The market is more crowded than ever before, and it’s hard to stand out unless your brand has a difference that makes it stick out in the crowd. This makes it easier to establish a place in the market and gives customers an easy rationale for choosing your product over the competition.

This is the way many top companies get away with charging a price premium for what’s essentially the same thing as a generic brand. Customers aren’t just paying for the product; they’re paying for what makes it stand out – whether that’s a real difference or one that comes from the reputation the company has built rather than anything tangible. Here are a few ways you can make your company meaningfully different.

Discipline

A brand image isn’t created without a lot of hard work, and to build it from the ground up, a company will need discipline on every level. A framework that keeps the business focused will make sure you stay on message without changing early in the process. Too many companies are undone when customers don’t know what to expect from them. They end up moving on to businesses with a clearer business plan. But discipline isn’t only important at the beginning stages of a brand.

Once your company has a secure place in the market, discipline is how you keep it. Every business will need to refine and reset its brand strategy at certain points, but when you do that without discipline and strategy, you get New Coke. Companies need to understand what their selling point is and keep their focus there, even when revising other things. If a company can stay on message even when other parts of its strategy are in flux, it’ll get a reputation for dependability.

Originality

Many companies see what works for their competitors and try to duplicate that – but by doing that, you’re always going to be behind the eight-ball. Someone has already perfected this business model and is dominating the market with it, and the odds are good they’ll keep a tight grip on that number one slot no matter how good your product is. It’s very hard to make a compelling case for your business if someone else has already made that case.

Knowing the strategies and messaging most commonly used by your competition is important because they provide vital hints to what works. However, this shouldn’t necessarily guide your company. Figure out what your company does better than anyone else and double down on that, rather than relying on clichés and sales talk. Customers understand when a company genuinely offers something innovative, which can be more valuable than any snappy catchphrase.

Understanding

The most important part of establishing a place in the market is understanding who’s going to help you get there. The companies that sell to almost everyone are few and far between, and most didn’t get there without decades of presence in the market. In order to get your foot in the door, you’ll need to know who your target audience is, what they want out of your project area, and how to reach them most effectively.

One of the biggest clues to reaching your target audience is seeing who isn’t being served in the market. If large market sectors are covered, and some customers are being largely ignored, that’s an opening. Understanding which social media sites your core client base is most likely to use is also key because this will make marketing much easier. The companies that get a quick ride to success are the ones who know who they’re appealing to and how to reach them.

Make a Mark

Sometimes, the most important part of taking place in the market isn’t what you say – it’s what your potential customers see. Think back to the most successful brands in the world – the odds are something visual immediately comes to mind. It might be the Nike Swoosh, the Mcdonald’s golden arches, or the NBC peacock. All these companies created a simple and eye-catching logo that sticks in people’s minds – so the question is, what is yours?

One of the first investments many successful companies make is to hire a digital design agency to help them create their brand. Companies like StickerYou know what makes an eye-catching logo and can make it easy to get it out there for a reasonable price. However, before you create a logo, make sure to study what works in this field and create one that helps you stick out from the crowd and is meaningfully distinct from the competition.

Stake Your Claim

Your product deserves to be a success. The question is, how are you going to get there? With a congested market and the pressures of constantly evolving to survive in it as a brand or product holder, it’s no easy feat. These simple tips can turn you from an unknown to a household name.