As a small business owner or contractor, you know how important it is to stand out from the competition. 
But what are some specific ways you can do that? This article will teach you 10 ways to make sure your company can stand out in the market.
After reading this article, you’ll have a better understanding of how to make your company more visible and appealing to potential customers.
1. Make it Convenient
In today’s hectic world convenience is one thing most people highly value, even more than time or money. Most of us visited a convenience store and willingly paid extra for the items purchased because it saved us time.
How can you save your customers time by making it easier to order from you, being available to do business on THEIR schedule, adding delivery options, or offering payment terms?
2. Add Education and Training
Remember the last time you purchased an item that said: “some assembly required”? The instructions that generally accompany these items are terrible! They could be labeled as “Difficult to Assemble – Aspirin Needed”.
What if your product or service came with step-by-step instructional videos providing vivid easy-to-follow assistance? Customers love assistance. Not only do they remember the positive experience, but they also tell their friends about it.
3. Offer a new or unique product/service:
This is probably the most common way businesses distinguish themselves; however, it can be challenging to come up with an innovative idea that hasn’t been done before. When considering this option, remember that it does not have complicated or expensive. Whatever it is, make sure it’s something that your customers can’t find anywhere else.
4. Use Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with potential customers and create a buzz about your company. Be sure to post interesting content that will engage your followers and make them want to learn more about your business.
If you’re not already active on social media, now is the time to start. Keep your content interesting, post often, respond to comments promptly, and run promotions or contests regularly to keep people coming back for more.
5. Create a Strong Brand
Your brand is what sets you apart from the competition. It’s important to create a strong brand that customers will recognize and trust. Be sure to choose a name, logo, and tagline that represent your company well.
6. Offer Incentives
Incentives are a great way to attract attention to your business. Offering incentives such as a free service that compliments the customer’s original purchase is a great way to get people interested in your products or services. Have you ever ordered apple pie with the burger and fries? I know I have.
7. Get involved in the Community
Getting involved in the community is a great way to show potential customers that you care about more than just making a sale. Try sponsoring a local event or volunteering for a charity.
8. Use Traditional Marketing Methods
Don’t forget about traditional marketing methods like print ads, flyers, and business cards. These techniques can be very effective in getting the word out about your business.
9. Have a Great Website
Make sure your website is professional and easy to navigate. Include plenty of information about your products or services and make it easy for potential customers to contact you.
10. Use Email Marketing
Email marketing can be a great way to reach out to potential customers and keep them updated on your latest products or services. Make sure you have a strong call to action in your emails and offer something of value. Encourage people to make a purchase but only after you have helped them in some way.
How will you make your business stand out?
Category: Uncategorized
Put Them in a Trance
We’re going to go through the 5 essential keys to a successful and reusable marketing campaign launch. Once you have these basics down, you can use them over and over again.
The 5 essential keys are:
• Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
• Put an effective sales offer to work
• Avoid the marketing pitfalls
• Use a world-class marketing perspective
• Get results!
We’ll go through each one of these, so you can see exactly how to use them and how they all affect the overall outcome of your marketing campaign.
Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Take the time to ask yourself some questions from the perspective of the customers/clients. What would it take to get your attention? What needs do you have that need to be met? What are the promises you want to be fulfilled?
Once you know the answers to these questions you can start putting together a plan to meet these needs. Then take a look at what USP your competitors are using to help you develop your own USP. Your USP is what you are “promising” your customers/clients. This is what’s going to set you apart from your competition.
Put an effective sales offer to work
To develop an effective sales plan, you need to:
1. Put together a headline that gets immediate attention.
2. Share the benefits of your products/services speaking from the customers’ perspective.
3. Identify the specific needs met by your products/services.
4. Make it easy to do business with you by offering guarantees.
5. Share your specific sales proposition.
6. Walk your customers/clients through how they should respond and act.
7. Motivate with a call to action.
What this all means is, that you need to put together what makes your products/services special and compel customers to buy. If they don’t feel like they NEED your product, they won’t buy it. You need to answer a question, solve a problem or feed an obsession.
You need to provide them with all the information they need to make an informed and confident decision. Buyer’s remorse is one of the worst things that can happen.
Avoid the marketing pitfalls
There are 5 major marketing pitfalls many businesses fall into and you should avoid:
• Ignore market testing and push on with an inaccurate plan.
• Offer an incomplete case, or reasons, throughout their marketing plan.
• Fail to notice the needs of their prospective customers/clients.
• Fail to diversify their marketing options.
• Fail to get market opinions on their offers.
