I spent the last few weeks thinking about how brands differentiate themselves

Thread 🧵

1/ Let's start with this line by Ted Morgan.

“Positioning is like finding a seat on a crowded bus”

Most brands sleepwalk onto the bus and sit on top of one another.

The smart brands look left, right, find an empty row, paint their logo on it and sing sweetly like the Sirens.
2/ Positioning is an easy thing to complicate so let's keep it simple.

*Your goal is to own a space in the customer’s mind. You do this by differentiating yourself.*

Differentiation is not a dark art. It's something you can learn. Here’s the different ways to achieve it:
3/ Through contrast

Point at the status quo and pit yourself against it. Contrast burns your brand into the customer's mind.

• Hey pit themselves against mainstream email
• Lemonde pit themselves against insurance stereotypes
• “I'm a Mac” pit themselves against the PC
4/ Through values

Think Patagonia and the environment, Ben and Jerry's and social justice, Black Rifle Coffee and gun rights.

Some will hate it. Others will rally behind you. And that's the point. Fence sitters don't buy.
5/ Through category creation

When Drift launched in 2016 they were just another startup in the mushy bucket of live chat software.

How to stand out?

Well, they reframed live chat as “conversational marketing” and made it their mission to own this new category.
6/ Through personality

Turn yourself into the product and no one can compete with you.

Think Kanye’s shoes, Nigella's cookbook, Wicks’s workout.
7/ Through limitation

Instead of trying to be everything for everyone go all-in on one niche or one feature.

Limitation makes you easy to sum up. Being easy to sum up makes you memorable.
8/ Writing this makes me think back to how I positioned Marketing Examples.

• Contrast - Marketing content was fluffy. My goal was no fluff
• Personality - Well, I write them all
• Limitation - Just examples. No agency, jobs board, etc...
9/ One last thing

Positioning isn't something you make up on a whim.

Behind great positioning is a story. Positioning is the TLDR. The story makes it memorable.

Look at Drift. Conversational marketing isn't plucked out the sky. It's the final bullet point in their story.
10/ “My guide to brand positioning“

https://t.co/Ch4ejt2Lqg
11/ Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.

If you learnt something you might like my weekly newsletter. More short, sweet and practical case studies :)

Over and out — Harry

https://t.co/7gnJQydfDz

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20 Most Important Lesson of 2020

// A THREAD //


It was a fast and weird year.

The year of change.

My life changed a lot and I learned even more.

Here are the 20 most important lessons - which will shape the upcoming decade for me.


1. Systems Are Better Than Goals

In the past, I failed many of my goals.

This year I've realized that it could be caused by the fact that they were goals, not systems.

Thanks, @ScottAdamsSays for helping me realize this.

Short article on the topic:
https://t.co/lyBqGBR0yM


2. Use Notion More

@NotionHQ is definitely the most useful tool I've discovered this year.

I use it for:

- Twitter
- Freelance CRM
- Content Creation
- Website project management

And for personal use, it's completely free.


3. Email Is Immortal

This year we saw on social sites:

- Shadow bans
- Normal bans
- Decreasing reach (e.g. during the presidential election)

That's why I believe building an independent audience e.g. email list is mandatory.

P.S. https://t.co/iuhQJIf80K

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दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।