What makes your business different from the
competition? How do you differentiate
yourself? The answer to these questions
is critical to your business success.
You need to know how you are viewed in the marketplace and you need to
understand how to market yourself in a way that makes you stand out in a
crowd.
While there may be a number of businesses out there that do
what you do, do they do it as well as you?
You need to look at your business and see what you are doing that your
competitors are not. For example, in my
business I offer bookkeeping services to small businesses. Bookkeepers are everywhere you look. So how do I make my bookkeeping service stand
out in a crowd? The 2 E’s. Education and Experience. All of my bookkeepers hold degrees from
accredited universities. Most
bookkeepers do not have a formal education and are working on their experience. While there is nothing wrong with that, why
would you pay $50.00 for a bookkeeper without an education when you can pay
$30.00 to $40.00 an hour for a bookkeeper who holds a bachelor’s, and in some
cases even a master’s in business or accounting. This is my advantage in the marketplace.
How can you create an advantage in the marketplace? The first step is to shop your competition
and see what they are offering. You cannot
compete with something you know nothing about.
So go out and find a minimum of 5 businesses in your area that provide
the same products or services. See what
they are doing and how they are doing it?
Be objective when you compare your business to theirs. You might just find that you have an
advantage that you didn’t know about.
Once you see your advantage…..Market it!!
