Many of us have heard the advice. If you want to do well in business, you have to stand out. To be different from others in the market. We’re promised that if we can figure out how to be different, we’ll attract customers.

But this often leads to clutching at straws. Searching high and low for ways we can be not like other brands, whilst neglecting the things that actually give our brand life, energy, and something real for people to connect to. These are the foundations that make a brand attractive in the first place.

In this article, we’ll explore why “How can I be different?” is not the most effective question to ask, what a better question might be, and how you can create a brand that does actually connect with customers and increase sales.

The problem with arbitrary difference

I remember once working on a food and drinks brand packaging. The owner asked to make an adjustment to the front label design, where one of the small pieces of text would be made sideways, as a point of difference from other brands in the market.

It was true, this change would have been different to what other tea brands had done. However, it didn’t add anything that made the packaging more interesting or expressive of the brand personality. It was difference for the sake of difference, and it would have come at a cost.

The adjustment reduced the readability of the key information, which is extremely important for a product sitting on a shop shelf alongside twenty others. Making the key information easy to see and digest is essential for giving customers a smooth shopping experience, because if there is confusion, customers will often move on.

I’m glad to relay this adjustment didn’t go through once I had explained. And it serves as a good reminder that being different for the sake of being different is necessarily the right choice, especially when it comes at the cost of something else.

Difference alone doesn’t make people stay

Take the example of a skincare brand. They may see that many other brands in the industry use minimal white packaging, and so decide to make theirs black, blue, pink, red, or any other colour. This might turn a few heads, but if that colour choice has no real purpose other than to be not like other brands, if it doesn’t show something of the brand’s personality, and is not paired with other design elements that convey feeling and energy, its impact is minimal.

They would likely have more success (even keeping the colours white) with an expressive typeface that conveyed their flair, or an illustration that linked to their brand story.

In essence, being different might catch someone’s eye, but they will likely look away again if it doesn’t add anything interesting. Because surface-level differences aren’t enough to build the desire and resonance needed for someone to buy.

The key thing to remember is this: Your brand can be different from others, and yet still be bland.

On the other side of the coin, your brand can be similar to others in ways, and yet still be captivating.

How to create a brand that is captivating

It’s not that being different doesn’t have any value. Of course it’s better to not blend in. However instead of asking “How can I be different?” a more powerful question to ask is “What is the character of my brand?”

What attracts customers isn’t difference alone. It’s being interesting. It’s having style, flair, a distinct energy you embody. This is what draws people in, gets them excited, and makes them think, “Yes, I like this brand. I resonate with this brand. I want to be part of this brand.” Because people relate to brands like they relate to people.

Take a brand like Diptyque. They are another wellness brand with black and white packaging, and yet they are iconic. Their packaging isn’t different in colour or format from others in their industry, but it stands out in its character. The vintage French typography. The classic oval brand mark. The hand-drawn illustrations. The slightly opulent, exotic tone. Their whole expression feels cohesive and rich in personality.

This is what makes them memorable, and it is far more impactful than a brand who chooses a different colour from others, but lacks its own distinct energy and style.

The market is often saturated with brands all trying to stand out, often using shock tactics, unusual colours, or provocative imagery in attempt to do so. But attention only stays when you give people something to stay for. Difference for the sake of difference doesn’t offer that. What does is a unique brand character.

With this, your brand becomes magnetising. People don’t just look and then walk away. They are drawn to the energy of your brand. They form a connection because they start to get an idea of who you are as a brand, and even further, who they could be with your brand. What part of themselves they could tap into. This is what builds the desire and resonance needed for people to buy.

Questions to help you develop your brand character

Before choosing colours, typography, or photography, start by exploring your brand character from the inside out. Here are some questions to begin:

1. If your brand were a person, who would they be?

This could be a real person or a description of someone. Consider how they look, how they talk, how they dress, what music they listen to, and how they spend their days.

2. If your brand were a place, where would it be?

Perhaps a Balinese spa surrounded by nature. A café on the streets of Rome that’s been around since 1965. A stone home in Mallorca overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean sea. Get specific.

You can also mix influences, have fun juxtaposition to create something unique. If you were to ask me what is the place for Crafted Wild, it would be the jungle of Costa Rica (my home), alongside a classic Parisian cafe (probably my home in another life). Two types of aesthetics I adore, blended as one.

3. What kind of lifestyle are you helping your customers to live?

Perhaps it’s someone who wakes up at sunrise and has slow mornings with their coffee and journal? Or is it someone who goes on wild adventures through nature?

When you explore these questions with an open mind, you begin to uncover your brand’s unique character.

Crafting a brand filled with that character

The final step is weaving the thread of your character through every touchpoint. Language, visual style, packaging, photography, ensuring everything feels cohesive.

For example, if you are a bath and body brand that helps people feel soft and gentle in their self-care rituals, how does that character show up? Is your typography soft? Are your colours natural and harmonious? Does your photography reflect people in that gentle way of life?

You might think this sounds like every other wellness brand, but it doesn’t have to be. You can still have a soft brand aesthetic and express it in a distinctive way. A typeface with unique organic letterforms. Photography of people doing their self-care rituals out in nature rather than in a standard at-home setting. These aren’t random differences. They are extensions of the brand’s character.

Final thoughts

When you stop asking how to be different and start cultivating your brand’s character, you become different as a by-product. Original by nature. People feel the brand energy and want that energy in their lives. That is what inspires them to buy, not just for the product itself, but for the character it invites them to step into.