With all the noise emanating from all corners of the world wide web, finding your uniqueness is one of your most difficult assignments as an entrepreneur. Something about you and the way you do things must clinch the business of your potential clients. Otherwise, they end up going to your competitors. Gerry Foster shows the importance of standing out both as an entrepreneur and as a business. It’s easy to get lost in the constant shuffle of information on the internet. Put yourself and your business in a position to be unique, and make standing out from your competition a top priority!
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Find Your Uniqueness
I read that there are around 1.7 billion websites on the World Wide Web. Cutting through that noise and attracting the attention of your target market gets harder and harder by the day. On top of that, if you’re fortunate enough to get someone’s attention, you have to retain it, build trust and figure out how to get them to become your customer. Therefore, being average and mediocre is not an option. You need to be an inch wide and a mile deep in your expertise. Make no mistake about it. To build any kind of profitable business, you need to articulate the unique capabilities of your brand. If you want to drive customer engagement and increase sales opportunities, you better offer something your customers value that your competitors don’t provide.
When you first hear that, it sounds pretty simple. Just nail down what makes your brand different and even better than your competitors. Back in the day before the internet, it could have been things like, “We offer free shipping, 24/7 customer service, the highest quality products, quantity discounts, the more you buy, the more you save, a 30-day return policy. We have bargain prices and so forth,” but nowadays, those types of items are almost taken for granted. They expect you to provide that kind of stuff. It’s becoming more and more important to find the winning difference your brand provides that’s going to appeal the most to prospective buyers. That difference can take you towards success or it can take you towards failure.
There are about 1.7 billion websites on the world wide web, and you have to cut through the noise. Click To TweetIt’s that fork in the road. Which fork are you going to take? Suffice it to say, if you make your brand stand apart and above the rest, you can avoid a lot of mess. Everything you do to scale your business will be much easier because customers will be attracted to you like bees flock to honey. It means adoring fans will gladly check out your website, opt in to your marketing funnel, read your blog, listen to your podcast or watch your videos. There are millions of other websites, funnels, blogs, podcasts and videos they could be going to, but they won’t because they love the uniqueness of your brand. Think of it like this. The fact of the matter is that consumers are overwhelmed with choices. They got lots of options, tens, hundreds, perhaps thousands. When they come across your brand online, they have to quickly understand what makes you better and different than others. Pinpointing your uniqueness can mean the difference between standing out or blending in, getting noticed or ignored, and being desired or kicked to the curb.
Finding Your Uniqueness :With all the noise on the internet, attracting the attention of your target audiences gets harder and harder by the day.
It all comes down to identifying why someone should buy from you or why someone should do business with you. It requires you to identify a specific benefit that makes your brand stand out, get noticed and being desired when they choose to compare you to other options in your market. The key is for your uniqueness or differentiation, whichever word you prefer. It has to pivot around some aspect and some element your target audience cares about. Otherwise, your brand’s value will be diluted. Chase excellence, so you don’t have to chase money. Excellence attracts money. The money will find you if your uniqueness is something your target customers truly care about. Focus on that special thing you do that your competition doesn’t. This is especially significant if you are in a service-based business.
If you’re a solopreneur, perhaps even a mompreneur, an independent professional, a service provider of any sort where you are providing some skillset per se, it’s hard to compete on “expertise” quality alone. You need to control the narrative. It means instead of shouting from the rooftops, “Look at me, notice me, remember me, I have great skills too,” you want to confidently say, “What sets me apart from others is my X. What I do differently is my Y. Unlike others in my field, I do Z. Do you want to know something else? You can only get X, Y or Z from me. I am fearlessly original.” I want you to think about for a moment if you haven’t. Even if you have, think again, what truly makes you unique? How are you better? Why you?
Chase excellence so you don't have to chase money. At the end of the day, excellence will attract money. Click To TweetMaybe your uniqueness could revolve around you offering a specialty or a guarantee no other company can make. Maybe it could be a unique tool or an exclusive delivery system, a very unique technology methodology or process. Maybe you could be a specialist or an authority in a specific industry serving a specific type of client, or could you offer a particular type of service? Maybe you could become known for working with clients of a certain size. Maybe you could become known as the expert who solves a specific type of problem or challenge. Perhaps you could become known for offering a very distinctive level of service. Think about the gold standards provided by the Ritz-Carlton. Think the geek squad at Best Buy. Think Amazon Prime and eCommerce. The eCommerce norm of most companies is committing to 4 to 6 days delivery, while Amazon Prime commits to delivery in 24 to 48 hours max. On top of that, if you’re an Amazon Prime customer, you get free delivery too. That immediately attracts more customers towards Amazon.
Finding Your Uniqueness: You can’t be excellent in just one differentiator because once you find an advantage over your competition, they’ll try to nullify it.
What else could you do? Think outside the box now. Perhaps you could differentiate yourself on how you service your customers with speed, assurance, empathy or a no-hassle experience. Ease of ordering, installation, maintenance and repair are other ways to differentiate your services from competition. Let’s not forget perhaps you’re saying that you’re very proactive, always willing to go the extra mile. Whatever area you decide to focus on, drill down to the differentiator that deserves your full focus.
Always remember this, you can’t be excellent in just one differentiator because once you find an advantage over your competition, they’ll try to nullify it. They’ll try to copy, duplicate or negate it. Therefore, since a competitive edge can evaporate quickly, make yours as strong as possible. My suggestion is that you create your competitive edge or your advantage by blending 2 to 4 of the ideas that I just provided you or others that you may think of to make your brand unique in a way that no single differentiator can. When you do, get ready to bask in the joy of having a sustained and competitive advantage. Also remember this, you can’t be all things to all people, but you sure can mean a lot to a lot of people. Choose how you will play the game to win. Until next time, take care.
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