I hope we’ve established that marketing is branding and branding is marketing, so let’s talk a little about making yourself distinctive – the very heart of good branding.
A MENTAL BOX:
In branding what you want to do above all is create a separate box in the mind of the public which you and you alone occupy. There is no one and nothing else in this “mental box”.
You achieve distinctiveness by doing this. Your potential customers can latch on to this identity and start associating their own thoughts, feelings and experience with it, as well as those you supply.
IT’S A CATEGORY:
What you’re really doing is creating a category of your own. Chances are that, whatever you’re doing or offering, there are many others doing or offering what would appear to be the same thing.
Instead of trying to compete with someone in an existing category, you “narrow” that category so far down that you create a new one. You create a new “box” that people can put you, in in their mind, that is different from everyone else.
CHARACTER:
What this also is, is an identity. In other words, people can identify themselves (the important word here) with your brand. Just as one identifies with people they like, their pets, their school, their heroes, their home town or the groups they may belong to, they identify with a brand… IF you give them quality, character, and something that sets you apart from others.
For help in effectively branding yourself, email us at hello@21thirteen.com or call us at 646 808 0249. We’re looking forward to getting emotionally involved with your brand.
