Category listing: Differentiation
We’ve often talked about differentiation. It is the key to your marketing strategy. Without some clear difference between you and your competition, the default is for prospective customers to compare the two of you on what?
Price.
And that’s an awful place to compete. John Jantsch, creator of Duct Tape Marketing, has long said, “don’t compete on price because there’s always someone willing to go out of business before you.” Trimming 5% here and $10 off there will possible attract a transaction but often result in you being nothing but a no-profit organization.
You can differentiate based on these 3 things:
- Values – environmental values may appeal to certain demographics, so AUTHENTICALLY promote how you share their values; Christian consumers are often drawn to businesses who share their faith background, so AUTHENTICALLY let your customers know what’s important to you
- Product – be the only guy in town with a certain line of products, the only estate planning lawyer with a unique process of dealing with clients, be the only place in town to find a particular service (foe example, currently, I am the only Duct Tape Marketing authorized consultant in all of DFW and North Texas and West Texas.
- Experience – play to the senses and let people hear, see, smell, touch and taste what you have to offer. If your clientele demographic most likely prefers country music, don’t play elevator music in your store. If your customers are male, stick to the plain Lava soap in the restrooms and toss out the pomegranate mango stuff. If you cater to women, how ’bout cleaning the restrooms! If you are a non-retail business, perhaps hosting a webinar online or a free strategic partner workshop might offer potential clients a way to “experience” your expertise before they buy.
John Jantsch also shares a great article on this topic of the third area of differentiation, “How to Deliver an Experience.“ Great case study on how to impress a marketing guru!
-Randy
Breaking News: It’s 2011.
Not 2009. Not 2005. Certainly not 2000.
It’s 2011.
Things have changed.
- Social media is the marketplace’s new communication currency with customers.
- Social media is the marketplace’s new venue for word-of-mouth referrals.
- Social media is the marketplace’s new display for information products that showcase your expertise.
But guess what? Some of your competition is still partying like it’s 1999.
Social media can be your ticket to differentiation.
Chris Brogan has a great blog post today on social media – some videos to watch that offer a great way to improve your social media efforts.
Archiving articles is a great way to having at your fingertips a resource library on one topic. Since we’ve been writing for almost 3 years on this blog, we’ve talked a number of times about differentiation, not excluding a mention last week.
It’s the number 1 reason that most small businesses fail. You simply don’t stand out. You look the same as your competitor.
So when all else is equal, what’s the one place where customers will investigate your differences? You got it:
“PRICE”
Is that really the place where you want to compete? I don’t know too many businesses who compete by raising the price, so the only place to go is down. Trying to out-coupon, out-discount, out-lower your bid is a sure-fire way of outting yourself out of business.
Today I am speaking to a group of Christian small business owners on this topic, so it seemed fitting to sharing an easy access to all of the articles we’ve ever written about differentiation and small business marketing.
-Randy
