How Are You the Same?

When creating your brand the main focus is usually on what makes you different. What are you bringing to the market that no one else is. What are you offering that hasn't been seen a zillion times before?

And yes, of course your brand is what sets you apart from your competitors. It is the vehicle of communication with your prospects and shows them why you are the obvious choice.

In order to have that line of communication your prospects need to be aware of your brand. And that happens in a few ways.

You bring your brand to them where they are already hanging out.
Someone else refers them to your brand.
They find your brand on their own while searching for a solution to their problem.
The first depends completely on you and your ability to reach your audience. The second usually depends on your work and the experiences of people have had with your brand that gets them talking. And the third is the trickiest, it's dependent on your prospects ability to find you.

And that can be harder than it sounds.

Because finding you among the millions (maybe even billions) of bits of information can be kind of like doing a scavenger hunt blindfolded.

You have an inkling of what it is you're looking for, and you're presented with lots of possibilities as you poke around with your hands, you may even have found what you're looking for - but you don't even know it because you can't see what it is.

That is where being the same can come in handy.

You see, the same is familiar. People know what it is and can relate to it. It's clearer that they've found what they need.

If your brand is TOO different and unique, it will be harder to find because no one is looking for it.

So you need to balance being different with being the same.

The easiest way to do this is when you're explaining what you do and how you do it. What you do, which is the result you provide or the problem you solve needs to be something that people are actively looking for. Chances are it will be the same as many of your competitors, and that's okay.

Your secret sauce is not in what you do, but in how you solve the problem. That is where your uniqueness will shine through, because your approach and way of looking at the problem and the solution is all you.

In this way you will lure in prospects with language they are familiar with and comfort that you understand their problem, then wow them with your unique way of solving that problem which is better than other solutions that they may have seen.

As you can see, being the same is nearly as important as being different. To stand out from the crowd, you need to be close to the crowd to begin with. Otherwise you'll be standing all by your lonesome, which is not a profitable place to be.