A Brand that Zags

When everybody zigs, ZAG!

As Martin Neumier points out in his fantastic book ‘Zag’, “For most companies, the problem with radical differentiation is the ‘radical’ part. If nobody’s doing it, you’d be crazy to do it yourself, right? Wrong. In fact, if you’re looking to become the leader in a new market space, the rule is just the opposite. If ANYBODY’S doing it, you’d be crazy to do it yourself. Instead you have to find the spaces in between… You have to find the zag.”

It’s a glaringly obvious statement but is often overlooked. Look at your own business, have you created a new market for yourself, or are you just doing what other companies are doing?

We are aware, not everyone is going to be able to create a new market space, but you can apply this theory to your marketing too. What do you do differently and what are people going to remember you for? Have you created your zag?

The idea being, that you want to create that all important Top of Mind Awareness – so when people think of your industry – they think of you, not your competition. You can’t do that by just doing zigs.

ACTION: Ask yourself. What makes you different to everybody else? Things like ‘good customer care’ aren’t going to cut it – everybody says that. What REALLY makes you different?

ACTION: Look at your marketing, is it the same as your competition in terms of style, type, wording, etc. If so, change it. You need to get across your zag.