 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Differentiating Your Business:
Dare to be Different Take a step back from your business and ask yourself” What do I do that differentiates my business from my competitors?” Look at both your products and services and how you sell and market your offerings.
Differentiating your products and services from the competition is one of the most important weapons in your marketing tool kit. Yet many businesses do absolutely nothing to differentiate themselves from the competition. Often they use the same marketing tools and advertise in the same places as their competition. To see what I mean take a look in your local Yellow Pages. The result is that buyers and prospects cannot differentiate them from any of their competitors so they buy on price.
Imagine you are a computer or IT service and support company. There are thousands around all offering software and hardware, all offering maintenance and repair services, most backed up by some form of Microsoft certification. How do your customers and prospects choose you over the competition?
What could you do?
Firstly you need to develop your Unique Selling Point [USP]. Everyone says they are the best, or offer great customer service, etc It has to be something different that describes something special and different about your business.
Secondly, decide on the type of customers you want and target your marketing activity at those specific segments. You may decide that the customers you want are accounts with multiple locations, or businesses with one location, small office/home office customers, or home computers. Whichever, the message needs to be different for each segment and the reasons they purchase will also be different. What services will you offer? What is different from everyone else? The key point is that of course you are able to service all businesses, but if you can make your service different and target a specific segment of the market, price becomes less important because buyers are attracted for different reasons.
Next look at other industries that are offering maintenance, service and repair services. How do they market their services? Are their any ideas that can be adapted from them to test in your business?
Try testing a new and different marketing method on a small scale each month. This could be direct mail, emails, telemarketing etc. The important part though is to start small, test and measure everything to find out what works for your business and what does not. When you find something that works you can then roll out on a larger scale. Many businesses are relying on one or two main forms of marketing. They could be advertising, PR, referrals, direct mail, telemarketing, web site etc. To really grow your business you need to be combining several of these and use them simultaneously.
You should be constantly trying to think up fresh ways of adding value for the service, improving the range and getting close to your customer’s needs. One of the hardest tasks of marketing is to make sure you are remembered. If your product is the same as everyone else’s only heavy promotion and deep pockets will draw customers in.
Highlighting the differences between you and your competition is key to standing out from the crowd and being remembered.
About Gareth Morgan:
Gareth Morgan heads GAP Management Ltd. He has a wealth of commercial and business experience and a practical approach that enables him to add real value and benefits to his clients. As head of GAP Management Ltd he has been associated with many start up successes and the on-going development of established businesses
Use GAP Management to help you use ideas and strategies to attract new customers, generate more sales from existing customers, and to increase sales and profits.
Call Gareth Morgan 01226 290288 or email gareth@gapmanagement.co.uk |
|
|
|
|
|
More articles on running a successful
business Does Bad Mouthing Your Competition Get You Ahead? Changing Your Business: Have You Created an Impossible Business? Employee Communication: 5 Tips To Engage Employees |
|
|
|
|
 |