Differentiating your brand and highlighting its unique key strengths is essential in today’s business landscape. Why? 

Well, research shows that business is becoming more competitive by the day. According to data from 2020, 90% of business owners reported that their industries had become more saturated, with the average brand working against 29 competitors.

So, if you want your brand and solutions to stand out and convince your target audience to invest in your products, you’ll need to do your best to call their attention to the benefits of buying from your business.

Ultimately, effective brand differentiation offers a host of long-term success benefits — from increased brand loyalty to reduced price sensitivity, stronger brand recall, and even elevated word-of-mouth marketing. And the best part is that you can enjoy any of these advantages by simply investing in your website.

So, if you’re looking to take your branding game to the next level, here are the best tactics for using your website to highlight your brand’s key strengths and win over your target audience with ease.

Develop a Memorable Visual Identity

Investing in visual branding — and consistently applying the same “look” to your website and digital distribution channels — is one of the best ways to transform your business into a household name whose strengths people will easily remember. And the best part about this design tactic is that developing a recognizable brand personality doesn’t have to be a complex procedure.

According to research from Siegel+Gale, people remember logos that are simple, communicate a clear message, feature distinctive colors, and are ubiquitously present in their environments.

In other words, a unique brand aesthetic can be more than enough to grab your target audience’s attention, ensure high levels of brand recall, differentiate your business from your competitors, and help your prospects memorize the key benefits of buying from your company.

For instance, look at the Love the Night Sky homepage. You’ll see an exceptionally beautiful, unique, and memorable visual identity. In addition to a symbolic logo, this business employs a highly evocative color palette throughout the website. This helps Love the Night Sky use every opportunity to make web visitors feel like they are looking at the night sky instead of their computer screens. The overall attractiveness of the aesthetic design allows the business to grab its visitors’ attention, giving the brand plenty of time to communicate all the unique benefits prospects could unlock by signing up for a video course, becoming a newsletter subscriber, or investing in one of the products featured in the equipment reviews site section.

Source: lovethenightsky.com

Address Highly Specific Consumer Pain Points

People want to support and buy from businesses that demonstrate they get them and care about them. So, if you’re looking for effective tactics to use your website to highlight why your solutions represent the best choice for your target audience, it’s not a bad idea to reevaluate your unique value propositions.

By doing your best to address your ideal customers’ pain points — and not getting scared to go ultra-specific — you can easily showcase your business’s dedication to solving customer pain points and inspire conversions.

For example, check out how EXT Cabinets does it on its EXT 10k product page. This brand uses copy and design to emphasize that its outdoor kitchen cabinets are built with 100% HDPE material inside and out (unlike competitors’ treated wood interiors). By doing so, EXT effectively supports its claim that its products can last a lifetime, meaning that they will not rust, chip, peel, or rot, even in outdoor conditions — a particularly significant pain point for someone spending north of $10,000 on an outdoor kitchen.

Source: extcabinets.com

Use a Variety of Content Formats To Communicate Key User Benefits

Your business’ reputation can be incredibly effective at inspiring consumers to purchase. But the truth is that not all shoppers prioritize buying from well-known brands. (A recent article from WSJ pointed out that approximately 65% of shoppers choose private labels over national brands due to price sensitivity.)

So, to convince web visitors to convert, you must help them see all the unique and valuable benefits your business offers. 

Utilizing website design — and relying on a host of engaging formats — may be one of the most effective strategies for communicating user value.

For example, check out the Hydrate product page on Transparent Labs. This brand is known for its dedication to presenting customers with only the highest-quality, science-backed supplements. 

In addition to using copy to communicate the key benefits of its sugar-free electrolyte powder (like bioavailable minerals, taurin, and coconut water powder), the brand understands that consumers may need additional info to make an informed purchasing decision. With this in mind, Transparent Labs added an Ingredients and Benefits section to its website design. In this section, TL doesn’t just use imagery to communicate supplement facts. It also goes into detail on every ingredient included in the product, backing each benefit claim with a link to a scientific study proving the product’s effectiveness.

Source: transparentlabs.com

Invest in Blog Content to Attract Consumers in the Early Stages of the Buyer’s Journey

Using your website to highlight your brand’s key strengths is an effective way to inspire conversions. But there’s one thing you must remember. Some of your prospects may not be ready to convert, no matter how effectively you emphasize your business’ competence or trustworthiness.

