Category listing: Differentiation
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
As David Meerman Scott said on a recent blog post:
What normally boring aspect of your business can you make fun and brand your organization as one that people want to do business with?
A couple of recent examples of airlines having some fun with something most people ignore: the mandatory airline safety message.
“How much do you charge?”
“Your competitor will do it for $25 less, will you match that?
“Why does your service cost this much when the lady down the street sells the same service for less?”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many business owners who enjoy these questions. While they are legit questions from your prospective customers, price is a terrible place on which to compete.
In this video on differentiation, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, says something immensely important about what your prospects are saying about you when flipping through a phone book, looking online, or staring at a newspaper full of ads:
If I can’t tell how one is different from another, I’m gonna call ‘em up and say ‘HOW MUCH?’ Because price is now the only way I can differentiate.
As John continues he begs us all not to try and compete on price because of the precarious position that puts you in inside a competitive marketplace:
Do not try to compete on price. There will always be someone willing to go out of business faster than you.
This is a great reminder this Friday about differentiating your business.
