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. The foundations that make our brand compelling 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 stand out and increases sales.

Why just being different doesn’t work

I remember once working on tea brand packaging. The client asked to make an adjustment to the front label design that would make it unlike anything else on the shelf.

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

The adjustment reduced the readability of the label, 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. When clarity is compromised, customers will often move to the next product.

Difference alone doesn’t make people stay

Take the example of a skincare brand. They may notice that many others in the industry use minimal white packaging, and so decide to make theirs black, blue, or pink. This might turn a few heads, but if that colour choice has no real purpose other than to be different, if it doesn’t express something of the brand’s personality, and is not supported by other design element that convey the rich feeling and energy of the brand, its impact is minimal.

Being different might catch someone’s eye, but they will likely look away again if the difference doesn’t add anything meaningful. 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 some ways, and yet still be captivating in it’s own way.

How to create a brand people are attracted to

It’s not that being different doesn’t matter at all. Of course you don’t want to 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?”

Because what attracts customers isn’t difference alone. It’s being interesting. It’s a brand with it’s own style, flair, an energy it embodies. 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.” People relate to brands like they relate to people.

Take a brand like Diptyque. They are another wellness brand with black and white packaging, yet they are iconic. Their packaging isn’t radically different in colour or format from others in the category. But it has 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 with personality.

They are not memorable because of random difference. They are memorable because their entire brand feels like someone.

This is far more impactful than a wellness brand who simply chooses a different colour from everyone else, but whose brand as a whole still lacks depth, interest, or flair.

The market is often saturated with brands all trying to stand out. They often reach for shock tactics, unusual colours, provocative imagery. 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 distinct brand character does.

With this, your brand’s difference actually becomes intentional. People don’t just look and then walk away. They feel the energy of your brand. They stay and explore more. 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 embody. This is what builds the desire and resonance needed for people to actually stay, explore, and 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 what their hobbies are.

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, juxtaposition often creates uniqueness. If you were to ask me what is the place for Crafted Wild, it would be the jungle of Costa Rica (my home), with 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 inviting your customers to embody?

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

When you explore these questions with creativity and curiosity, you begin to uncover your brand’s energy. The uniqueness of your 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, website, 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 embodying that gentle way of living?

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. Perhaps through a typeface with a unique cursive flair. Or photography of people carrying out their rituals out in nature rather than in a standard at-home setting. These are not 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, your difference becomes the by-product. You become original by nature of expressing who you are as a brand.

With that, people don’t just look, they stay. Something about your brand feels alive. They sense the energy it embodies and want that for themselves too. And that is what inspires them to buy, not just for the product itself, but for the character it allows them to step into.