Three ways to ensure brand differentiation

Create a visually distinct brand identity

This is the most obvious and direct way of ensuring any brand stands out against its competitors. Differentiation, however, can be hard to achieve. Simply looking around at your competitors and deciding to look different isn’t enough — your brand needs to feel, sound and act differently. Visual differentiation is the minimum that you should be aiming to achieve; ideally your brand needs its own voice and to behave in a way that sets it apart.

Develop a distinct tone of voice

How a brand speaks can often be overlooked, but without a clear brand voice your messaging can quickly appear bland or disjointed. If multiple people are writing messages or content for your brand, there may be wildly different styles at play, ranging from humorous to pragmatic — which is correct? What rules are they following?

A brand voice should be developed in tandem with the visual identity — working together  they’ll quickly build up a strong overall brand. If you want your brand to be a thought leader, it not only needs to look and feel like one, it needs to talk like one. Similarly if your brand seeks to attract innovators, it shouldn’t be speaking in a conservative, boring tone.

Don’t forget to activate!

Even before you’ve finished creating your brand, you’ll need to consider how to get it out there and launch. Too often brand activation is an afterthought. Many brands simply continue to use the same channels in the same way as before, and put out similar content — albeit with a different look.

Developing a new brand is the perfect time to consider how best to tell your story, to look back at previous successes (and failures) and develop a communication plan that fits your new positioning. Any launch should be just that — full of momentum, excitement and direction.