What Makes Your Brand Unique? (Hint: It’s Not What You May Think)
I used to work with founders helping them come up with their brand’s marketing strategies…
Those would usually be startups with tech only teams and (almost) ready products that they built without involving a single marketing person…. and when it was time to go to market they thought that paying someone to deal with their marketing could no longer be avoided.
Most of them hoped that they could get away by just paying an invoice and not having to deal with an extroverted non-techie female with all that “foo foo” stuff…
That was never the case though… Obviously I could just take a generic “strategy”, spend an hour modifying it and sending it over making it feel very “professional”... but that’s so not me…
So the very first thing the founders and their leadership team had to endure was getting in an intense 3-4 hour marketing workshop session with me where I tried to dig deep and make them share stuff they probably did not think about before… and definitely did not find important…
Because let’s be honest what they’d already shared with me in 9 out of 10 cases made absolutely no sense… I was not interested in documents packed with nerdy jargon, standard impressive expressions that meant nothing and very un-stylish images that were supposed to represent the blocks of the blockchain (yawn…).
What I needed was beyond that… I wanted to find stuff that was behind the tech… stuff that actually mattered… stuff that people did care about…
And eventually we get to the question that somehow always feels the hardest to answer…
“So what makes you unique and special?...”
First reaction usually is staring at me as if I hurt their feelings… looking at me in disbelief wondering how come all those materials they had shared did not make the answer obvious to me…
I stare back at them insisting to hear the answer… It’s ok… try to explain it to me as if I am the stupid blonde you might think I am…
And after an awkward pause I finally start getting answers…
“We use blockchain technology….”
“Ok great… so if someone else starts using the same tech… does it mean you won’t be unique anymore?”...
“Hmmmmm…..”
“ We have this feature our competitors don’t …”
“Awesome… could they copy it?”
“Maybe….”
The harsh truth is: your competitors may at any point start using the tech you do, blockchains you built on can be forked, your features can be copied… so often what you think makes you special or unique in the best case is just temporary. It’s a matter of time until you’re not.
But then… if that’s the case… what do you do?
I know this might be unpopular opinion, but my answer to this is - bet on things that can’t be copied… stuff techie people hate (and usually suck at) i.e. human stuff, emotional stuff…
Basically stuff that I’d argue - matters most.
Because after all:
And because - that’s what would be impossible for your competitors to copy.
It sounds simple but at the same time, probably it’s the hardest thing to do.
Because there are no shortcuts, because it will take time and effort, because it’s about building strong emotional connection with your users…
At the end of the day what you want to end up with is a community of die hard fans. I truly believe THAT would be your brand's superpower.
Look at brands like Harley Davidson or Apple… There are so many other motorbikes and smartphones and laptops out there…. but good luck convincing any of their users to switch to another brand… it’s mission impossible!
So where do you start?
Forget about the tech
I know you are fascinated by it - but in reality your users don’t care about it at all. So spare us all the boring details about which tech you use and how it works.
We don’t wanna know!
Tell us what you’re about
There should be something soulful about what you do. Something more than the product itself.
For example here is a quote from Harley Davidson’s mission statement
“Our mission: More than building machines, we stand for the timeless pursuit of adventure. Freedom for the soul. Our ambition is to maintain our place as the most desirable motorcycle brand in the world.”
See how different is it than saying it’s a very stylish motorbike that would help you get from point A to point B?…
Mean it!
Among other things I am also a fiction author. I know how easy it may be making up a nice story…
Often brands do just that. Come up with nice stories that they think their users might care about… but they don’t believe it. They don’t really mean it. They just use it in their marketing because it would work.
And it does… up to point… and then it doesn’t because we will eventually feel that it’s not genuine… And when we will - we’ll move on.
Genuinely care
I know it may sound very un-businessy but honestly… these days so many are building driven by greed and ego, that genuinely caring about your users and acting accordingly may by itself already be a very strong differentiator.
When you truly care about your fans… you’ll eventually come up with ways to make them part of your journey, your story and your brand.
Because at the end of the day - those who win are not the ones who solely built a business but those who also created a movement…
Alright, that was all for now Rebel.
By the way… only a few know where the Rebel Speakeasy is. And now you’re one of them—grab a drink and let’s talk.
We meet every Wednesday in live audio spaces on X.
Hope to see you there!
-Rick & Ani
P.S. — we’d love to hear your rebel stories as well, so if you can’t join in or audio spaces, or would rather stay hidden… head over to Rebel Confessions—a completely anonymous space to share it all.
We’ll pick the most badass ones to feature in the newsletter or chat about them in our weekly X Spaces. No judgement and no filters. Drop your story and let’s get real.
RebelSpeakeasy.com by Ani Alexander • Rick
Find us on X @NFTrebels & @unl0c7
