One question many business owners have when they first started out is “how can I stand out in this crowded market?” There are so many other businesses out there in the market offering similar product/services that they are wondering is it even possible for them to stand out? How can they beat their competitors and be the go-to guy when customers think of that the product or services they are selling? Most people have this misconception... They thought that in order to beat the competition, they have to offer the best product or best service. Alternatively, they must be seen as the most “value for money” (read: cheapest), which eventually leads to a price war with the rest of their competitors, and everyone loses. What they dont realise is this… As a new player in a competitive market, its not easy to be known as the best. It takes time to build that reputation... provided you survived your first few years. And competing with your competitors by price alone is often disastrous (due to their larger economic of scale, your competitors usually have a larger profit margin than you have, and can go lower in price than you can). So how can you stand out in this crowded market? The answer is to BE DIFFERENT. When I say be different, I don’t just mean be different for the sake of being different. What I mean is that you have to be different purposefully and strategically. To strategically differentiate yourself from your competitors, you first must create a Unique Value Offer (UVO). Ask yourself these 2 questions: 1. What benefits will they get by choosing you? 2. Why should your customer choose you over other competitive options? The answers to these 2 questions will help you identify your UVO, which will be your differentiating factor. More often than not, your UVO will also be what your market will know you for. Take the pizza industry as an example. Was the pizza industry crowded and highly competitive? Yes. But what made Domino Pizza stands out? Instead of focusing on the taste or price of pizza like everyone else does, they opted to be different and focused on the speed of delivery. With the UVO “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” they managed to beat their better tasting and cheaper competitors. As you can see, Your UVO is important because it not only differentiates you from your competitors; it also forms your customer’s impression of you. So here’s the lesson… Majority of business imitate, benchmark and try to be better than their competitors. In reality... DIFFERENTIATING oneself is a much better strategy. Take a look at your business. Are you trying to imitate your competitors? Are you trying to be better than them? Instead of trying to better, strive to be DIFFERENT... and dominate! Make sense? Share it. :)
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 11:30:00 +0000
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