06
March
2020
|
19:04
Europe/Amsterdam

Be distinctive

Dare to be different and to stand out

Nobody likes everything and everybody likes something. Avoid being vanilla. Dare to be different and to stand out. 

Don’t claim the obvious leadership elements the others in your industry are claiming. That is the recipe to be forgotten. There is already more than enough of the same. There is already more than enough clutter. Find your own expertise and create a unique combination or take a different approach.

 

Dolf Bekker
Don’t be afraid to be you. If you want to do something truly creative, don’t jump on the bandwagon and do chapter two of someone else's chapter one.
Dolf Bekker

Nobody is as interested in you as you are

‘Marketers, like all humans, believe everyone is as interested in their work as they are. Leading to ads that fall at the first hurdle by taking it for granted that they will be noticed.’ ‘Prioritise being noticed above other goals. If you fail there, everything else is academic.’ And ’smash your category’s norms’. Source: MarketingWeek

 

Don't give in to mediocrity

Go for excellence. Don't settle. Don't give in to mediocrity. Just 'good enough' is not good enough. Because there is already so much out there that is 'good enough'. Aim for something you are really proud of. Is your content something you would like to read, view yourself? And what does it do to you? If it doesn't touch you, make you smile or give you knowledge... think again and start over until it does.

 

Golden rules

A few golden rules to stand out and show your brands' personality, especially on social.

  • Grab the attention from the first moment. In the social feed, you have like 1,5 seconds to stand out and be noticed.
  • Have a super clear brand communication in those first 1,5seconds. By preference, your logo as this is a brand cue and distinctive recognizable asset.
  • Make sure your message in your content is very clear. Don't be mysterious or pretend a cliffhanger. Social likes clarity. Easy to consume and digest. Spell it out. When you get a bit tired of it yourself, only then your message will probably land with your customer.
  • Don't forget about a call to action. This can also be a feeling, provoking a sentiment or thoughts beside an action like a click. It has to be clear for your customers what you want them to do after consuming the content. Having a 'dead-end' in your content is a waste of budgets.

 

Together you know more

If you are not sure about your content, listen to your hesitation. Always do a check with someone else. Not only on the copy, typos, also on the message and the quality level of your content assets. Use our own common sense and ask yourself 'would I thumb-stop my scrolling social feed on the iPhone to watch this video?'

  

Be different

Most brands claim they are 'innovative', 'open', 'honest', 'caring' - to name a few usual suspect values. How does your 'innovative value' differs from the 'innovative value' from your competitor? You can be distinctive and different on the operational level; by the actual words you use, the language you speak and the visuals you post.

Bring your brand and your values to live in the content assets. Do not stick to the overarching value descriptions, get down to the operational level of the content producers. Give them real-life examples of the actual words to use and the hallmarks for the visuals and videos. 

 

Be minimalistic

Stick to who you are and don't make it too complicated. Minimalist branding is a trend, connected to the art trend. Copy-paste from Medium 'Next to being clear, it is also visually appealing, with a focus on being straightforward en essential. With Marie Kondo’s hit books (and her Netflix show, Tidying Up), brands are going to start asking themselves, “Does it spark joy?”

If you cannot explain your distinctive identity in a few simple words than you probably don't understand it well enough. 

 

Read more on being distinctive

  

Summary

If you cannot explain your distinctive identity in a few simple words than you probably don't understand it well enough. Nobody likes everything and everybody likes something. Avoid being vanilla. Dare to be different and to stand out. Don't give in to mediocrity.