JWB&CO_differentiate or die_low

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A boutique strategic
branding and marketing
company for educational
& business institutions.

COPYRIGHT JWB&CO 2013
JWB&CO DIFFERENTIATE OR DIE!
HOW TO DISTANCE YOURSELF FROM
THE COMPETITION | 09 2013 | 2
Differentiate or Die!
How to Survive in a Competitive Habitat.

There are between
15,000 and 20,000
species of butterflies
worldwide and they
are all different.
Why? Survival!

[verb - action]
to recognize or ascertain what makes
(someone or something) different:
(differentiate between) identify differences
between (two or more things or people):
to make (someone or something) appear
different or distinct:
Point: it is the ability of the viewer to be able to see what
the differences are...to be able to identify the differences
between two or more objects.
Differentiate:
Oxford’s Dictionary says this:

The landscape within education is that
most schools are primarily selling the
same product...education. The second
big problem is there are a lot of excellent
schools to choose from = saturated market.
Key problems:
• selling same product
• choice/saturation
• too many motherhood statements
• mums cannot always spot differences
• they become confused
This make the selection of the right school
very difficult. Who do I choose?
Problems for our viewer/
audience/customer.

We must give our audience
[the mums out there] a
reason to believe...
by communicating your differentiating idea.

Believe what?
What do we want to give them to believe?
What differentiating idea?
To believe what the college/institution stands
for. To believe what makes it different from
the pack IN THE MINDS of the audience.
This idea must be 5 things:
1. Authentic - something which is being done
or exists in the school already
2. Compelling - something they value, want
and willing to pay for
3. Unique - sets them apart from the
competition
4. Consistent - staying on message
5. Simple - one or two words, three max

Let’s go back to our definition and change
them slightly:
to create a message, so that the viewer
[mums] recognizes or ascertains what makes
this school different from another:
or
to create a message so that the viewer
[mums] can clearly identify differences
between two or more schools:
but and this is the key the differential/the
message must be important, wanted and
valued in the mind of your audience.
Our/your job

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Before Current educational
landscape...it’s blue.

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After The school that differentiated
itself. Audience want orange.

It really is that simple, and it works, but it
takes a lot of hard work, courage and a great
leadership team to succeed.
Ok, a bit simplistic, but I
hope you get the idea

1. Consider the landscape your school is
competing in. Who - are the competitors
2. Know thy self
3. Simplicity is vital
4. Credibility / authenticity
5. Consistency
6. Try not to be all things to all people
How?

THE BATTLEFIELD IS IN
THE MIND AND HOW YOU
DIFFERENTIATE YOUR
SCHOOL MUST BE VALUED
BY YOUR AUDIENCE.
Before we go on, remember

Real life Examples
to consider

You think of Volvo you think safety. Their
differentiating idea is safety. Safety is
something car drivers want, value and are
willing to pay a bit more for. The idea is
simple and authenticated by how Volvo
make cars. That is they were safe cars before
they became know as safe cars.
Points to consider:
• some car drivers will value safety
• authentic - they have the credentials to
back up their claim
• simple
Safety

BMW, the ultimate driving machine. Their
differentiating idea is about a superior
driving machine. It appeals to those
who value a car which is fast, handles
exceptionally well, is a joy to drive and
looks great. They will be willing to pay more
to have one. It appeals to them. Again
BMW have the credentials to back up their
differentiating idea.
Drivability

Down down the prices are down.
Their differentiating idea is about money
saving. Remember who they are competing
with... The Fresh Food People. This is a clear
difference from Safeway. Night and day. The
customer knows what each one is on about
and it makes their choice easy. They are
appealing to those who are money savvy
when it comes to buying food and groceries.
Do these people want and value saving
money, yes they do.
Money saving

A hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer
and the best cold beer is Victoria Bitter.
They are appealing to those who value
a beer after a hard days work. Primarily
they are positioning/angling their beer to
communicate to tradies. Pie and sauce, dog
and a ute, Vic Bitter and Hard Yakka. So
they align themselves with similar brands
like Hard Yakka to further cement their
differentiating idea into the minds of their
audience.
Points to consider:
• making a distinction between themselves
and all other beer products
• we clearly know what VB stands for
• question in the mind of the viewer is it
what I want or value?
• align with another brand communicating to
the same audience
• specialising - will not appeal to everyone
Hardworking

Brighton Grammar
Simple idea - we teach boys. BGS has been
teaching boys for over a 100 years and are
darn good at it and their track record and
ways of teaching are second to none. This
appeals to mums of boys because they want
a school that knows how to teach THEIR boy.
• simple, digestible and attainable idea
• not trying to be all things to all people
• specialising in teaching boys turned them
into the market leader in boys education
• an idea which mums want and value - a
school that respects and loves boyishness
• authentic
We teach boys

Fintona Girls’ School
The differentiating idea is a small school
learning environment. Why would a mum
value this? Because it means her daughter will
not get lost. That she is known and respected.
That teachers will know her name. That
teachers can teach fewer students, therefore
giving the student more personalised
instruction....All the research pointed to
the most prized reason why parents chose
Fintona...it was because of its size.
• authentic
• came about from extensive research
• simple
• highly valued by mums as they do not want
their daughter to just be a number
• competes in a highly competitive Kew girls’
school market
Small school/size -
great things come from a small package

Push the snowball down
the hill it will slowly get
bigger and bigger

Build awareness - begin to tell your story.
Begin to communicate to your audience that
differentiating idea.
• visual must be appropriate for and
sympathetic to the differentiating idea
• must reinforce the differentiating idea
• consistency - stay on message
• push the snowball down the hill - build
momentum - first two years of roll out dial
up the spending on marketing in order to
get message out and build momentum
Now that you have your
differentiating idea, what
now?

You get noticed like the orange shirt.
Your audience begins to take note and
listen to what you are saying. You now
have their attention and an opportunity to
communicate your advantage and benefits
as to why choose you over such and such.
Point to consider:
• virtuous circle -if you do this well you will
have more students to select from giving
you the ability to select the best studets.
Better students means better results.
Better results means better staff because
eveyone wants to be associated with a
winner. Better staff means students are
taught better and do better and the circle
continues on-and-on.
• helps with alumni and development -
people want to be assoicated with a
winner
Results of all your hard work

There are over 15,000 to 20,000 species of
butterflies yet all are different in order to
survive in a deadly habitat. Differentiating is
the way any business or product, including
education can survive in a highly competitive
and saturated habitat.
Key points to remember:
1. Consider the landscape your school is
competing in know who your competitors
are
2. Know thy self
3. Simplicity is vital
4. Credibility / authenticity
5. Consistency
6. Try not to be all things to all people
and...
Conclusion

THE BATTLEFIELD IS IN THE
MIND OF YOUR AUDIENCE
AND
HOW YOU DIFFERENTIATE
YOUR SCHOOL MUST BE
VALUED BY YOUR AUDIENCE.

Thank you for your time

A boutique strategic
branding and marketing
company for educational
& business institutions.

JWB&CO_differentiate or die_low

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