Are you marketing a zombie brand?

Take a look at your business category. Does your advertising look and feel like that of your competitors? Do you see too many of your category’s cliches in your overall messaging? Do you analyze your competitors’ advertising and find it difficult to discern anything different about what they are selling compared to your own benefits? Can your customers honestly tell you apart from your competitors?

If this is your scenario, you may have a zombie brand: moving within a slow-moving pack, hunting for the same customers as your peers. To your potential customers, your brand is shuffling down the street with a mob of folks who look and sound just like you. (Hopefully, without the moaning and outstretched arms.)

We think that the most successful brands have distinct personalities, just like memorable, likeable people. Sure, they may follow certain rules of their categories, but great brands usually stand for something. They say, "we stand for this," instead of, "we stand for what everybody else stands for, too.”

So if yours is a zombie brand, find out what truly separates you from the pack that makes a meaningful difference to your customer. If you can't find one, it may be time to take a fresh look at your product offering.

And when you are ready to advertise, don’t hesitate to kill the remnants left over from your “zombie” campaign. There’s no harm done here, a “me, too” campaign is lifeless from the beginning.

Remember: aim for the head. A mere body blow won't do.