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While many businesses may have hit pause in their marketing during the pandemic, it's accurate to say that consumers are constantly bombarded with advertising messages and branded copy. If yours is to stand out from that noise, it needs to be unique. Here's How to Differentiate Your Brand from Competitors. There's an old adage that maintains you should dare to be different. These days, it's less a maxim than it is a statement of truth. Even as many businesses dial down marketing spending amidst the coronavirus pandemic, we live in a sea of digital noise. We are constantly pulled in hundreds of different directions as countless businesses seek our attention. In such a climate, any brand that cannot properly define itself is destined to be ignored, overlooked in favour of more interesting competitors. Here's how you can ensure yours isn't among those. Here are a few ways you can differentiate your brand from its competitors. Focus on Who You Are, Not What You Do Let's say you operate a digital clothing store. What is it about that clothing store that makes it stand out from all the other ones on the web? I'm not just talking about the products you offer, although that certainly plays into it. I'm talking about your brand's identity. Think about who your audience is, and what sort of messaging and approach would resonate most effectively with them. To narrow down our above example a bit, let's say your store primarily sells clothing intended for twentysomething creatives. Your brand's personality will need to be compelling to those people. You'll need visual elements in your logo design and imagery that establish your organization as creatively-oriented. More importantly, you'll need to study and understand how your audience speaks so you can shape your own language accordingly. Consider Customer Experience Don't be afraid to create content that's polarizing, provided it's on-brand for you. Modern marketing is not about selling a product. It's about building relationships. About communicating with your audience and treating them as people rather than sales leads. Your goal here is to do everything in your power to understand your audience and use that understanding to shape both your marketing efforts and your products and services. More importantly, with every post you make and every product you release, ask yourself how it provides value to your audience. Put your customers first, and they'll remember you in the future. Here are a few ways you can do that: Always respond to reviews, both positive and negative. In the case of the latter, endeavor to do whatever you can to address the issue your customer had with your business. Be present on social media. Respond to all customer complaints, queries, and requests in as timely a fashion as you are able. Make sure the sales process is as seamless and painless as possible for customers that do decide to purchase from your brand. Offer a flexible return policy for your products or services. For your brand imagery, think about how visuals impact the customer experience and adjust accordingly. Conduct regular surveys so you have a finger on the pulse of your audience's needs and desires. Create Excellent Content It's been said on more than one occasion that content is king. This holds as true today as it always has. Whether you're creating blog posts, infographics, video content, or social posts, every single piece of content you put out needs to be to the highest standards. It also needs to have a purpose, and that purpose needs, in some way, to provide value to your audience. This could involve answering questions for them, providing them with assistance like How-To's, or simply entertaining them. If you're stuck on what sort of content to create, simply look at your competition. Look at what they're doing and consider what they aren't doing - because that content gap represents an opportunity for your brand. A lot of people wonder how they can write better blog posts that rank well. Andrew, the founder of The Logo Creative wrote a great article for us about how to write better blog posts that rank well, and it will certainly help you do just that. Be Different A distinctive personality and voice, served by unique visual branding. High-quality content. A focus on the customer's needs above all else. These are the elements of an effective brand. And that's precisely what you need to stand out from your competitors. Write For Mazzine Interested in writing for Mazzine? We would love to hear from you! - Join our community of writers from around the world. - Check out the guidelines on the Write for us. page.