No matter what industry your business is in, it can be hard to establish differentiation within your market. But differentiation doesn’t have to be difficult. Sometimes it’s a path already trodden with a few tailored tweaks that give you the solution.
I was walking my dog the other morning through one of the fields near us where the grass is let to grow and then harvested for haylage. The grass where we walked was pretty long it has to be said & I noticed that both myself & Milo were competing for the easiest path through. The one that had already been trodden; the one that gave the least resistance.
That got me thinking. Isn’t it in our best interests to find the easier route to achieve something? The one that will get us where we want to be with the least amount of stress and strain?
Quite often, in business, I find that clients are stuck & aren’t sure what to do next to grow their business or create a change to turn their business around. They lack inspiration. Often this is partly down to the fact that they work really hard in the business but don’t get time to work on their business, creating strategy, goals and action plans. This is more than likely compounded by the fact that they can’t see the path that others have already trodden before them, one that will help them get to where they want to be without having to start from scratch.
That’s not to say that this should be an easy solution, a way without effort or relying on others & stealing their ideas. This is about looking at what others have done before (competitors and compatriots), assessing whether it could work for your business and putting it in place with tweaks that make it tailored for you.
For example, rather than sitting in a dark room trying to think of marketing solutions to reach your perfect audience and appeal to their pain points, have a look at some brands you admire or your competitors and see what language they are using, how they attract attention and stimulate a desire for what they are offering. Then, with your own perfect client in mind, align that strategy to your own business and assess what impact it has.
There are 2 conflicting sayings that spring to mind… one is ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’, ie. use what is already there but tweak it to suit your brand values or voice. On the other hand, ‘follow the path least trodden’ because this will differentiate you from the crowd.
In my opinion, use what’s around you, what others suggest and what appeals to you, frame it around your perfect client and you’ll have your own path carved out to differentiate you from the crowd but without the pain & frustration of having to think of something no-one else ever has.
Let’s face it, very rarely is anything absolutely brand new; it tends to be an evolved version of something that has gone before. Look where the human race has come from for a start…
Are you struggling for inspiration for business growth? Need a firm strategy to align with your business? Or just need some fresh ideas?
Contact us to see how we can help: info@jolongconsulting.com / www.jolongconsulting.com
Leave a Reply