The world is filled with hundreds of thousands of businesses. What makes a business stand out among a crowd that offers the same products or services as you?
Standing out from your competition is crucial for your company’s success and growth. Businesses fail for various reasons, but lack of differentiation is at the top of the list. This isn’t a new thing for businesses to overcome – it’s actually an ongoing challenge to take on year after year as more new businesses enter the marketplace. On the bright side, it is always possible to find the distinct traits your business has that will help you emerge in a crowded market.
There are many ways to go about getting your brand to stand out, and with the advancements of technology, ways of standing out are expanding and changing. With a little time and work, you can develop a plan to make sure to differentiate yourself from the competition. Here’s a few tips to get started:
1. Offer a Product or Service That No One Else Has
Seems simple enough, right? In reality, this apparently straightforward, no-brainer task has a lot that goes into it and is one of the most important pieces of this puzzle. Start by taking a good look at and analyzing your company and your competition. Find factors that make your business excel and leverage them. For example, if your employees are your biggest asset, take advantage of their talents.
At the same time, you need to find your competitor’s weaknesses and exploit them by doing what they struggle with. If you know your competitor struggles with customer service, go above and beyond for your customers, proving you are the best choice. If other companies are offering the same product or service, think of ways to make that product or service better than the competition. Having several differentiating factors to pull from sets up a successful path for sales and marketing team to utilize to stand out from the competition.
2. Provide Exceptional Service And Experience
In a world where people have more options than ever before, it is essential to stay relevant and create an experience that keeps them coming back for more. According to Fast Company, “your employees are your company’s real competitive advantage. They’re the ones making the magic happen.” There are a few key things to ensure your team is providing superior service:
- Train your team to go above and beyond for your customers
- Be attentive to customer needs and wants
- Make time to talk with your clients and prospects regularly – at the very minimum once a week
- Make sure communications are seamless when addressing customer pain points and respond to emails and phone calls in a professional and timely manner
- Continue to nurture and monitor customer activities and gather their feedback to show you value them and they are more than just a sale
Keep your customers happy because happy customers become your promoters. Excellent service and great experiences with a business will leave a positive impression that can last a lifetime.
3. Create Powerful Branded Marketing Materials
Due to the number of businesses in the market, it is more challenging than ever to deliver your message. Marketing materials will often be the first thing a prospect sees about your business, and you need to look good, fresh, and different to stand out from your competition. Marketing tools and tactics provide a valuable, creative spin on everyday things going on with your business, brand awareness, and establish your company as a resource and industry leader.
A consistent creation of whitepapers, blogs, social media posts, advertisements, commercials, flyers, and other marketing materials will put your message in front of as many people as possible, at multiple times, and on various channels. You can obviously post whatever, wherever you want, but if the design and branding are not consistent and reflect your brand, you will not generate buzz. Memorable marketing can create a lasting impression on prospects and customers, so, get creative, think outside the box to enhance your brand.
4. Use Digital To Your Advantage
We’re talking about more than just social and having an online presence. You’ve probably heard the term “user experience,” and it’s something to think about implementing if you haven’t already to keep pace with the competition. More than ever, people are looking for a personalized experience when they interact with a brand.
Intuitive website or app design, customized landing pages, and targeted ads all play a roll in how people experience your brand. The easier and quicker they can get to the information they need, the better. Campaign automation techniques can be added and applied to marketing plans to target messaging based on what your customers are looking for. It is shown that people need to see or hear about your brand at least seven times before they would take action to contact you to learn more or purchase. By targeting what they are searching for and how you can solve their pain points will help with a positive user experience that will likely steer customers in your direction.
5. Offer A Guarantee
Advertising that your business guarantees something shows that
you trust and believe in what you are selling. Examples of this can include 100% customer satisfaction or you don’t pay, or even early opt-outs of contracts. This should only be used if you believe you can fulfill your guarantee.There is nothing better than a company that will stand behind their product or service. A guarantee instills confidence in your customers and just might be the right differentiating factor for your business.
Standing out in a crowd in difficult and it’s only getting harder. There are more businesses, more marketing techniques, and more ways to see advertisements than ever before. Build strategies to improve customer service, do business differently than your competition, create robust marketing materials, create an exceptional user experience, and offer a guarantee. Implementing these methods will differentiate your company, even in the most crowded market.
Looking for help in your sales department and options available out there? Contact us to learn more about what makes MPI’s outsourced sales services stand out from the competition.