitive analysis of both competition and your brand. You just need to take a little perspective and be objective when it comes to reflecting data. 

My recommendation is always to start from a SWOT matrix. You do not need any complicated software for this, in fact, just a pen and paper. 

Basically, it consists of creating a matrix with 4 segments: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In each of them, list those characteristics that make up your identity as a brand, but - and this is very important - always do it from the perspective of what affects the client and not from a business perspective. 

As it may be difficult to be able to abstract from the conception that we have in mind of ourselves as a brand and company, it can help you to resort to certain qualitative techniques.  

Numbers are there and, although they can be twisted, they are quite sincere. But when we enter to value other aspects that involve people, it becomes necessary to think like them. 

What techniques can be used? 

There are many options, such as user tests, focus groups in which a sample of our potential audience interacts with our product or service, surveys or, probably one of the best alternatives to propose a SWOT: buyer people, who are archetypes you can design an interlocutor with your motivations, brakes and needs in order to confront your brand and business model. 

Here we enter into, what we call, a unique selling proposition (also known as USP). 

What is this? It is about synthesizing in a concept what we have extracted from our own analysis and from the competition. It has to be a good copywriting job that combines: 

And all this in a language that is understandable and persuasive for your client, that is, using natural codes. If you suggest a proposal of unique value that gets lost in technical jargon or that is supported by a tone that is not suitable for that target audience, you will be failing resoundingly. 

We have said that it is about creating a concept, but that does not mean exclusively creating a tagline or a slogan. There is much more. We have to spread the message to different elements such as a good headline, subtitle, supporting texts, outstanding bullet points and, of course, a good choice of the images and videos that go with it. It has to be transversal, to convey the idea supported by all these resources. 

When building an USP that summarizes the differential value of your brand, there are some resources that never fail, such as appealing to savings (lowest market price, free shipping, fast shipping, good return policy ...). Find what makes you stand out and boost it to the fullest.