There’s a lot of hope at the beginning of a new branding exercise. You and your team may unearth a truly bold and specific tagline. One that defines who you are to a T.
You get ready to plant your flag, but then…
Nitpickers poke their holes. Vocal stakeholders go back and forth. You drift further and further from your true differentiator, exhaustively landing on the least provocative idea in an effort to please everyone. But in the end, it’s lacklustre.
It doesn’t always have to be this way. By routinely performing competitive analyses you get to know what everyone else is saying and doing. Then you can use what you find to bolster your case for a bigger, bolder brand expression and approach.
You see, by comparing your ideas to that of your contemporaries’ you can empirically prove that you’re saying something no one else is. Not only that, but you can also justify the need to embrace gutsy, specific ideas instead of well-worn platitudes that will make some stalwart stakeholders feel safer.
Trust. Discover. Community.
Sound familiar? Your institution isn’t the only one who can claim those words. If you did a competitive analysis you would know who is saying the same thing about their institution — and reconvene your troops to strategize on a fresh course of action.