SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND BRANDING: HOW HONESTY CREATES STRONG DIFFERENTATION

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND BRANDING: HOW HONESTLY CREATES DIFFERNTATION



Differentiation is the defining of your product in the mind of a consumer. In the Social Media Era, differentiation is a critical part of a branding strategy because there are so many products and so much content exposed to consumers. Consumers can only buy one product. You want them to pick your product. This will only be done if your product is defined in the mind of the consumer. Differentiation is a perceptual thing. Differentiation is not tangible. Differentiation is something that is placed in the mind of the consumer.

Some marketing experts feel that differentiation and positioning are interchangeable. I disagree. In the social media era, because of the explosion of products, a brand must be positioned and must be differentiated. It is a one-two punch. You position with something tangible. You differentiate it with something perceptual. A great example is Michael Jordan sneakers.

Nike created "Jordans" for basketball playing. They positioned the sneakers against sneakers that are made for walking, running, etc. This is a tangible thing. Nike differentiated the sneakers through Michael Jordan. One of the most iconic images in the history of the NBA is an image of Michael driving and dunking a shot in a championship game. The image of this dunk was placed on the shoes. The tag line for the sneaker is "…it gotta be the shoes".

This is an iconic differentiation campaign. The line and the image are purely perceptual. Everyone knows that the shoes had no major effect on Michael dunking that ball. The extreme exaggeration and the visual image of the commercial defined Jordans in the mind of consumer.

Differentiation is a creative strategy. You differentiate with what is at your disposal. Two quotes express what a marketer must do in developing a differentiation strategy. The quotes come from Texas football. Don Meredith once said, "You dance with the girl you come with". Tom Landry once said, "You take what they give you".

One of the great differentiation campaigns of all time was based on honesty. Hertz is the industry leader in the car rental space. Avis positioned itself against Hertz by emphasizing customer service. They differentiated themselves with this line, "Rent from Avis. The line at the counter is shorter". Avis’ differentiation strategy was brilliant. Avis took what Hertz gave them. They took Hertz’ strength and made it a weakness. How could Hertz refute this statement? Because Avis was no. 2 and had fewer customers, naturally their line was shorter.

This concept was placed in customer minds’. "If I rent from Avis, I can be dwelt with quicker". For a business traveler this a key issue in the ultimate buying possession. Through a deft differentiation strategy Avis was able to place this key issue in the minds of the business traveler customer.



Dean Hambleton

dnhambleton@gmail.com