Are you different enough?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. But in marketing your business, it's being different that really stands out.

Before Dick Fosbury perfected the flop at the 1968 Olympics, most high jumpers used to roll or scissor jump over the bar. When the landing area was changed to deep foam, Fosbury saw his opportunity and went for it.

He was different. He stood out.

Why copy failing competitors?

The Pareto principle would suggest that, in any given segment, 80% of profits are made by 20% of businesses. So why would you copy anyone in the 80%?

You wouldn't do it, would you? Yet most businesses using social media are doing the same things as most other businesses on social media.

The successful ones do it differently. They put in the hard work to make their marketing deliver results. That hard work makes the selling easy.

Therein lies the problem - hard work. Too many businesses are being sold the quick fix. The silver bullet. The instant solution. They want the easy, quick route.

SPOILER ALERT: It doesn't exist.

Marketing your business effectively doesn't have to be expensive and all-consuming of your time. But finding the right way of marketing for your business does take time and effort.

Clarity

It all starts with CLARITY - hence the name of this newsletter.

Clarity of:

• Target market/ideal customer
• The product or service being offered
• What you can do for your customer
• Your objectives for your business

Getting that clarity requires you to T-H-I-N-K. Thinking is underrated and underperformed in business.

If people thought more about what they want from LinkedIn and how they might be able to achieve it, the content and engagement here would improve significantly.

Let me give you an example. An organisation you are part of supplies a list of links to useful website articles. You post each link over a period of time, as suggested. You add a simple comment to each. No insight as to why the article is useful, interesting, and relevant to your target audience.

• No thinking about how to generate engagement.
• No thinking about how LinkedIn will treat such posts (it shows them to very few people).
• No thinking about the outcome - the same process followed week in, week out.

You've probably only seen the odd one or two of these types of posts. But there are loads out there - LinkedIn just doesn't show them to many people because they don't generate engagement.

Why imitation doesn't work

When you imitate what somebody else has done, you are imitating what you can see. It's a bit like imitating a stage show or play, or a video.

But the business you are imitating has a whole lot of backstage stuff going on that enables you to see what is on the stage.

You could copy another business' Facebook ad, but you won't have the same following, the same brand awareness, or the same audience targeting they have. So you are unlikely to get the same great results they get.

To get the success you need to replicate, not imitate.

Your business is unique

The great thing about being a small business is the chance to be you. Small businesses are defined by their owners. By their values and beliefs.

It's what gives you an edge over larger competitors.

There may well be other small businesses like yours. But they are not you. They should not try to be you, and you shouldn't try to be them. Plough your own furrow.

There are lots of LinkedIn experts out there. Many are very good. Some focus on training sales teams. I don't. Some help individuals with job hunting or recruitment. That's not my target niche either.

I focus on small businesses, typically 1-10 employees, that want more from their use of LinkedIn. That's my niche, my target market. It's the sort of business I used LinkedIn to grow to a 6-figure turnover.

I help them do the hard work - the prep work to understand their target market, reworking their profiles to target that market, and understanding their objectives for using LinkedIn. The T-H-I-N-K-I-N-G. Then it's about establishing the skills and habits that will generate leads on a rhythmic basis without excessive effort.

Time for action

Don't treat this as just another interesting article.

Set aside some time to do some T-H-I-N-K-I-N-G. Make sure it is quality time. Phone off! Email off! 'Do Not Disturb' notice on the door.

Then answer these questions:

• How effective is my current marketing?
• Do I really know my target customers?
• Do I understand the journey I want to take those customers on?
• How could I make my business stand out? How do I become the Dick Fosbury of my niche?

I'd love to discuss your answers over a cuppa, real or virtual. Message me to set something up.