All too often we see the companies that compete in the same market use the same marketing tactics, and let’s be honest it makes for boring marketing. The majority of companies seem reluctant to stand out and break the mould. They are afraid to try something different.
The reason is not because of a lack of creativity (although sometimes it is that!), but mostly its because most marketing teams are working to strict budgets. When companies have a strict marketing budget they want to make sure that the campaigns they create give them a good return on investment, and the best way to do that is to copy what the competition is doing.
If a competitor is doing something that seems to work, other competitors will look at replicating that success in some way, and why not? It makes sense that if it works for them it will work for you, right? Why waste hundreds of thousands of dollars testing new ideas only to have them fail and for you to potentially lose your job? It’s a much safer bet to see what’s already working and replicate it.
This sort of mentality has led to many boring and uncreative marketing campaigns, which in turn leads to many companies losing any sort of brand individuality and getting lost among a dozen other competitors.
Why brands play it safe
You’ll often see that different companies competing in the same market will have very similar branding.
Take toilet paper brands like Andrex and Purex, both have one very similar thing in common when it comes to their branding and adverts – they all use puppies.
Apart from their brand names also sounding very similar, they have all adopted the use of cute little puppies and dogs in their commercials and branding campaigns because of one reason, it works!
Puppies are cute, soft and strong, and using them in their marketing also associates those qualities with the tissues in the minds of their customers. Also, they all use the colour purple in their packaging to convey quality and softness. You can read more about colour psychology here.
Cushelle, a UK brand also takes a similar approach, but instead of cute puppies they have a cute koala instead, but the thinking behind the branding is exactly the same.
This is a classic example of different brands simply following other brands and not standing out as a result.
Another example would be beer companies. In the UK beer companies always sponsor football tournaments.
From the World Cup to domestic tournaments, beer companies are synonymous with sponsoring major football events. The result is that they all blend in and none of them stand out.
Car adverts are always pretty similar also. They all seem to include sweeping camera shots of cars driving up and down winding mountain roads or country lanes. They are very rarely distinctive.
The reason competing companies will make their brands, packaging and logos similar to their competitors is that they want to be easily identified as belonging to that product category and want to replicate what is already working in that market.
Advertisers know what works and they use the same formula over and over again. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of not standing out amongst your competitors and drowning in a sea of sameness.
Companies spend a fortune on testing what works. From brand names, logos, packaging size, shape and colour – everything is tested. When they have a formula that works they will stick with it.
But most of the time newer companies entering those markets won’t do any research themselves – they will just see what is working for their competitors and replicate it in their own way. After all, their rivals have spent a lot of money testing what works, so why not take advantage of those insights and save themselves the hassle, time and money of having to do their own tests?
If having a cute animal like a puppy or koala makes toilet rolls fly off the shelf, then it makes sense that other companies will take the same approach. This is fine if you’re trying to gain an equal share of the market, but if you want to dominate your market and truly stand out from your competitors then you need to take a different approach.
Differentiation is the key to standing out
In order to stand out in an increasingly noisy marketplace it’s important for brands to be bold and take the decision and risks that will make them stand out from the crowd.
Differentiation is the key to making your brand stand out.
In a study conducted by Hedwig Von Restorff at the University of Berlin, she gave participants a long list of text which consisted of random strings of 3 letters, which were interrupted by strings of 3 digits e.g. jgh, kli, adg, gtm, 146, twm.
She then asked participants to remember as many of the items as possible. The results showed that the majority of people recalled the digits more frequently than the strings of letters. They stood out because they were different, and they were more memorable as a result.
We are hardwired to notice things that stand out. This still holds true today, so why not take advantage of it in your campaigns?
Why being different pays off
In order to stand out you must go against the grain and norms of your market.
Observe what your competitors are doing, and be bold enough to do something different. This can have an instant effect of making you more memorable in comparison to your competitors. Being more memorable is important as it means your brand will be top of mind when a consumer is at the point of deciding what company to use. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always be their first choice, but at least you’ll be part of their comparative set, which increases the chances you’ll be selected.
