The good news is your business is finally hitting its stride: the product is the best it’s ever been. Your employees can articulate why and how your products and services can benefit potential customers. Your business even has a mobile website now, and a robust email list for contacting customers. You’re poised for success.
The bad news: Your business is one among many others in the same location. Whether you are a florist, insurance agent, cafe or car dealership, the competition exists. And they have access to the same tools, marketing platforms and strategies you do. You’re poised to be forgotten in a sea of noise.
Obviously, any business owner wants to grab success and run with it. To do that, it’s necessary your brand or business establishes why it’s unique and then broadcast that message.
Discover Your Uniqueness
Go back to your customers for this one. They opened their wallets and chose you. Why? Consider an online survey to ask the question: “Why did you choose us over the competition?” You can ask questions about price, choice, availability and customer service.
Listen to the answers. Talk with customers and salespeople in person. There’s a “special sauce” to your business. Hopefully, you know what it is already, but if you don’t, ask.
If you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of customers to interview, make a list of what makes you better than anyone else. Be completely honest with yourself. On that list is your uniqueness.
Broadcast Your Uniqueness to the World
Once you know what it is that makes you a better baker, bookseller, jeweler or dentist than anyone else in town, you’ll need to let everyone know. This is a form of customer service: you are making the buying decision easy for the customer. For instance, take two marketing messages:
- Wildlife Removal LLC: We remove common wildlife from your home or business affordably and easily. Don’t try to do it yourself! Let the trained pros take care of this job.
- The Wild Crew Remove wildlife fast! Our 24-hour Wild Crew Patrol can be at your home or business in one hour or less to remove snakes, birds, raccoons, squirrels and other animals.
Did you notice how the second marketing message mentioned they would be at your location in one hour or less? Their uniqueness is their roving 24-hour patrol. Maybe the first company is also similarly quick but it’s missing from their message. Other unique attributes for a business like this could be: gentle (no animals will be harmed!); expertise (a veterinarian on staff); or costs (each visit is just $89).
Broadcasting your uniqueness can take place in numerous ways, but here is a quick list of suggestions:
- Showing leadership with blogging, ebooks, speaking at industry events
- Online ads with keywords that call out your uniqueness
- A tagline that speaks to the business’s uniqueness
- Testimonials on your website and social media
Your mother was right: you are a special snowflake. And with some research and targeted copywriting, your business can stand out from the crowd.
Alex is VP of Marketing at Connectivity.
