The photo on the left was taken in 1939 and appeared in Life Magazine.
I saw it in June of 2015, and it has stuck with me ever since.
The online caption read, "After realizing that poor women were using flour sacks to make clothing for their children, some flour mills started using flowered fabric for their sacks."
Man, I love that.
So simple, yet so powerful.
It’s an example of a company relating to their customers’ needs - needs, by the way, that had nothing to do with the flour mills’ actual product - and then making an adjustment to help.
It’s a sweet story of people getting creative to make life a little better for others.
We’ve covered that idea several times in this blog:
- The hotel that joined with a local animal shelter to encourage pet adoptions.
- The barber who gives away free haircuts to kids if they read a book while in his chair.
- The artist who turned weeds into sidewalk art.
- The high school track team that took shelter dogs for a run and set off a nice chain of events.
If you want to differentiate your brand, stop thinking about it as differentiating your brand - for at least the time being - and start doing something extra that matters to your customers, your community, you and your team.
Make it real. Make it human and heartfelt. Make that adjustment, and then make a difference.
