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Small Business Marketing: Being Unique is a Good Thing... Isn't
It?
New entrepreneurs frequently hear the advice to "be unique"
in their marketing. The basic idea is a valuable one -- to get
attention in a crowded marketplace, you must stand out in some
way. Distinguishing your product or service from the competition
can make your marketing more effective. Crafting a novel
marketing message can attract the notice of more potential
customers.
There's no question that an element of uniqueness in your
marketing can make your business more memorable, competitive,
and special to your target audience. These are all reasons why
being different can be good. But how different should you be?
A student in one of my classes had noticed there were no
display ads for management consultants in his local Yellow
Pages. "What a great opportunity," he thought, "to make my
business stand out to prospective clients." He spent over $200
per month on a large ad for a full year. The result was not a
single phone call, unless you count the ones from vendors trying
to sell him photocopiers and phone systems.
He had neglected to ask his consulting colleagues WHY none of
them had ads in the Yellow Pages. It seemed like a good idea to
him, and no one else was doing it, so he pulled out his
checkbook. What never occurred to him -- and what any
experienced colleague could have told him -- was that companies
don't choose management consultants from ads in the phone book.
Sometimes you can be too unique for your own good. There's a
lot in sales and marketing that is tried and true. If you decide
to forge a completely new trail, you may be attempting an
experiment that many others in your field have already tried
with no success.
It's not always just your marketing techniques that are a
little too different. The same problem can afflict the product
or service you are marketing.
I met a fellow while networking who had a "unique process"
for helping companies resolve conflicts between employee groups.
When I asked him to explain his process, he said I would have to
experience it to understand it. I inquired how it compared to
solutions like mediation or team building, and he told me it was
a totally different approach that defied comparison.
Since I knew a company that needed help with a problem like
the one he described, I would have liked to refer him. But I
couldn't picture myself calling my friend at the company to say,
"Hi, I know someone who says he can fix your problem, but he
can't explain how. You'll just have to hire him and see."
Being noticeably different from the competition can help you
attract customers and close sales. But claiming that you have no
competition is naive. Comparisons to a known quantity can help
prospective customers understand where your product or service
fits in the range of solutions they are considering. If they
can't compare it to anything, it's doubtful that they will be
able to see how your offering could work.
Your market, too, needs to be a group of people who already
exist and can be readily identified. A reader once wrote to ask
me for some advice on getting her new book published. I asked
what market category it fell into, and she replied that she
hadn't really thought about it.
I pressed her bit, explaining that her book needed to be
categorized in order to be marketed and sold. Even something as
simple as where to shelve it in a bookstore depended on having a
category to print on the back cover. Was it self-help,
spirituality, careers, business? Who did she see as the audience
for her book?
She asserted that she was creating a new paradigm, and if I
was going to help her, I needed to think more creatively. My
reply was to tell her I couldn't help her at all. Her idea may
have been brilliant, but no publisher was going to touch her
project.
Creating the perception that your product or service is one
of a kind can help you capture people's attention and make them
remember you. But you have to be able to identify the people you
want to reach and communicate how you can be of service in words
they can understand.
You know those car commercials that go, "Zoom, zoom, zoom?" I
had to see those ads dozens of times before I could remember
that the car being advertised was a Mazda. "Zoom" was unique
alright, but what did it have to do with Mazda? Or with the
benefits of owning one? A catchy slogan like "Inspiration Beats
Perspiration" may be clever and unusual, but what the heck is it
marketing?
Definitely look for a unique way to express the benefits you
offer to your clients, but make sure it still communicates what
you actually do. It's okay to get creative with your marketing,
but don't bet the rent money on untried techniques.
If you really want to make your marketing more effective,
cheaper and less stressful, stop re-inventing the wheel. Find
models that work and replicate them. I'm not suggesting that you
plagiarize your competitors' marketing copy, but when you see
someone successful in your field, find out what they are doing
right, and follow their lead.
Don't let your business be a victim of "terminal uniqueness"
-- the belief that you are so different from anyone else that
none of the rules apply to you. Being distinctive is good; being
eccentric can be unwise.
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of
business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and
marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free
copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever
Need" at
http://www.getclientsnow.com
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