If the label fell off…would people know it was you?
It was a question content marketer and best-selling author Ann Handley posed to her audience as keynote speaker at Chicago’s 2017 Digital Summit, where she extolled on the virtues of being a bigger, bolder, braver brand. A unique voice makes a successful brand, she asserted–it takes an ordinary product and surrounds it with an emotional connection. It creates value.
The question is simple but powerful: are you unique or are you a clone? Are you recognizable for what you are rather than what you call yourself?
The answer defines an individual. It defines an agency. It defines a client. And, most importantly, the way you answer that question dictates whether you are selling your brand or a commodity.
If you are the mathematical type, bestselling author and brand marketer Bernadette Jiwa has this simple formula for defining the elements of a brand versus a commodity:
[Product] – [Meaning] = Commodity
[Product] + [Meaning] = Brand
“Meaning” is the only difference in those two equations, and it comes from the unique voice that businesses should infuse throughout every aspect of their brand.
Going Beyond The Kelley Blue Book Value
To understand the difference that giving your brands a voice can have, consider the used 1996 Honda Accord.
The Kelley Blue Book assesses a value of approximately $1,500 to a used 1996 Honda Accord in excellent condition. That is the value of this commodity, according to the market. Everyone who is selling a used 1996 Honda Accord in excellent condition knows the market has valued that block of metal at around $1,500. It’s a product without meaning, defined only by its spec sheet, and totally devoid of personality, as one can clearly see from this basic ad on Craigslist:
