Marketing professors, gurus and know-it-all social media commentators love arguing over the latest marketing terms, like differentiation vs. distinctiveness. Some say “forget about differentiation, now it’s all about distinctiveness.”
Give me a break. How could differentiation possibly be bad for business?
The two terms are almost synonymous. You say tomato I say tomahto. If you had to choose between distinctiveness and differentiation, focus on being distinctive. Here’s why:
If your ads and your brand assets are distinctive, they will definitely differentiate you from the competition. Because most companies fail the distinctiveness test. Miserably!
They create graphics that look remarkably similar to everything else in their industry. Visual clichés and design conventions galore.
They generate Ai content that sounds exactly the same, and says nothing different than that of the competitors. Verbal clichés and empty promises galore.
So the marketing output is not distinctive. Not different. Not noteworthy. Not noticeable.
So yes, you really have to work at it, to produce ads, posts, papers and websites that are distinctly different. However, I will agree that there is such a thing as “too different.”
When we’re doing naming or brand identity design projects, we aim for what Jonah Berger calls “optimally distinctive.”
In his book Invisible Influence Berger says, “The creative challenge is to integrate similarity, with difference. New with old. Novel with familiar. That’s how you satisfy the human need we all have to be somewhat unique.”
Americans, in particular, are wired for individuality. We love to be different AND distinctive – to a point.
So we flock to Starbucks like a bunch of caffeine-addicted lemmings, then we order a drink that’s decidedly unique…
Double half-caf mocha with oatmilk, 2 pumps of maple-pecan flavoring, light whip and a caramel drizzle. Or whatever.
When working on packaging projects it’s important to be different enough to be distinctive in your category, but not too different. And definitely not confusing.
I’m very familiar with a delicious, specialty food product that’s packaged like something else entirely. It’s a food product in a cosmetics package.
That’s too different. Too confusing. That’s a packaging mis-fire, for sure.
Differentiation vs Distinctiveness in advertising: Sometimes advertising tries too hard on both fronts.
There’s a new commercial running right now for Jaguar that’s been generating all sorts of hullabaloo in online marketing circles.
The spot certainly qualifies as being visually distinctive. It even says, “copy nothing.” It’s way different than any car commercial you’ve ever seen. So yes, it’s different, but it’s not relevantly different.
Most marketing folks agree it’s different just for the sake of being different, at the expense of any meaningful, brand-worthy idea.
On a smaller scale, that kind of creative wrapping paper is everywhere… In an attempt to be “distinctive” people add special effects added to boring stock photos. Animated gifs. Goofy emojis. Trendy TikTok tactics.
It’s all lipstick on a pig.
You need to start with a differentiating idea, then add the distinctiveness in the execution stage. Make the foundation fundamentally different, then execute the idea in distinctive new ways.
And most of all, keep doing it consistently. Distinctiveness vs Differentiation is not even worth talking about if you don’t have consistency.
So don’t get too hung up on the debate between differentiation vs. distinctiveness in marketing. Do both!
Make your graphics visually distinctive. Do ads that are different, but relevant. Find messages that set you apart, without scaring off huge segments of the market.
“Refreshingly different” is a nice way to think about it. Isn’t that just another way to say “optimally distinctive.”
If you want your marketing efforts to be more different, or more distinctive contact me here. We can do both!
