The old saying goes that you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On one side, there are hordes of price-conscious, value-conscious Consumer Report reading prospects who expect small businesses to bend over backwards in order to earn their money. (You’d never say it to their face but between you and me, it does feel that way sometimes, doesn’t it?)
On the other side, there are more and more competitors who seem to be getting smarter and smarter and (on those days when business doesn’t seem so busy) they seem to be a half step ahead of you in service, price, and technology.
What can you do about it? How do you carve out your rightful place in the pantheon of businesses? You deserve to be there.
How do you differentiate yourself when you seem to offer exactly the same products to exactly the same niche as everyone else?
Here are several ways that you can differentiate yourself:
- Make sure that you’re fully branding yourself; not just your business name but a slogan that underlines the benefits you provide. You will see more business by being “XYZ Widgets: The Widget Shop that makes you rich” than simply XYZ Widgets. People will link your slogan to you and if your slogan contains a benefit, they’ll link that benefit to you.
- Make sure that you’re serving a niche. Enough said there. We talk a lot about niche markets and how to improve your business with them. If you have exactly the same niche as your competitor, consider narrowing it further or shifting it slightly. For example, serve only women or raise your prices and advertise to a higher-end crowd.
- Determine what you do well and do it again and again and again. If you live next door to the post office, one of the things you’ll likely do better than your competitors is same day delivery. Identify those things and highlight them shamelessly on your site.
- Determine what you don’t do well and either fix it or stop doing it. If you struggle with accurate order fulfillment, hire someone to help you or change your ordering system to make it easier. (Check out www.woot.com. They can’t mess up their order fulfillment, they only sell one product).
- Make little things into big things: Identify an area that you can highlight as being different or better than your competitor. Years ago a cigarette company improved its sales by advertising that its tobacco was toasted, even though every company toasted their tobacco; that’s highlighting something that’s different. Or, be better than you competitors: Consultant Alan Weiss returns all client phone calls within 90 minutes, whether he’s in an airplane or on the beach. This gives him an edge over other consultants. What little thing can you make into a big thing?
- Be daring and bold. Perennial best-selling e-book The Rich Jerk insults and offends while it offers decent ideas to make money online. You should probably avoid that practice as a general rule, but don’t be afraid to be bold, daring, and different somehow, even if it means being contrarian.
Claw your way to the top of the heap by setting yourself apart from the competition. Use some of these ideas to help you establish your difference.
