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Beyond creative intuition.™
Differentiator
"Differentiate or Die," is a sexy turn of phrase. But despite what branding gurus love to say, it's a gross oversimplification of why companies succeed in the modern market.
At Charley + Company, we describe differentiation in company development as a "Catch 22."
Because for one, when a company places a tangible product differentiator as the face of their positioning they invite risk.
Just look at the "Follow-The-Leader" principle. Where in every market, it's only a matter of time before new product innovation is mimicked by competitors, as they move swiftly to protect their marketshare.
A second risk, is that differentiation negatively affects customer acquisition at mass scale.
Byron Sharp in his seminal book, How Brands Grow, taught us that brands grow when they broaden their base, and reach new customers. Differentiators, (we believe) being technical in nature, and developed for specific niche audiences, are too obscure to cast a wide net to a bigger general audience.
Here's the "Catch 22."
And here's what Byron Sharp gets wrong (or at least fails to mention):
Brands can't grow without awareness or momentum. Yet, awareness and momentum is best achieved through targeted reach and the ability to engage a smaller, underserved audience through unique differentiators of product (think features) or mission (think values).
Thus, for every company in it's early stage, the approach to differentiation must not serve as an "end" positioning, but really a "starting point" strategy to acquire the means to grow.

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