Would you like to gain a massive marketing advantage and boost your sales? Then find a way to market your services, which is NOT already being used by your competitors!
Take a look at the businesses in your local area and you will notice something interesting.
You will see that businesses in the same industry, advertise in the same places, to the same potential clients, using the same kind of marketing messages and the same kind of promises!
As a result, their marketing pretty-much cancels each other’s out. This is a shocking waste of money and extremely low leverage.
Creative marketing
To gain a competitive marketing advantage, you should think of ways to creatively market your services, which are not already being done-to-death by your competitors.
A great way to find new marketing ideas, is to look at the marketing methods common in other industries, which are not being used in your own. Then, think how you can adapt those forms of marketing for your business!
For example, a number of stores are now paying bloggers to write posts about their stores and their ‘special offers.’ Regardless of your industry, if your competitors are not already doing this, it could be well worth considering for your business!
Just imagine a well-known blogger, who has the respect of your future clients, telling them how brilliant you are – that’s powerful! Before you ask, I don’t offer this service myself. However, popular blogger Chris Brogan did a ‘sponsored post’ for a store on one of his blogs last week, for just $500!
Another example. If you provide a service that has a national or international client base, like; web design, copy writing, SEO, coaching, consulting – or you sell products via a website, you might want to consider sponsoring a podcast aimed at your core prospect group. This can be extremely powerful and yet, it’s a form of marketing that’s totally overlooked by most small businesses – including your competitors!
The bottom line
If you want your business to ‘stand out from the crowd,’ stop marketing it where all the competition is!
Jim,
Great Post! This is very true. Everybody in my industry markets the same way and it gets tiresome on perspective clients. I will use this is upcoming marketing campaigns.d
Thanks!
Jim,
Awesome post! You are too right. Sometimes so many of us take the path of least resistance and just do the “same old.” ‘Course, it’s a path straight to ….. no business.
Thanks again!
Jim,
So true. Especially when it comes to trade shows. What we identify is the crowd that fits out business not the other exhibitors or the theme of the show. We want to be the only exhibitor there in our genre.
Exactly on time you have tickled my brain and validated for me what I was intuiting about my business as I reviewed this past year. I’ve found in my experience that there are different “Stages” that we can play on too – so if I want to move from being on the “local” stage to a more “regional” “national” or even “international” stage it’s important to notice the different ways that marketing happens on the stage I’m intending to move towards and find ways to creatively differentiate my business in the market where I want to play!
Thanks Jim!
Peace and blessings,
Amethyst
There are some great comments here.
Kyle,
You make a good point. Clients do tire of seeing the same approach used.
Sherryayn,
We can get ‘comfy’ doing the same old things – but if they don’t work, like you say, it’s going to hurt sales.
Leah,
Trade shows can be super-effective for business development. I will be blogging about trade shows in the future.
Amethyst,
Your product should be seen as international / national. It’s a niche offering, but that niche is everywhere!
A client of mine is a fishing captain. Instead of doing traditional print ads, he did several videos aimed at different types of fishing. He found an entirely new customer pool and left his competition in the rear view mirror.
Oranse,
Great example – thanks for sharing!
Hi Jim this is some great info. We were going to approach some local business owners and place them on our website but now it will be the blog. Thanks
You’re correct and this goes for freelance too. So many out there are competing and under-bidding in the same places for the same projects it’s ridiculous. That’s the hard way.
It never occurred to some to either be direct or make it so that people pursue them and not the other way around. Coming in from left field is a good tactic.
Excellent points sir.
Hi Jim. Thank you for sharing great advice. Today I did something different in my marketing message. I discovered what was constant in the marketing and did exactly the opposite.
Hey Jim,
Great post, its a simple thing to say, and sometimes more difficult for marketers to do in their day to day lives. Hopefully this will inspire some.
I don’t fully agree with your example around paying a blogger to write, I think this can work, but can also have negative outcomes…
I find that if you can find a blogger who is already writing about your category, sending him/her news, invitations, product samples or just making contact in some way often generates buzz in it self.
Hi Jim,
Great post! – I am very glad that I found you on Twitter.
Kind regards,
Saul Maraney
Johannesbueg, South Africa
http://www.whaishooponopono.com
Jim, Hello
Great post, thank you. I sure agree with your point to do something, anything different than what your competitor is doing. In our small business, we are starting to hang out on the various rating sites, such as Yelp and Get Satisfaction. It is a fertile place to have an open conversation with our own customers and our competitors customers and we are in there alone with our competitors customers. Pretty interesting,
Jim, your post rings so true for my industry (Real Estate) and especially my local market. There is noone locally that has a forward thinking strategy to differentiate themselves online from the competition except me! With help from Jim Cronin at the realestatetomato and a number of great fellow bloggers and marketers like yourself, I am taking over the local real estate market both online and off by standing out and taking my marketing a different direction.
Hello, Jim!
I am just catching up with some of your olders posts as I am waiting for your article on why you cut your Twitter presence.
This piece ringed true with our latest deal recommendation – 1000wordsforsale.com – it comes across as creative marketing (after all, the million dollar page worked with less link juice promise). I still think “creative marketing” is a gamble, though – if you win, you can make it big, if not, you paid for the experience.
Just for the “I said so” piece, I think you are about to make some creative move yourself with the Twitter stunt. Hat off to you!
BR,
Gabriel