WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT?
To grow your business you must attract new business. There is only one reason that you will attract new business. It is by being different. Different from your prospect’s existing supplier, different from their existing experience, or different from their other options. You must be different.
So, are you ready for the defining question that will help you grow your business? What makes you different? Before you sputter, “We offer quality, value, and service,” ask yourself, “Who else can say the same?” If the answer is “most of your competition”, then you are not different.
Place your marketing materials alongside that of your competition. If the only thing that is different is the company name—wake up. You’re not different. And if you’re not different, you are all the same. You might as well cancel all your marketing activities with the exception of one ad that states, “We’re just like the other guys”. Spin the roulette wheel and see how your luck pays out.
Just Because It Works For The Bank—Don’t Bank On It
While complaining to my bank about their service charges, the response was “This is the standard in the industry”. The thought that screamed in my mind was, “Did you just say that your strength is that you are no worse than the rest?”
Banks have given up on being different. A few bankers confessed to me that the only reason they get new customers is because the last bank pissed off the customer. What a perverted marketing strategy. Wait for the competition to annoy your prospects and then hope that they might try you next. Not smart. I dare you to present this marketing strategy to the banks when you are asking for a business loan. Warning—bankers don’t appreciate irony.
Why Is Being Different Important To Your Business?
- Different gets noticed.
When was the last time that you read an article, watched a show, or noticed a new product? Did you respond with, “That’s different”? Being different breaks the pattern of sameness. Being different interrupts our routine and grabs out attention. - Different gets valued.
Sameness is a commodity and commodities are bought on price. Running shoes were once a commodity and we paid $12 for them. Today running shoes are different so we pay over $100 for them. Coffee is a cheap commodity. So why do we pay $2.00 to $5.00 for a coffee at Starbucks or Second Cup? Because they are different. Ford is no longer different. That’s why they just lost $8 billion. - Different gets remembered.
Who do you remember from your high school? I bet it was the students and teachers who were different. What vacations do you remember the best? The ones that were different. What products or services do you remember well? The ones that are different.
Once you’ve seen the BlueMan Group, you won’t forget them because they are different.
I still vividly remember details from my trip to India 30 years ago because it was different. Note how well you remember the first time you did something. Why? Because it was a different experience for you. That’s why first love, first car, and first home are such strong memories. After that the rest seemed the same.
Purpose Of Marketing
The three things that your marketing should do for you are to get noticed, be valued, and be remembered. This is the marketing battle that you must fight. If you want to grow your business you must appear to be different.
Reread that sentence. The important phrase is “appear to be different”. It’s not so important that you are different. It’s more important that your market perceives you to be different.
The pizza wars are a good example of the perception of being different and how there are many different hats you might claim to wear in your pursuit of difference. Domino’s is the “30 minutes or it’s free” champion. Pizza Pizza has a cute name and the easy to remember phone number, (go ahead and sing the jingle). It’s easy to guess what’s different about “Two for One Pizza”. Delicioso is “the frozen pizza that you’ll swear was delivered”. There are the shops that sell pizza and subs, the ones that sell pizza, subs, and wings, and the ones that offer goat cheese and other alternative toppings. We can learn a lot about niche marketing from very competitive markets. The differences don’t need to be big, just clear. It’s like tuning your FM radio dial. You only want to listen to the stations that come in clear.
Warning: Use With Caution
Being different isn’t enough by itself. The difference must appear to be valuable and good business sense. New Coke wasn’t good business sense so Coke quickly reverted to the old Coke. Read the book, “The End of Marketing as we Know it” by Sergio Zyman to get the inside story on that flip-flop. Zyman was the Chief Marketing Officer at Coke who engineered that great mistake—and the brilliant recovery.
The bold automotive company, AMC (American Motors Corporation), had a string of different cars: Matador, Javelin, Pacer, and the Gremlin. But they didn’t survive. The only lasting contribution from the ashes of AMC is the Jeep, now owned by Chrysler. The Jeep was different enough to survive.
Some differences are only fads. If your strategy is to surf fads then you need to surf from one fad to the next or constantly recreate yourself like Madonna. It is easier to do that in the recreation, hospitality, and entertainment industry.
Who’s Different?
Apple is using the difference of innovation to lead the market with the iPod, iPhone, and their different and entertaining Mac/PC ads.
Southwest Airlines leads the market because their people are different. They eagerly exhibit a goofy sense of humour. Westjet is imitating them as the market leader in Canada. Yes, sometimes being different just means imitating someone else in a different market.
Las Vegas is different. And the casinos are clearly different from each other. You will instantly know whether you are in the New York, New York, the Bellagio, Circus, Circus, Caesar’s Palace, the MGM Grand, the Luxor or the Wynn.
So, what’s different about you?
George Torok is the co-author of the bestseller, “Secrets of Power Marketing”. Subscribe to “Power Marketing Tips” at www.PowerMarketing.ca and receive a free copy of “50 Power Marketing Ideas”. To arrange a motivational business presentation for your association or sales team call 905-335-1997.
