As a small producer you're up against established companies with big resources – and the noise is enormous. Your chance is not to do what they do, but cheaper. Your chance is to do your thing like no one else. This part is about two things that often get mixed up: being different and being recognisable. You need both.
Different – find your place
Draw your market on a simple map: budget–premium on one axis, traditional–modern on the other. Place your competitors. Where is everyone crowding? Where is it empty – and do you want to be there?
The point is not to be quirky. The point is to choose a place – and dare to stay there. "Roughly like the others, but a bit cheaper" is the worst spot on the map.
Recognisable – your distinctive assets
Being different only helps if people recognise you next time. They do that through your distinctive assets – the few things that always look the same:
- The colour. Own a colour in your category and use it everywhere.
- The shape or symbol. A logo, a mark, a label shape that reads at a distance.
- The name and the tone. The same name everywhere, the same way of talking.
- The photo style. Your pictures should feel like siblings – light, setting, real moments.
Persistence is the secret. Just when you start tiring of your colour and your message, customers have only begun to recognise them. Most people switch too early – and start over from zero. Hold on.
Do it like no one – not like everyone
Look at your category: does all honey, all cheese, all jam look the same? That's your opening. Dare to break the category's pattern in one dimension – the shape, the colour, the name, the story – and be steady in the rest. Breaking everything at once gets weird; breaking nothing gets invisible.
So choose your dimension with care. Does everyone look rustic? Be strict and modern. Is everyone serious? Dare some humour. Is everyone colourless? Own a colour. The rule is simple: the break should show from three metres away – and the rest of the impression should calmly confirm that you are still serious, genuine and worth the price.
Attitude is a distinctive asset too
Distinctive assets don't have to be visual. An attitude – a way of talking, a stance, a recurring humour – is recognised as quickly as a colour, and is even harder to copy. But the same rule applies as for everything else: it has to be true to the rest of the brand, and it has to be kept. One funny campaign is a whim; the same twinkle in the eye year after year is an asset.
When you're done: a place and your assets
What you should have decided: your place on the map (and who stands where) and your distinctive assets – colour, shape, tone and photo style you intend to keep.
Do this next
Write down your place and your assets – half a page is enough. Next step: The packaging – where the assets pay off on the shelf, and where the law has a say too.