E-MarkeTIP




		MARKETING



		BRANDING



		POSITIONING



		DESIGN & LAYOUT

		For more information on building your brand, contact: john@mengassociates.com

E-MarkeTIP is a monthly marketing column published by Meng & Associates, a full-service marketing firm, specializing in strategic positioning, brand building and public relations custom-fit to the needs of small- to medium-sized companies.

If you can’t lead, don’t follow. It’s a strategy that is the societal antithesis of all we know. Following is a deep-seeded part of our up-bringing, so it comes very naturally to us. We play Follow the Leader as children. As we grow, we follow our star, follow our hearts and we hope our children follow in our footsteps. But following doesn’t make for a successful brand strategy.

When you’re not the leader in your category, marketing your business becomes considerably tougher. Making a name for your product, your service or yourself is your measure of success, and it is essential for you to differentiate your brand and separate yourself from the competition. If you are not the leader in your category (ketchup, deodorant, golf clubs, etc.), you cannot be successful by following the leader’s strategy. In fact, copying a competitor’s idea simply reinforces their brand.

Therefore, you have to find a new strategy — one that is different. General George S. Patton once said, “It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance,” and he was just as right in marketing as he was in military strategy. Do what the competition doesn’t. Go where they are not.

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from the competition is to own a different attribute (or trait specific to your brand). Coca-Cola has been the ‘real thing’ for decades, thus it was the drink of choice for older people. To be different, Pepsi successfully positioned itself as the choice of the younger generation. Crest owned cavity prevention, so other toothpaste brands brushed aside cavities and claimed attributes such as teeth whitening and breath protection. In the world of fast food, McDonald’s owns kids (not to mention more playscapes than Toys R Us), so Burger King positioned itself for teenagers.

"Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage. It is not discretionary."

— Ted Levitt

There are hundreds of ways to be different. Focus on your attributes, your heritage, hightech ingredients, etc. Also, don’t forget you can actually lead a category in different ways. A leader in widget technology may not always be the leader in widget sales, nor the leader in widget customer service. These sub-leadership roles within the same category can also be a point of differentiation.

Differentiating your brand and yourself is the best way for you to make your mark. Find your attribute and focus, focus, focus. And, that’s good advice to follow.