Comparethemarket.com case study
There are many price comparison websites in the UK which allow you to compare prices for various products and services such as car insurance, home insurance, electricity etc.
They all use the same advertising tactic which is to focus on the benefits of using their service – saving money, getting better deals, cheaper quotes, and the ability to compare various providers all on one page.
But one company called Comparethemarket.com decided to go against the norms in order to distinguish itself from its competitors. Instead of focusing on features and benefits, they decided to focus on building an emotional connection with their audience. They created an anthropomorphic meerkat character called Aleksandr Orlov. The advert focused on Aleksandr’s frustrations that people kept wrongly visiting his website, Comparethemeerkat.com by mistake when they were searching for Comparethemarket.com. The company even created an actual Comparethemeerkat.com website.
The campaign was a huge success. Their quote volumes went up a staggering 83% and they were able to meet their 12-month objectives in only 9 weeks! They have subsequently created a whole family of meerkat characters to star in their adverts, and they even give away free meerkat toys when new customers sign up for the service.
The campaign has been a huge success because they decided to use emotions to target their customers with the meerkat character, and by doing so they have distinguished themselves from the rest of their competitors and experienced huge growth in their business. They have been able to take a boring, dull service like insurance price comparison, and inject warmth, humour, and personality into i.
Such as been the success, they have actually created a sort of cult-like following of people who love the meerkat characters and use the service just to collect the dolls.
How to make your brand or product stand out:
1.Make your packaging different
If you sell physical products then you can differentiate yourself from other competitors on the shelf by making your packaging different.
Use vibrant colours, and different shaped packaging to catch the attention of customers. Red Bull did this when they introduced their longer slimmer can which stood out when stacked next to regular-sized cans like Coca-Cola and other soft drink brands.
If you don’t sell physical products but sell digital products or services instead, you can still differentiate yourself by changing the look of your website, your logo, or how you deliver the service.
2. Change your marketing hook
Instead of focusing on the features and benefits of your product, focus on the emotional payoff that comes with using your product. What do you want consumers to feel when they use your product? How do you want them to perceive you?
“Red Bull gives you wings” is a great example of creating a powerful slogan that encapsulates what it means to drink Red Bull. Instead of being boring and saying “Red Bull gives you energy”, they instead decided to give it a more exciting connotation. “Gives you wings” is quite a subjective term which will have a different meaning to different customers, and this is what makes it a great slogan for the product.
They have created a lifestyle brand, and their success is attributed to them doing things differently. By creating and sponsoring all sorts of high-octane, adrenaline-inducing events, Red Bull is marketing more than just a drink, they are marketing a lifestyle, and they have stood out above competitors as a result.
Think about what your product means to your customers and how it fits into their lives and create a campaign to communicate that.
3. If your competitors zig, then zag!
Richard Branson is a great example of someone who knows how to make his companies and products stand out from the crowd. Whilst airlines like British Airways and American Airlines focused on the usual aspects such as comfort and service, Virgin focused on fun and excitement.
When he created Virgin Airlines, instead of dressing his air stewardesses in the boring colours that every other airline was using, he decided to use bright red uniforms to match the Virgin brand, and he made the uniforms a lot sexier looking.
It’s all too easy to be pigeonholed into thinking you must do what the rest of the market is doing, but companies like Virgin and Tesla are continuously breaking the mould and proving that being different is what gives you a competitive edge today.
Conclusion
In a world where everybody is trying so desperately to fit in, don’t be afraid to stand out!
Being different will attract attention, and getting the attention of your target audience (as outlined in the AIDA marketing model) is the first step in moving them towards becoming a customer.
Being a marketer involves taking risks. Sure you can play it safe and just copy or imitate what everyone else is doing, but that will make you just like everyone else, and that’s boring!
Customers want new experiences, they want to be wowed, and they want to feel special. By differentiating yourself from everybody else, you will be more memorable and become the brand that people recognise as being different from the rest of the market, and that’s a good thing!
