Define your difference to stand out and make your business shine above the competition
Carefully defining your business, and its differentiation, will help you
understand who you are, what you do and what makes you different. not many
small businesses take the time to answer those fundamental questions about their business,
but those answers are essential to creating a strong brand identity, focused
effective marketing messages and materials. Having these will make a stronger
impression on your target audience: once you stand out, they will be more likely to
they remember you when they need your products or services.
Taking this step will make you stand out from your competition. just think of you
competition, and how they communicate and market their business. So
many people are promoting their business without knowing these basic facts
about your business, that if you have these items in place, it will overshadow your
competition.
To define your business difference, you need:
Determine the characteristics of your business:
oh Who are you: What is your business about? What is your mission and
What are your values?
oh What do you do: What are the unique services and/or products that you
offered?
Study and contrast your business with that of the competition:
oh Who is your competition: Who offers the same or similar services or
products like you? Against whom do you constantly trade your service, or
competing with for shelf space? These are your closest competitors, the ones with
that should concern you most in the definition process.
oh What makes you different: How are you different from those
competitors? Do you have a specific area of specialty, either in the industry you
service, the problem you solve or the service/product you provide? You
serve a certain geographic area? Be careful to avoid “better” differentiators,
“faster” and “cheaper”: these are either too subjective or too difficult to maintain as
your business grows and matures. Your differentiators must stay with you during the
life of your business.
Plan for your best customers:
oh Who can you help best: Determine who constitutes your target market.
It is best to determine the demographics of both: data such as age, race, gender, occupation
–and their psychographics–your motivations, hobbies, desires, and other factors
that make up your personality.
oh The best way to reach them: Once you know who you want to help, the
The next step is to figure out how to let them know that you can help them. This means
determine how to market your business and what types of media are best to get
your message out.
oh What differentiators will compel them: The creation of differentiators
also help your target customers identify with you. If you tell them you specialize
in your industry and your problem, then you are much more likely to be hired.
Defining your difference by answering all these questions allows you to
better understand your business and better communicate with your
customers. When you are specific about what you do differently than your
competition, customers can easily identify you as the most appropriate business for
knows your needs. It really simplifies your marketing, promotion and liability.
revenue processes.
And, when you define your difference first, before you create your brand or marketing
materials, you will ensure that your branding and marketing efforts make you stand out
of your competition simply by communicating these elements of your Brand
Differentiation.