In 1997 Tiger Woods won the Masters Golf tournament by 12 strokes, the largest margin in the history of that tournament. Despite his win, Tiger said he needed to remake his golf game if he was going to compete and win long term. It took him two years to remake his golf game and now he is considered to be the best golfer on the planet.
Why do I share this story with you? Because it has to do with business branding and business make over’s. We will be talking about business branding in the next two weeks. I will talk about the invisible elements of branding. Next week Kristina and Nicole will talk about the visible aspects of branding, logo, colors and ways to promote your brand.
I see four elements involved in a successful brand.
What do you do? Your first element in creating a brand is to provide the prospect with a clear picture about what you are offering. What do you do or what does what you are selling do? You must be able to answer this question simply and clearly. Confused buyers never buy.
Write down the answer to this question in simple and clear words. Then show it to three people. Is it simple and clear to them?
What is your specialty? A second branding element is what is your specialty? People don’t buy from Jack of all trades and masters of none. They have too many buying options. When you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one. Make it clear about your specialty.
How are you different from the competition? How are you different or better than your competition?” You don’t just want to be different. You may be the only sales person with green hair. That would make you different. Does this different matter to your customers?
Here is the heart and soul of branding. Does your difference make an emotional connection with your customers? What’s the one thing they can get from you that they cannot get from your competition?
When you think of Tiffany’s—what do you think of? Fine jewelry and romance. When you think of Tiger Woods, what you think about? Golf! Your difference is what makes the deep connection with your customers.
Dominate your market. The fourth quality, do you want to just be another peddler in the market place? Be the best. Be recognized as an expert in your business. Understand your customer better than your competition. Tell the world about your expertise. Dominate. Don’t just exist as a brand.
When you bring these four elements to the market place, you have a successful brand. You become enviable. People will look at you and admire you. And that makes your entire business operations more enjoyable and prosperous.
Branding and Being Different
So how do you create and bring this brand which is YOU to the market place? Let me just focus on one element--being different in today’s crowded market place.
Start by staking out your new position. Stop marketing to everyone. Pick out a narrow segment of the market place. The best way to identify this segment is to find a place where you can be different from your competitors. Your success depends on the ability to identify your difference and tell the world about it.
Here are three areas where you can look for business differences. Each business does have a difference to discover! Each business has a brand waiting to be developed.
- Customer differences
- Product differences
- Customer buying differences
Customer Differences
You can make yourself different by choosing a specific group of customers or subset of customers to serve. Some mortgage businesses deal only with high end customer mortgages. Some businesses sell only to left-handed golfers.
Or maybe you choose a specific problem within a customer group. Some mortgage businesses cater to the re-financing of high-end mortgages. Some businesses only sell shoes to left-handed golfers. Is there one problem or set of conditions that you can solve with your business that separates you from your competitors?
Product Differences
Look at your product or services as a second place to find your differences. Here are a number of things you can promote about your products or services to make your business stand out in a crowded market place.
- Make your product faster—we live in a time starved environment.
- Customize your product—people want to be treated as special and unique.
- Make your product larger--this can increase the value to the customer.
- Improve the quality of the product—people will pay for quality.
- Make your product safer—people are always concerned about safety.
- Make your product greener—hot social trend in today’s world
- Make your product more convenient—people are looking for ease of use.
- Eliminate a common complaint or weakness about products in your industry.
- Make it last longer—people want durability.
- Make it more portable—take it to the people rather than people come to you.
- Make it more available—people hate to wait for things.
- Package your offerings so you are different from your competitors.
- Combine several elements into one—less complexity for people.
- Make your price the difference—be the lowest or the highest.
- Make the product more innovative—some customers want the newest.
Customer Buying-Process Differences
If you're not different with your customers or your product, you can be different in the customer buying process. Customers today put as much value on the buying experience as they do on the product or service.
Can you change the physical environment of your business so it stands out from competitors? A neat, attractive, well displayed showroom will clearly separate you from competitors.
Do you have employees who have more dedication, more knowledge, more “whatever” than your competitors? Just saying good things about your employees does not work because everyone claims they have the best and most knowledgeable employees. If the differences are real, and they affect the customer’s buying experience, use them.
Do you have more credibility than your competitors? Credibility is fostered by testimonials, credentials, guarantees and evidence of expertise. For example, if your guarantee was double the industry average, you could use this as a way of separating yourself from your competitors.
Do you have a better follow-up process with your customers? Follow up and customer support are critical for ongoing relationships with customers.
You can have internal business processes that make you different and better than your competitors. When the internal system can be translated into real customer benefits, you can use it.
You can also separate yourself by having a better marketing process. Marketing involves selecting the right customers, offering the right message and choosing the right means to get your message to the right group of customers.
Conclusion
Take these insights I have provided about being different and find the difference in your own business. Now you have a tool to compete in today’s crowded market place.
Al Hanzal
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