In today’s busy markets and saturated social media landscapes, you must stand out from the field to be noticed. Whether you’re showcasing the large-scale distinctions between brands or highlighting yourself among your peers at work, you’ll find success when you stand out to decision–makers. You can authentically promote yourself and your company when you understand your core offerings. Learn how to uncover your brand’s foundation to uniquely and memorably position yourself among any competition with the following steps:
- Clarify your brand
- Identify your value proposition
- Be aware of trends
- Get inspired outside your industry
- Try new things
- Be comfortable with risk
- Learn from any missteps
- Stop comparing yourself
Clarify Your Brand
Any promotional or marketing work must be grounded in an understanding of your brand. Turn to your branding documents to find your foundation and showcase your distinctions.
Branding should go beyond your company’s logo and color scheme. Your brand includes your mission, values, long-term goals, ideal customers, inspiration graphics, and more.
Many established companies have already gone through a brand exploration and can use their existing framework to help them stand out. Small businesses, new start-ups, or individual professionals may not have formalized their branding. A brand informs all your business decisions, so focus on your brand before trying to differentiate yourself.
Identify Your Value Proposition
Your value proposition, or the promise you make to your community, is a vital part of branding and marketing. What does your brand offer its users? Regardless of whether you’re a major corporation, a small business, or a job seeker, you should identify what you’re promising to the people who work with you.
Value propositions will vary wildly across industries, companies, services, and individuals. It’s important to identify what your brand offers that no one else can provide. A value proposition is what makes you stand out from the crowd. You may offer amazing customer service, exclusive color options, a proven track record of success, same-day delivery, or any other promise. Lean on this singular promise to help you instantly stand above the competition.
Be Aware Of Trends
Pay attention to what’s happening around you. Trends exist in the marketing world as well as in social media and popular culture. You might have a hard time putting your finger on what’s current, but think about advertisements from previous decades. Ads from the 1980s looked very different from promotions in the 1950s. Everything from the color scheme to the copy to the products themselves had evolved. Similar distinct trends are appearing in today’s marketing landscape. You can’t stand out from the crowd if you don’t understand what the crowd is doing.
Take a look at your main competitors and study their promotional work. Consider the language they use, the type of graphics, and even the platforms they use to post. These elements make up the industry standard for your niche. Build your awareness of current aesthetics, but be careful not to lose your identity in what’s trendy. You should skip any trending topics, memes, or campaigns that don’t enhance your brand and your value proposition.
Get Inspired Outside Your Industry
An easy way to stand out from your competition is to do something entirely different. Search for strategies that no one else in your industry is trying. One great way to find inspiration is by looking to other lines of work.
Industries have different customer bases, demands, and cultural norms, so you’ll find a wide range of promotional ideas when you look outside your usual niche. Inspiration is everywhere.
Remember that every successful business needs to find, satisfy, and maintain customers to stay afloat. Job seekers and established professionals must all build their networks, deliver on their responsibilities, and promote their successes. Study groups and people outside your usual field to discover proven methods to stand out.
Try New Things
Standing out means being willing to try something new. To uniquely position your brand, think of different ideas you don’t see other companies or professionals trying. Use inspirational ideas from other industries as a foundation for new concepts you can try, but continue to think outside the box.
When you’re on the hunt for new ideas, adapt a brainstorming mindset. Make a list of everything that comes to mind, no matter how impossible or outlandish an idea may seem. Ideas that feel unexpected to you will also seem strange to your competitors. You’ll stand out when you’re willing to put your new ideas to the test.
Be Comfortable With Risk
Trying a new branding strategy involves getting comfortable with a certain level of risk. You may wonder if your unorthodox ideas are an appropriate fit for your niche. Perhaps no one else is using your prospective strategy because everyone else knows it’s a bad idea.
Remember that it’s hard to get noticed when you play it safe.
As long as your ideas are grounded in your brand, you have little to lose from trying something new. Make sure that your new campaign reflects the heart of your brand. When your ideas are rooted in your company’s foundational identity, you won’t misrepresent yourself.
Learn From Any Missteps
Part of being comfortable with risk is accepting that you might make a mistake. Chalk any disappointing results up as learning opportunities, then take the chance to revise your next steps.
You can give yourself a confidence boost by making plans to address any undesired results. For example, if a new marketing campaign flops and your metrics don’t improve, you’ve now identified something your customers don’t want to see. Think of the experience as learned a valuable lesson on topics to avoid in the future.
Stop Comparing Yourself
Finally, you can help your brand stand out by focusing on your own work, not on your competition. Your value proposition, the unique offerings that only your brand brings to the table, is your most powerful tool for rising above the competition. Highlight what makes you different to truly stand out.
You should spend most of your time and resources honing your brand, not studying other organizations. When you focus on your branding and core values, you’ll reveal the foundation of your company. This authentic messaging will help you distinguish yourself from any field.