Building a unique brand is the number one difference between the businesses that thrive and those that disappear into obscurity.

Your business will have competitors. These will either be look-a-like products OR products that satisfy the same needs as you do. Using Energy Drinks as an example. The direct competitors are other energy drinks, but the indirect competitors are any liquid that gives the customer a pep in their step- this could be coffee, CSD’s (Carbonated soft drinks) or if we focus on the need state exclusively (pick me up), this could even be chocolate or sweets. Who your competitors are and what they do are outside your control, but the one thing you can focus on is your brand. Your focus needs to be on building a brand that wins the hearts and minds of their customers so that you are top of mind when it comes to purchasing.

Despite humans thinking that we are logical and rational decision-makers, we weigh up facts and make considered judgments. This is bollocks.

Many studies have shown that the majority of our purchasing decisions are made emotionally. With an emotional response being triggered if a person feels something. And when you feel something you are more likely to remember something.

So the difference between a product and a brand, is that a brand makes the customer feel something.

This does not mean that your brand should be looking to make people blub in a corner, or laugh hysterically. It means that you should be building an identity that people will connect positively with.

This should be centred on your business DNA, your unique essence that lives and breathes this in every aspect of your business, from your visual look and feel, your tone of voice, your customer service through to how and where people can purchase you. For example, you are a beauty brand with a mission to humanise the cosmetics world. Your values are grounded in play, sustainability, authenticity and connection. These things become your principles/ the compass for building a brand that has a unique fingerprint and the foundations to build an emotional connection.

The hypothetical beauty brand example above is actually Frank Body, an Australian skincare brand, most known for its coffee scrubs and desire to remove the hyperbole that saturates the skincare industry and make clean skincare fun.

Montamonta is also a business that sells coffee scrubs.

What you can see is that products do the same thing, they are direct competitors. They exfoliate skin using coffee by-products. They both communicate the rational and functional cues in which the product works, but, Frank Body makes you feel something. It plays with the brand, it has a distinct and unique personality that makes me laugh and raise an eyebrow. It is more than just a nice looking product.

So how can you tell if you have built a brand vs telling a product? Cover up the logo. If customers could not see your logo would they clearly know and feel that it is you?

If you need help turning your product get in touch to see how Sprowt can help?

Build a brand DON’T sell a product.

No more meat sweats with THIS™ meat free, meat.

Influencers, are they worth the Hype?