Don’t be different!

A unique position is what every marketer dreams of. If your brand occupies a unique position, it can’t easily be copied or challenged by a competitor. The market is all yours.

The pitfall is that “unique” is often taken to mean “different”.

Different is pointless, though. Different has no meaning to your customer. It’s an entirely selfish motive.

If only because your customers are most likely not looking for a different solution (most of them actually like known and proven much better). Customers are rather looking for a specific solution. If you solve their specific problem in a specific way and if that specific way makes sense to them, you’re going to earn the spot for this specific solution in their mind.

This spot is often not the result of spontaneous creative work (what many marketers love) but of rigorous revelation work (what strategic marketers do).

The irony is that while everyone else is busy trying to be different, you are automatically going to end up actually being different. Thanks to rigorous focus that led you to a deep understanding of your specific customers’ domain, you’re going to come up with solutions that no-one else could discover and that are therefore unlike any other solution. Usually, also way more thoughtful and useful.

Don’t be different. Be specific.