These are all areas to avoid. If you’ve been working through these lessons, avoiding these pitfalls should be easy and natural.
Use a world-class marketing perspective
A world-Class marketing perspective is important, especially if you want to attract customers/clients from all over the world. You can do this with a number of different techniques and activities:
1. Keep a marketing journal and scribble down anything innovative you see.
2. Keep encouraging your marketing department, or yourself, to try new things and dump the ones that aren’t working.
3. Order from your own company under a different name and analyze the process of ordering, shipping, online store, customer service, and the product itself. This will show you where the areas for improvement in the customer experience.
4. Read every quality ad you can find and keep a file for future ideas to consider.
5. When out in public, watch how consumers behave in different situations and how they consider their purchases.
6. Step down a notch or two and work on the front lines with your sales and customer service staff.
7. Continuously acknowledge your staff, vendors, and customers. Everyone works and shops better when they feel appreciated.
8. Always listen to feedback from employees and customers.
9. Continuously test markets, ads, and marketing techniques. This is the only way to stay successful and know what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not.
10. Offer more information in your marketing than anyone else. The more information you offer, the more products/services you’ll sell.
11. A great marketing plan can only get better. Continue to fine-tune and refine your marketing plan based on testing results and feedback.
12. Be classy in your marketing. Make sure your marketing and advertising fit your company image, products/service, and quality.
13. Improve your best marketing areas and drop those that aren’t working.
14. Focus on what you say, not how you say it. The best marketing ideas turn into the best marketing naturally.
15. Develop all your ads, campaigns, and sales materials with attention to compelling and factual information.
By using these techniques you can put your name out there to the world and become one of the top brands in your industry.
Get results!
The last area we are going to talk about is the best-satisfied customers. If your customers aren’t satisfied, you’ve wasted all your marketing resources and all chance of positive word-of-mouth advertising. You can satisfy your customers by:
• Providing quality products/services
• Providing high-quality customer service
• Providing a low-pressure, highly informative sales experience
• Taking all the risk away with a great guarantee
To generate more business there are a couple of simple techniques that work every time:
• Build your database with a contest.
• Do regular mailings with sales, discounts, or other incentives.
• Find other creative ways to keep your current customers coming back for more.
“As long as the reward is directly related to your product or service, you can’t lose. Why not get started today? It’s so simple, it’s so seldom done, and it’s so profitable. And that’s the bottom line.” ~Jay Abraham
It is so simple! So, why aren’t you starting today? We can help you put together a great marketing plan that will get you results.
Try our GUIDED TOUR and find the tools and resources you need to be built by some of the biggest names in the marketing world.
Linda Lewis
You Turn Me Right ‘Round Baby, Right ‘Round
The biggest area of turn-key businesses is franchises. There is a franchise for every industry in the world and they are fairly easy to acquire and come with practically a pop out-of-the-box pre-assembled system.
McDonald’s is a prime example. In fact, a $40 billion, 28,707 strong example.
There are a few things we are going to talk about:
• Business Format Franchise
• The Franchise Prototype
• Franchise Prototype Standards
Business Format Franchise
The business format franchise came from an earlier model call the “trade name” franchise. The big change was in the rights. During the “trade name” days the franchise owner only had marketing right’s, now franchise owners have ownership rights to the entire business including systems. This has allowed for a shift in focus to go from the quality and name recognition of the products carrying the business to sales techniques that carry the business.
The Franchise Prototype
It was really the franchise prototypes that allowed for the changes to be made that help today’s franchises really shine with the techniques developed by the owners instead of the corporation. This can make a significant difference in the success of the franchise as the owner can custom tailor their marketing and promotions to the direct needs of their local target customers.
Franchise Prototype Standards
Now, the above being said, no one in their right mind would purchase a franchise if the parent company didn’t have a solid plan of action set up to ensure the prospective success of the business. So, there are a few standards that are put into place that helps jump-start the process of opening a successful franchise.
Build a model of prospective customers/clients, suppliers, creditors, and employees who will consistently offer high-quality work.
1. Build a user-friendly model that can be used by individuals of any skill set.
2. Build a defect-free model.
3. Build a model with Operations Manuals.
4. Build a model that will provide guaranteed, consistent results.
5. Build a model that encompasses the same branding in color, dress, and facilities codes.
These are all ways the parent corporation makes sure their brand stays the same and in the front of the minds of customers. When you are purchasing a widely-known brand you will attract customers just for being you.
If you are considering purchasing a franchise, talk with one of our experienced business coaches during our GUIDED TOUR.
