Over the years, I’ve noticed that a number of marketing problems for any number of clients, start with “we have no USP”. Of course, the USP itself has been proclaimed dead by many, but that doesn’t stop us from looking for that one thing that will differentiate our product or service from the multitude of competitive and substitute products and services available in the market. Chances are, these competitive or substitute goods are just as good in quality, and probably better priced. And no matter how much we want to believe that our product is the best, if we’re honest with ourselves, we realise that it is almost impossible to differentiate on the basis of features/usefulness.

How do we then differentiate? Afterall, differentiation is important. Without differentiation, we’d might as well not have a brand on our goods – just put it out there in an unlabeled package and hope that people will pick it up just as often as they pick up any other competitive product! Or, run the highest decibel marketing campaign possible, outshout everyone else and hope it works…

Over the years this question of differentiation in a largely commoditized market has bothered a number of brand strategy experts. At the risk of stating the obvious:

It all comes down to differentiating in a commoditized, crowded market.

Here’s where brands have an incredible opportunity to either stand out, or be forgotten completely.

For example, when we look at Apple, do we really know what gives the brand competitive advantage? Better products? Better design? Better interface? At the risk of offending Apple loyalists, at a certain level of price and quality, pretty much every feature that exists in an iPhone, exists in the flagship products of Samsung, One Plus, Google, LG, and every other big mobile phone maker. What then, makes an iPhone an iPhone? Why is it different? Most importantly, why are people willing to spend that much extra for an iPhone?

If it isn’t the product quality, it has to be something more that the brand gives the consumer.

This is where ‘brand benefits’ beyond the functional ones come in. We feel something, every time we interact with a brand. Those are our emotional benefits. And some brands make us feel a certain way about ourselves when we use them – these are self-expressive benefits.

What would you feel about yourself when riding a Harley Davidson? What about a Ferrari? Why are we so concerned about Intel being ‘inside’ when we look for laptops/PCs? If wearing a Nike makes me feel like a serious athlete, then I’m likely to be loyal to that brand every time I need shoes for sports/exercise. Providing of course, that the quality remains excellent.

Tapping into the very basis of human psychology is not just important, it is virtually non-negotiable in today’s world. And self-expressive benefits do that.

A brand truly differentiates itself when it can dictate, through sound strategy, what consumers would feel about themselves when they use the brand. Focus on that feeling, and your brand will live forever!