Being different is the safe option, not the risky option
Nick Bendel
Professional writer for finance & property industries | Writes content for mortgage brokers, buyer's agents, accountants, financial advisers & more | Websites, blogs, social media posts, emails, media releases & more
Here’s a provocative marketing idea: ignore what your competitors are doing.
Or, better yet, pay close attention – and then do the opposite.
The number one rule of marketing is to stand out.
So if you want to succeed at marketing, you need to constantly establish points of difference for your small business.
If you don’t know what your competitors are doing, chances are you’ll accidentally take a different approach. Or if you study your rivals and then do the opposite, you’ll deliberately take a different approach.
Either way, you’ll stand out.
How to be different
Here are some examples of how to market yourself in a different way:
- If your rivals boast about having lower prices, you could boast about having higher prices
- If your rivals use serious marketing, you could use humorous marketing
- If your rivals print rectangular business cards, you could print triangular business cards
Feeling uncomfortable right now? Don’t worry: you’re not alone.
Most people hate being different, because it feels safe to be part of a pack and threatening to be isolated. That’s why most small businesses model their marketing on their rivals’ marketing.
- “They’re talking about lower prices. So that must be the right approach. So we’ll do it too.”
- “What if we try to be funny and we’re not? So we’ll be serious too.”
- “If triangular business cards worked, wouldn’t everyone use them? So we’ll go rectangular too.”
But if you look and sound the same as your rivals, how will customers tell you apart? And if they can’t tell you apart, why would customers choose you over them?
That’s why standing out isn’t the risky option; it’s the safe option.
Feeling provoked?
Previous posts:
- Why you need to turn your small business into a media company
- The small business that helps the most people wins
Hunter & Scribe is a small business marketing agency that helps Australian businesses look different from their rivals. Email us at [email protected] for more information.
CTO @ HARDTEN Precision Technologies | Lab Grown diamond | Ultra-precision Tools
5 年Well, Risk is not to stand out different but losing the stamina for it!
TEDx/Public Speaker, Multi-genre 5* Author, Executive/Leadership Coach, Interim Senior Leader, Director of Coaching, Lean/Flow/Agility/Education, Neurodiversity/DEI
5 年"Not all those who wander are lost".
Certified Digital Finance Practioner | Certified Digital Business Transformation Management | Change Management | Helping Public & Private Sector Companies Shape & Achieve their Transformation Goals
5 年Innovative minds are mostly referred to as crazy minds as they do things differently.? They are always mad about being different!
?? Technology & Digital Transformation | Committed to Leadership and Innovation
5 年This idea of the value of being different already became a yellow fish. If you have 5 competitors in a market and they are all doing the same, are sold out and growing, why would you swimm against the current? Milk the cow! If you try to fish in the dead sea with a new concept, doing it differently than the last, hungry fisherman who survived you will create the same result and starve to death. Why would you jump into a lake filled with swimmers? You like company or are you missing ideas? Go hiking instead...
???? Owner/MD/Managing Partner, IQBALz GROUP ??Real Estate?? Business Coach ?? Developer?? Financial/IT & TECH/Advisory & Consultancy Services ?? Strategists ??With Us Impossible is Only Harder??
5 年I like being different too that's why i face a lot of negativity which NOW i can overcome with a blink