Differentiated Vs. Distinct Brands

I had my eyes opened the other day. That’s one of the things I enjoy most about being in the branding business. You never stop learning. (It’s also simultaneously exciting and humbling to verify that there are people in this world who can still teach me a thing or two about the subject in which I’m supposed to be an expert.) Regular Brandtalk readers know that I’m always urging the owners and managers of marketable assets to build brands that differentiate from their competition. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still important. But I was made to see, recently, that distinction, more than differentiation, is the true holy grail of branding. We know that all businesses have brands, be they good, bad or indifferent. All businesses have that brand relationship with their respective markets even though, sadly, most of them neglect that relationship. But it’s very rare that consumers would say that the competitors within a market are all the same. You may hear someone opine that all banks are alike. But that person does their banking somewhere. They found a preference somehow. That’s because there is some differentiation that occurs naturally between competitors, no matter how alike they might at first appear. The wise competitor will leverage a strong brand strategy to amplify the difference – to the point of distinction. Read more.