Big companies in the products but also in the services industries struggle with differentiation.
To attract more customers they strive for better, cheaper or at least different products or services. If there’s no difference, why should a customer choose them?
In fact, often there is not much of a difference in products at all. Take a look at chocolate, milk, mobile phones or big consulting companies.
To compensate for their lack of being different, companies create brands.
Brands make customers feel something even if it’s not really true. How a person feels about a brand typically determines whether they buy the product. Marlboro cigarettes and the ‚Marlboro Man’ have been an often cited example.
Since around 2010 story telling is gaining importance in marketing. Today a lot of companies are using storytelling to strengthen their brand.
„Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to breathe life into your brand and often called one of the main components of a content marketing approach. By giving your products and services an identity by capturing and sharing the stories they really are, you can take your target audience on a journey they yearn to experience. In order for consumers to form a personal connection with your brand, company stories must be authentic, creative and inspirational.“
(Source: http://www.i-scoop.eu/using-storytelling-strengthen-brand/)
This sounds great! But how can companies find authentic, creative and exciting stories?
This is not easy, especially for those companies with a high percentage of employees not loving their job and with founders who solely wanted to find a way to earn heaps of money!
(Fortunately more and more companies are not like that ☺).
Let’s have a look at you, the creator, the artist, the creative entrepreneur!
- You don’t have a differentiation problem. You are unique!
- You don’t need a brand. You are the brand!
- You don’t need a story. Your life is your story!
You have and are everything companies dream of. They would and actually do pay millions of dollars to have a bit of what you naturally bring along.
This is the beauty of being an artist!
You are unique. You exist only once on the planet. Your creations are unique. This means there is no competition. If a customer wants your art he can’t get it from anyone else.
You are the brand. You don’t need to create or make up a brand. The brand is you. Your art is real, it’s a true expression of you.
Your life is your story. You don’t need to dig deep or invent something. Your life embodies precious human challenges. Learning about this will create an experience that resonates with your specific audience.
You are unique, you are the brand, your life is your story!
So please, take advantage of this!
- Be proud of being you. Be proud of being a creator. Use your natural uniqueness!
- Tell the world about you. Let others know what you do. It’s real. Use your natural brand!
- Don’t hide your journey. It’s your life. It’s your successes, your failures and your human challenges. Let the world know about it. Use your natural story!
To spread your talent you don’t need to sell things that are not real. You don’t need to talk about things that are not true. You also don’t need to look at what other creators are doing or what some (stupid) mass markets might want.
The only thing you have to do is: BE YOURSELF and BE BOLD !