If you look at research into consumer behavior, you’ll find that people usually need multiple brand touches to move from the awareness to the purchase stage of the buyer’s journey. Most of today’s buyers need eight touches to move from the top to the bottom of the sales cycle, showing how important it is to attract and engage customers who are populating the early stages of the buyer’s journey.

By producing and publishing blog content for people just beginning their product research journey, you can effectively position your business as the answer to your prospects’ needs (against which they will measure all alternative solutions).

This tactic is precisely what Unita uses to attract its ideal customers. Ultimately, knowing that its prospects may not know about community marketing, the brand produces high-value content covering a wider range of topics. Doing so allows Unita to establish its authority and credibility. And a few well-placed CTAs — like the one included in the Building an Email List from Scratch Without a Website article — will work marvels to call your audience’s attention to your brand’s solutions and their benefits, effectively launching them on their journey toward potentially turning into a customer of your brand.

Source: unita.co

Demonstrate a Dedication to Customer Experience

Is your business dedicated to providing an exceptional customer experience (both before and after purchase)? In that case, it might be worth using your website to demonstrate your dedication to meeting and exceeding your prospects’ expectations.

If you look at the latest research from NICE, you’ll find that nine out of ten people are willing to pay a premium for a superior customer experience. A satisfactory brand experience also increases customer loyalty, further helping you boost your bottom line.

So, how do you use your website to emphasize your brand’s dedication to CX? Well, there are a few methods you can use.  

For a web design-oriented solution, it’s a great idea to identify your target audience’s core CX wants and address them throughout your website. For instance, the Call It By Your Name homepage uses banners to communicate key user benefits like free delivery and installment payments.

Source: callitbyyourname.fr

Or, if you’re willing to invest more work into demonstrating your brand’s focus on customer satisfaction, you could do something similar to Academic Influence. 

In its Best Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities guide, this business shows just how prepared it is to go above and beyond to help customers choose the right education institution for their needs. The 6,500-word article provides in-depth information about some of the best universities for college-bound students. It also includes handy interactive tools (like the Compare school feature), making it exceptionally easy to win web visitors’ trust and encourage them to use the brand’s services.

Source: academicinfluence.com

Showcase Social Proof Liberally

As you might have guessed, brand trustworthiness is an essential characteristic you will want to highlight when aiming to convert new customers. So, knowing that 99.5% of people research purchases online at least sometimes, it’s only logical that you need to populate your website with social proof to maximize brand trust.

The great news, again, is that you can adjust this conversion-inspiring tactic to align with your branding strategy and goals.

For example, if you want to establish credibility in a setting that requires proving your expertise, you could do something similar to Classical Guitar Shed. This brand uses media mentions and education certifications to highlight its competence — a great strategy for attracting customers who want top-of-the-line educational resources.

Source: classicalguitarshed.com

On the other hand, if you want web visitors to understand that you offer high-quality products that successfully solve relevant pain points, then you could go with more traditional instances of social proof, like the reviews on the Bose QuietComfort Headphones product page.

Source: bose.com

Don’t Be Afraid to Say What You Do Better Than Your Competitors

Lastly, as you explore tactics to use your website to differentiate your brand, note that your web visitors will, most likely, compare you to your competitors.

So why not invest in content or design features that communicate everything your business does the best?

Try integrating direct competitor comparisons into your website’s design. This is what Monday does on its Comp page. With this tactic, you can call your target audience’s attention to the unique benefits of investing in your solutions. Moreover, you can still provide web visitors with objective information that helps them make an informed purchase decision.

Source: monday.com

In Closing

There are many ways to differentiate your brand. And doing it well pays off.

However, if you want the tactics covered in this guide to work for your business, you’ll have to adjust them to your brand’s distinct needs. Focus on what makes your offer unique, and on top of that, make sure to research the highly specific questions and pain points your ideal customers need help with.

That way, you won’t just position your brand in a positive light. More importantly, you’ll show your prospects that it’s the ideal choice for them, helping you maximize conversions and ensure high customer satisfaction rates for long-term success.