The Pop Star Test.

The strength of your brand is determined almost entirely by how many other choices there are like you.  Want to know if you really have a brand?  Think of any famous rock or pop star.  How many others are there like him or her?  The lower the number, the stronger that musician’s brand.  For example, while there are lots and lots of young female pop stars who sound very much alike, there’s almost no one who sounds like Bob Dylan.  So he remains becomes more memorable than many competitors.  How many of your competitors provide exactly what you do, exactly the way you do.  Be honest.  The only way to make that number smaller — and your brand more potent — is by becoming different.  And that takes more nerve than most people have.