Do you compete in a crowded market? In other words, are there a lot of companies doing business in your industry or area? When your business faces a lot of competition in a crowded market, you must find ways to differentiate your company from your competitors – especially if you want your business to survive and grow.
Marketing in a Crowded Market
The truth is, today, most companies aren’t offering products and/or services that are truly unique and innovative. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to have a successful business. You just have to figure out how to break through in a crowded market. You can do that by identifying what makes your company, products and/or services different from your competitors.
In Seth Godin’s book, “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable,” he says businesses in a crowded market must find ways to be remarkable. They can’t rely on traditional advertising to succeed any longer. They have to find a way to make their product or service innovative and worth talking about – like a purple cow.
Tips to Differentiate Your Business
Determining what makes your business a purple cow is not an easy task. It requires a lot of time and thought to figure out. To help you get started, here are three tips.
- Find Your Niche. Your business can no longer be all things to all people. Identify a select group of customers that your competitors aren’t serving. For example, a Realtor may want to market to out-to-state clients looking for a new home in their listing area.
- Improve upon Your Competitors’ Weaknesses. Every business has a weakness. Determine what your competitors are doing wrong and do the opposite. For ideas, ask your customers what they don’t like about other businesses. For example, some customers may not want to take time off from work to go to the dentist. If you’re a dentist, offer evening appointments one or two times a week. Even a crowded market has leaders. Why not you?
- Tell Your Story. Every business’ story is unique, because of the people behind the business. In the article, “Marketing in Crowded Markets,” Jared Schnader says when you tell your story, you need to focus on why you’re different and not on what makes you different. Spouting the same old marketing cliches that everyone uses won’t set your business apart from the competition in a crowded market.
Break Through a Crowded Market with Informer Messages
Once you’ve devised crowded market strategies to help you stand out in a crowded market, Informer Messages can help you deliver “the right message to the right people at the right time.” When your prospects and customers call your business, they’ll hear custom marketing messages while they wait on hold that tells them how your business is remarkable and different from your competition. And since keeping your messages up to date is easy, you change the personalized stories you want to share with your callers regularly. If you’re not sure how to create great short messages that set your company apart from your competitors, contact us for a free “short” brainstorming session and come up with effective ways to stand out in a crowded market.