For a business to grow, it takes more than just being noticed; you need to stand out from your competition.  All businesses have competitors – those companies which are providing products similar to what you provide.  But what makes a prospect choose one company over another when there is little difference between each company’s offering?

That’s the question we set out to answer by checking in with some of the top thinkers in marketing, and we’re sharing our findings below (along with links for further study).  Keep reading for 3 ways to make your business stand out from the competition.

1) Be Authentic. No one denies that first impressions are important, but Seth Godin insists that every impression is important because you don’t know which of those impressions or points of contact between you and your prospect will be the one that sticks.

Every piece of your marketing needs to be authentic, full of integrity and grounded in your company values.  When you do this, you don’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel to present a perfect persona:  you are simply authentic, and in our current atmosphere of marketing overload, authentic is refreshing and attractive.

Read more about Seth Godin’s take on marketing authenticity at Blinkist Magazine.

2) Forbes thinks offering a guarantee is a great way to make your business stand out. Seems risky at first glance – to offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee – but you really shouldn’t be selling something you don’t have enough confidence in to offer a strong guarantee!

At the end of the day, people don’t want to invest in something that they may later regret.  If they know they are protected by a guarantee, they are more likely to take the leap and do business with you.

3) You knew it was coming: if you want to be unique and stand out from the crowd of competitors, create an outstanding customer experience.

Let’s start with this quote from an article written by Vala Afshar at Huffington Post:

Customer experience is the last source of sustainable differentiation
and the new competitive battleground.

— Tiffani Bova, Gartner Vice President and Distinguished Analyst

That’s powerful. And it means that each of your customers needs to be treated like VIPs. A good rule of thumb is to make them feel as if they are your only customer. Not only is this necessary to make your business stand out, but customers are now expecting and demanding excellence in their experience.

And what’s in it for you?  Likely increased revenue, as the article goes on to site this statistic:

Research shows that 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience. Kolsky points out the word ‘guaranteed’, noting customers are no longer satisfied with just being promised a good experience.

It may cost you to provide exceptional customer service, but in the long run, it’s worth it.

Your homework:  think of at least one way you can improve your company’s performance in each of these areas.  How can you be more authentic, how can you let your customers know you guarantee your products and how can you delight your customers with a legendary experience?

Will you share below in the comment section?

When building your business, it’s important that you nurture – or cultivate – your prospects or leads. You want to build relationships with them, so ultimately, when they’re ready to buy, they want to buy from you.

Last time I talked about how to generate leads. You can click here to read that blog post.

Today, we’re going to talk about how to cultivate prospects. But first, let’s look at what cultivating prospects is NOT about…

• It’s not a single-sided conversation about how great you are or how great your products and services are.
• It’s not just a one-off meeting – or one-off email.
• It’s not about sell, sell, sell.

Let’s look at your prospect’s journey.

Someone new has joined your list. That person has signed up to receive your lead magnet, and now you’re emailing them. You want to continue to nurture them through those emails, providing value, as well as being persistent.

Persistence doesn’t mean emailing them every day, but on a regular basis. The right timing will depend on your target market and the length of your sales cycle. You’ll want to test and tweak to find what’s best for you.

You’ll have your initial engagement campaign (delivery of what they requested, as well as additional value), and then you’ll have your long-term nurture (ezines, for instance, that you deliver monthly at a minimum; weekly at a maximum).

When I talk about value, you want to continue to educate and inform them, but you don’t want to overwhelm them. How many times have you downloaded an ebook and never read it because it was too long?

You want your information to be consumed – that’s how your prospect will learn to know, like and trust you.

Here are 5 ideas to continue the conversation:

• If you’ve given them a checklist, send templates or short videos that further build on the checklist they initially requested as a bonus. Videos are a great way for someone to get to KNOW you, but you want the flow to make sense.
• Infographics are a great visual way to educate prospects. People love them!
• Send links to some of your popular blog posts that you’ve written.
• Invite them to join you on social media and what they can expect from following you on those social media channels. This would be a welcome or indoctrination campaign.
• Learn more about the prospect so you can better understand his or her interests and what challenges he or she is having. You can do this in a survey.

Now, earlier I said it’s not about sell, sell, sell… but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make an offer. In fact, you can. Click here to learn more about tripwire offers.

In a nutshell, you want to make sure you are following up with your prospects and continue to nurture or cultivate those prospects! Got some great ideas for how to continue the conversation? Share with me below!

Not sure where to go with yours? Schedule a free call!