Distinctiveness.Distinctiveness is making your brand easily identifiable by customers.There is a fair amount of recent discussion about distinctiveness, but it is far from a new concept. Mac Martin wrote the passage below in his book ‘Advertising Campaigns’ from 1917.  The language and list are almost identical to what some of the biggest names in marketing use today.Martin wrote,‘Advertisers use many different ways to make their advertising distinctive and immediately identifiable.Among them are the following :1. The name2. The trade -mark3. A typical character4. A slogan5. Borders6. Backgrounds7. Styles of type faces8. Styles of type composition9. Technique of illustrations10. Style of copy11. Uniform proportions12. Color13. Position in the publication .’These elements, when done correctly, become distinctive brand assets. They work together to make your brand easily identifiable. But how do you measure if your assets are truly distinctive?Jenni Romaniuk’s Brand Asset Grid provides a way to quantify distinctiveness through two key metrics:Asset Recognition – How many people recognize the assetBrand Attribution – How many people can attribute the asset to the correct brandHere is what Peter Weinberg said about the B2B Institute’s research on distinctive brand assets in B2B,“But in B2B, we found almost no distinctive assets, in any category, for any brand. Instead, B2B brands are all drowning in a sea of sameness. Every brand is blue, every brand is saying the same things in the same way. “https://lnkd.in/ejnaPXeRWhy does it matter?Distinctive brand assets alone won’t make your brand successful, but there are three important reasons to focus on building them:Brand- Without distinctive assets, our marketing won’t be associated with our brand. Customers- Lack of distinctive assets makes it harder for your customers and prospects to find your brand.Competitors- A lack of distinctiveness may cause your prospects and customers to associate your marketing with your competitors. Why don’t B2B companies have distinctive brands?CEOs, you may not care, but you need to because many forces within your company are aligned against distinctiveness. - The new CMO wants to "refresh" the brand- The board is tired of seeing the same look- Your product team doesn’t have time to incorporate your brand assets into the product- You are worried about doing something too bold like creating a character- The marketing team thinks it is too "salesy" to strongly incorporate your brand in contentThe good news is that, if you are willing, your company will be alone in being distinctive.  It is much better to play where there is no competition, then to sit still among the others.