Just Being Different Isn't Enough

Most marketing experts will tell you that every product and service can and should be differentiated and there’s no exception for “commodities”. To prove the point, they’ll frequently use the example of salt -- maybe a brand like Morton -- which has turned a seemingly undifferentiated product into a long-lived and enormously successful national brand.

Morton initially established their brand and differentiated it from other “salts” by adding an absorbing agent to maintain the pour-ability of the product. At the time, this innovation created intrinsic differentiation of Morton’s salt from other brands. Morton used this point of difference to develop a brand positioning that they maintain today, over 100 years later.

Today, many people still see Morton’s iconic image of a young girl in a raincoat holding an umbrella on the label and remember their classic tagline “Morton’s salt, when it rains it pours”. This iconic brand achieved icon status through unshakable strategic consistency and pertinent product evolution.

Morton has continued to expand its brand by adding new points of differentiation; coarse and fine sea salt, kosher salt, pink Himalayan salt, and even a sodium-free salt substitute. They’ve created differentiation through packaging innovation as well by introducing a variety of ’shakeable’ containers.

These are great examples, but not all differentiation is the same. And not all differentiation has the ability to increase sales of your product or service! So, let’s put some more context around the idea of creating differentiation.

The most successful brands choose their point(s) of differentiation very carefully. Every point of differentiation is precisely matched to the needs or desires of their target customers to ensure the brand is not just different, but relevant.

In 1911, Morton recognized that clumping of salt was a significant problem for cooks and diners. In order to eliminate clumping, Morton added an ‘anti-caking’ agent to their product, creating the first free-flowing salt. Because this was a problem Morton could resolve that was also important to customers, Morton was able to create a point of differentiation that made the brand more relevant to customers and sales soared.

By identifying existing ‘needs’ or ‘desires’, or by recognizing opportunities where a ‘need’ or ‘desire’ can be created, brands like Morton solve problems for potential customers. It’s the strong connection between ‘need’ resolution and differentiation that create the relevance and competitive strength necessary for brand success. Successful brands like Morton continue to look for opportunities to differentiate themselves.

You don’t have to be a major national brand to take advantage of this exact strategy. Before you settle on a point of differentiation for your product or service just remember to ask yourself “what problem does this solve for my customers?” If you can’t connect the point of differentiation with (1) an existing problem or desire customers have or (2) a problem or desire customers haven’t recognized yet, then your point of differentiation will likely have little value to your customers or your brand.

So, regardless of whether you’re a small company or large one, whether you sell a product or service, or you have one competitor or hundreds, there’s no excuse not to differentiate your brand. But, if you want to give yourself the greatest chance of success, make sure what you choose to differentiate on is relevant to your customers.