Challenger brands are all around us — setting new and improved standards for their competitors. From companies like Uber to Airbnb, you likely come into contact with these trendsetters daily. But what does it mean to be a “challenger brand”? And how can you get on the path to becoming one yourself? What is a challenger brand? People often know challenger brands as B2C businesses like Uber and Airbnb, but they can also exist just as well in the B2B world. As a company not only committed to providing group risk protection but also building healthier workplaces, YuLife is considered to be a challenger brand alongside other B2B platforms like Snowflake and Hubspot. In short: the concept of a “challenger brand” typically refers to an early-stage start-up that has chosen to challenge the status quo within an industry. One that creates a memorable experience that users don’t want to leave, and uniquely defines them as a strong contender in a sea of other competitors for their out-of-the-box thinking. So how can you start taking a more “challenger” approach to define yourself in your industry? How can you become one of these brands that go against the status quo and make a difference? We had an insightful webinar with challenger brand leaders from Snowflake, YuLife, Notion Capital and WillU on how to become a brand that challenges the norm in your industry.We compiled all of their best advice into these key 5 steps to help you: Watch the full webinar here.5 Things You Need to Do to Build a Challenger Brand 1. Establish a “challenger brand” mindset The first step in any endeavour is establishing the mindset. You want to make sure you’re in an industry that is ripe for disruption, and one that could use some “revolutionising”. Find a way to become that change you’d like to see. “I think it’s slightly less a state of mind, but more a state of heart,” begins Jonathan Roomer, YuLife’s Co-Founder and Head of Customer Success. “I think it's about what you believe and what you feel. Start-up, scale-up, challenger brand or not — things are hard. Things go well, things go badly. And ultimately it's about your resilience, your passion, your drive, and your desire to do it.” “And I think, it is two main emotions that really drive it forward. And they're two sides of the same coin. One is injustice, and the other is desire. I see an injustice in the world. There's something that's not right. I am going to fix it, no matter what. The flip side of that is the desire to improve things, which is not necessarily an injustice in the world, but the knowledge that things could be so much better, and I am going to take personal responsibility for making it happen. So I think it's more that state of heart and desire, and then everything else follows from there.” 2. Don’t reinvent the wheelOftentimes, people think challenger brands are born from an idea that’s brand new. There’s a misconception that your idea has to be completely unique or ground-breaking to stand out and make a difference.But, more often than not, that’s not the case. “There's a lot of aspects of the market that need modernising,” posits Craig Copeland, Founding Partner of WillU. “However, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just do it better than somebody else.” The best brands out there don’t write at the top of their business plan “Challenger Brand”. They simply saw a gap in the market— and they found a way to fix it. Based on her experience, Itxaso del Palacio Partner, Notion Capital has noticed “most of the companies that are building a challenger brand [would] help, were operating in red oceans — in very crowded markets. In places where the product was already out there,” she confirms. “There was no education to be done to the market. So they were coming in with a big, very strong message, but people knew already what [they were] talking about. So they could say only half of the message, and still people [would understand] what [they were] talking about.” 3. Build an experience you don’t want to leave While establishing your mindset and your positioning in a market that you want to change, the other most important part that defines a challenger brand is the experience that consumers have when they engage with your brand. “I think a company that's really stood out for me that I've watched over the last few years is Hubspot,” says Jonathan. “I think there are two specific things that they did exceptionally well. Number one was their content marketing. The content marketing that they put out there was super helpful for the people who were using the platform. So when we were first getting going and you go online, it's like, ‘I have to send a cold email now for the first time. But what on earth do I do?’ And then you would Google it. And the very first thing that would come up was, here's how you send cold emails — here's the sequence. So they gave so much value through their content marketing. And I think, aligned to that. they had a fantastic acquisition strategy where it was free upfront. And by the time you realised ‘actually, I need these other features…’, you were so embedded in the product. You could not dream of going anywhere else.” As you approach building a brand that challenges the market, don’t just think about creating a killer product and end there. Think about how you can create a lasting experience that people will remember, and above all: one they actually feel compelled to use long-term. 4. Build trust through actionWe all know by now that building trust with your consumers is vital for business success. But how do you go about building that trust, and establishing yourself and how you’re different in a “red ocean” market when it’s already so saturated? Something YuLife did when acquiring one large company as a customer, was the founders “literally went in the middle of the night to their warehouses across the country to do activation campaigns and to be there and to meet the staff and to work with them,” says Jonathan. “And it was incredibly fun. I mean, it wasn't always fun — just going to these random spots just outside of Glasgow at 3 in the morning — but it was an incredibly important thing to do.”Because especially at the beginning, working with the bigger companies and clients out there, “it takes a long time to build trust. So the way that we were able to build trust was by really digging in to understand them as a business, and to show how we would be able to affect their their pains or their strategy. Those big businesses [...] they don't take a chance too easily on early-stage businesses.”When you can truly understand a business from its roots, you can understand how to build a product and brand that really stands out and addresses those desires and pains. And when you go and show your face and willingness at a warehouse, that establishes your commitment to potential clients. But what’s even more important than that is actually making moves to show your solution in action. “You have to demonstrate that you can actually solve what you're going to do after the heart,” Jonathan continues. “But you have to have the tech to back it up because you can speak as much as you want — but if you don't deliver ultimately, customers will judge you very quickly.”5. Establish your whySomething all challenger brands have in common is a clear and definitive “why” behind their business. And not just in their business — but in their personal lives. “My favourite question,” says Jonathan “[is] what do you want to be when you grow up.” Jonathan goes on to say that this question doesn’t just apply to founders of Challenger Brands, but to all founders in general: “It comes down to why you're here — why you're trying to achieve this, and I mean that on a personal basis. What do you want to achieve from a company perspective? It's what do you personally want out of this journey? Where do you want to be in a few years? [...] and then work back from there.” About YuLife.YuLife is working to reimagine the insurance industry by protecting lives, rewarding living and inspiring life. We’re on a mission to transform traditional insurance into a life-enhancing experience each employee will value and use daily. How does it work? Our award-winning app uses behavioural science and game mechanics to reward your people for living well while offering protection in case of crisis. And with our top-rated employee assistance programme, your team gets access to mental, financial and social support, virtual GPs, nutritionists, life coaches and more to help them live their best lives.Because we believe that your employees should benefit from their insurance from day one — and that wellbeing should be accessible every day, for everyone.Request a demo for your team today.