When a person visit’s your website or reads your collateral, does your marketing differentiate you from your competition?

It’s hard to be objective about yourself.

We tend to see what we want to see when we look in the mirror and self-assess. We simply do not see as clearly as a trained outsider sees things. Family and friends are always there to be tapped for help, but the fact is they also have a hard time really being honest with us, even if they do possess the experience or knowledge about our industry or market. The best advice is to hire someone from the outside to give your company the examination and feedback you really need to move forward. Somebody who won’t hold back or sugar coat the situation to the point of being useless. Oh, and prepare to be thickly skinned since some of the feedback will likely seem critical to you, but know it’s never personal – besides, you’ve paid for the critique.

What do you say about your company that is unique?

So, as you read through all your posts, and literature or website copy, what exactly does it say about your company? How is the material selling you as the choice to some target customer out there as THE choice above all others? Squishy stuff like our utmost quality, high integrity, qualified stuff is EXACTLY what everybody else is saying. It’s USELESS because it’s too vague, general, and the very same thing your competition is saying.

Squishy stuff like our utmost quality, high integrity, or qualified stuff is EXACTLY what everybody else is saying. It’s USELESS because it’s too vague, general, and the very same thing your competition is saying.

Sure it’s okay to point out your quality, integrity, and qualified staff but that’s nowhere near enough. Those things are assumed already in the eyes of your prospective customers. You need concrete differentiators that are unique to you and you alone. It’s more than ok if those differentiators focus on a specific target customer too, in fact, it’s important that you market to your target customers with as much focus as you can muster.

If nothing sets your company apart, you are going nowhere.

So, what happens if you just maintain status quo. Roll along and take things day by day sticking with the same message as your nearest competitors? A likely outcome is that you become a commodity if you haven’t already, and then you really are just appealing to customers based on your location or price. You’ve become no different from a strip-center liquor store, donut shop, or dry cleaners. Now that may be all you aspire to, but I’m assuming because you’re reading this you want more. There are tens of thousands of examples of “mundane” businesses, car washes, furniture stores, coffee shops, bookstores, restaurants, etc. that set themselves apart from all others in their marketing space. It’s done, over and over again every day.

It may be time to re-invent your company or brand.

There’s no time like the present to commit to reinventing your brand. Heck, the world’s largest companies do it! That’s right, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and virtually all of the Fortune 1000 have regularly reset themselves and what they wish to be in the eyes of their target customers. You can too, you need only decide to make it so. If you’d like some assistance, there are many highly qualified firms and consultants out there like KeyResults. Give em a shout and tell em Kenny sent you. You’ll be glad you did.