Are you having trouble standing out in a sea of competition? Competition in a market can be a good thing. It means being are willing to buy what you’re selling, and there’s a slew of hungry customers to choose from.
However, if you’re finding competition to fierce in your chosen niche you should try something new. In this post we’re going to examine why being different can be a benefit for your business. In fact, it’s the same thing that most successful businesses share.
1. Create Your Own Niche
The easiest way to differentiate yourself from your competition is to do something different. Instead of running toe to toe with your competitors you’ll be running an entirely different race altogether.
A lot of successful companies are either first to their market, or innovate on a current trend. Both of these methods immediately differentiate you from the pack. When you have the same services and offerings as everyone else it’s hard to compete on anything other than price.
2. Letting Go Of Fear
Most businesses are afraid to be different. Standing out is a risk you’re going to have to take. In fact, most businesses believe they’re standing out, but in reality they’re doing the exact same thing as their competition.
Don’t be afraid to try something new or “never been done before”. It happens a lot less often than you think.
3. Becoming Memorable
One of the quickest ways to become memorable is by challenging the status quo. There is so much information available online and so many companies to work with that doing something different is the only way to stick in people’s heads. Three easy ways to stand out can be found below:
- Embrace your drawbacks
Is there anything that your business absolutely refuses to do? Sometimes these drawbacks can actually be turned into strengths. For instance, Ikea refuses to assemble their furniture.
Instead of this being a drawback it actually ended up making furniture assembly something the customer looks forward too. It helped them stand out in a crowded field without having to adopt their business model.
- Trust your intuition
It’s important to listen to customer feedback when it comes time to refine your products and offerings. But, listening to your customers too much can actually be detrimental.
For instance, before the iPod was introduced no market for personal mp3 players existed, and no amount of customer feedback could have led to the creation of that device. Becoming an innovator requires you to develop products and services based upon more than mere data alone.
- Test your ideas
Continuing from our last point it’s important to not devalue certain ideas that seem too crazy. A better approach is to launch even your craziest ideas and test them when they get to market.
The only way you’ll know if an idea is right or wrong is to get it out into the world and see what happens. You need to embrace a mindset of idea acceptance.
4. Different Is Easier Than Better
You might think blending in is much easier than standing out. But, when it comes to business success this couldn’t be farther than the truth.
However, when setting out on the path of being different make sure you stay true to you and your business values. Don’t simply do things for shock value alone.
Speak and showcase what makes your brand unique. Stand behind your service or offering and the value you add to your customers lives.
If you need a little kickstart trying to transform your brand, then get in touch with our creative team today.
