With more and more brands offering services in-store and online, brand differentiation has never been more important for success and growth. When it comes to marketing and scaling a startup, standing out from the crowd will definitely help boost your company’s growth.

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Put simply, brand differentiation is the process undertaken by companies who want their brand to stand out from their competitors. Whether this applies to the products they sell, the number of consumers they reach or what they want association with, it’s all about being different - and beauty giants Lush certainly do this well.

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The company plays host to an innovative brand that has been reigning handmade cosmetics sales since its launch in 1995. Identify themselves as being a ‘unique solution for health and beauty products’ and as Fabrik states, Lush reaches out to customers with a familiar, ‘warm, welcoming verbal identity that comes across in everything from their packaging, to their messaging’.

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With strategic brand differentiation comes many elements which, when put together, result in the growth of companies. Here are just some of the ways Lush has achieved this over the past 27 years.

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Solving customers’ unique problems

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One of the most important elements needed when it comes to being a successful company is looking out for your customers and meeting their individual needs as much as possible. Lush does this in a way that isn’t all obvious at first, but when delving deeper it is clear they have achieved this. Bath bombs, soap, hair care, skin care and makeup are all within their impressive range of products and are all there for different purposes, such as hydrating the skin or simply helping people drift off to sleep. Having such a wide range of products helps any brand, not forgetting that Lush sell only their own products and consistently stick with their ‘handmade’ theme.

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Selling products that stand out

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Even with the gradual decaying of high streets and more companies moving online, you can still smell the iconic Lush stores from a fair distance away when out shopping - yes, this is the case with all of their impressive 106 UK stores! The products on the shelves have an iconic, loveable smell everyone instantly recognises and this alone is a great sign of both brand awareness and brand differentiation, comparing it to the likes of their high-street competitors The Body Shop. It is not just the smell of such items, though, it is also their appealing, photogenic appearance. From the products themselves to the packaging, they are beautifully presented. No other brand creates handmade cosmetics like Lush and this helps them to stand out in a highly-competitive market.

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Maintaining a physical and online presence

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The cosmetics brand maintains a strong online presence, alongside an impressive three-digit number of UK stores. Despite many other companies facing store closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Lush still stands strong within the UK high street scene. In 2017, the company had an operating group profit worth £22.7 million. Their website has 2.7M organic traffic every month worldwide, with 778K of that being solely in the UK. 83% of their traffic is branded, coming from people typing keywords associated with Lush’s brand or the name of the company itself.  

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Selling their own range of products

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As Tom Freeman shares in this article, there are multiple benefits for brands when it comes to selling their own products. In terms of brand differentiation, this decision primarily helps boost the products being sold and brand awareness, one of the most important things any brand can gain. This is something Lush has achieved, for example, as when you type into Google ‘bath bombs handmade cosmetics’’, Lush appears near the top of page one in the unpaid ads section.

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The Google search alone shows strong links between the search engine keywords and Lush, helping people access the page most commonly associated with the Google search - in this case, being Lush. Another positive point for any company selling their own products is creative freedom. They have creative control as a brand over how to market their products, how to make them visually appealing and what the overall brand will go on to do. This freedom is a huge advantage, especially when it comes to standing out from the crowd.

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Pushing the ethical side

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Lush is well-known for being an extremely ethical brand, which has been a highly relevant factor for some time and may be their number one company ethos. None of their products undergo animal testing and the branding and packaging they use clearly shows what they stand for, with the famous famous ‘fight animal testing’ slogan appearing on the bags they sell. This is backed up by the fact that since 2007, none of the ingredients used within their products have been tested on animals prior. This shows they have been moving with the times throughout the company’s existence and when it comes to what their customers want, they know exactly how to deliver. Lush stand out when many companies within the beauty industry still test their products on animals, such as Bobbi Brown and Clinique.

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Reaching their audience with their impressive sustainability

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With products being 100% vegetarian, 85% vegan and completely handmade, it is no wonder Lush pride themselves on their level of sustainability, These products also have packaging of which 90% is recyclable, and the company claims they are aiming to make the remaining 10% the same. This shows a deeper understanding of the customer as the ethical, sustainable nature of products is what Lush stands for and pushes when it comes to product marketing.

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Selling products that are fun to use

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Above all else, when it comes to brand differentiation, the most important thing is that customers will actually enjoy the product. Not only does this make them feel as though they’ve made a worthwhile purchase, it will also leave them wanting more. Websites such as Cosmopolitan have even gone on to rank the most popular Lush bath bombs for people to try, turning a business product into something people deem as being fun.

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It is no secret that brand differentiation has played a huge part in the success of Lush, if not being the primary success factor. Many areas contributing to their differentiation strategy help them achieve this level of uniqueness desired by so many. Having been the leading company in the handmade cosmetics industry for some time, they are clearly doing something right and it will be interesting to see whether this continues another 27 years from now.

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For more expert advice on how to build your own brand awareness, check out: How to create content like a CMO.

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