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You don’t have to be deeply entrenched in the fast world of business to have noticed it. There are a lot of companies out there today, all vying for the attention of consumers. Turn on the TV or try to watch a YouTube video and you’ll see ads for companies you’d never even heard of before then. There seem to be thousands of new ones crawling out the woodwork every day.
It can be pretty worrying, can’t it? When you’ve got a business that you’re trying to run and bring to people’s attention, there seems to be more competition than ever. It barely gives you time to think about how you’re going to deal with the really big names in the field.
Let’s say, for example, that your company is a drinks company. You’ve got a new carbonated drink ready for the market. A couple of decades ago, your first worry would probably have been the monster that is The Coca-Cola Company. But these days you have what seems to be hundreds of other companies offering similar products that are your most pressing concern!
The key, of course, is finding ways to cut through all that noise. To make the voice of your company boom louder than all the others. To shine just that bit brighter so as to make a consumer pick you over so many others they could have picked.
I hate to admit it, but this article isn’t going to have all the answers. What single article? But it is going to have a whole lot of them, and maybe it will help you on your way to finding the rest!
Keep up to date with competitors and similar products
A lot of companies make the mistake of pouring all of their efforts into focusing solely on their own company internally. They cultivate a sort of tunnel vision. They don’t want to waste time looking studying the competition. After all, if you’ve trying to carve your own way to success, then what good will it do to focus on what the others are doing? How can you build your own identity if you’re spending so much time looking at the competition?
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The problem with this thinking is that you have a lot of competition. If you don’t know enough about that competition, then you’re not going to know how to stand out from them. You need data. You need to know how exactly you can offer something different. How can you do that if you remain clueless about other companies?
Research their marketing techniques. Find out how much money they’re putting into what areas. Read up on the business culture of the territories in which they’re doing strong business. Know what problems their products are supposed to solve. Can you do it better?
What are the consumers saying?
The best way to shine in the eyes of the consumer is to know them better. When they see your product advertised, something big should go off in the brain. They should be saying to themselves that this product is exactly what they’ve been looking for. That it solves their problem so thoroughly that it’s almost as though you could read their mind. The best way to do this is to research your target audience as you’re developing your product.
Don’t just read articles or research papers. Get involved. If your company is a tech company, for example, then find some popular technology message boards. See what the users are saying about similar products. If your rival companies have message boards, then check them out to. Make an account and get involved in the discussions if you have to. Find out what the common complaints are. Find out what they love. What holes are there in what the competition are offering?
Sculpting out a unique identity
What is a brand identity? It’s how consumers perceive you. It’s not just about delivering the actual products you deliver. It’s the aesthetics of how you present yourself. Your logo, your taglines, your color schemes, the fonts you use, even your company name. The information that you choose to share about your company. The goals you’ve outlined to the public. Your ethical views, and how much you give back to your community. These things all add up to project a specific ‘personality’ to the consumer.
Crafting an effective brand identity is harder than most companies seem to think. Many business owners seem to think that it’s just a case of finding the right balance between their desires with market sentiment. But it’s a lot more tricky than that. Don’t be afraid to get help with your branding strategy if you feel you need it.
Enrich your personal life
This bit may sound a new too New Age for you. But the fact is that your personal life is going to affect how you do business a great deal. When they’re starting up a new company, a lot of business owners make the mistake of being constantly on the job. They’re always at the office, or at their computer, straining their mental capacities in an effort to make their company the best it can be.
I’m not one to tell you that you should be afraid to put in extra hours. This venture of yours is going to take up a lot of your free time. But don’t let it consume your entire being. What this does is it gives you – to use a term I’ve already used and that you shouldn’t forget – tunnel vision. If you’re thinking constantly about numbers and ways to improve your product and the success of the competition? Then it’s going to grind you down.
The things you do outside of work directly inform how you do business. Your hobbies, your personal pursuits, your exercise routines – it all contributes. Your lifestyle is what humanizes you. In turn, your lifestyle will help humanize your business and your product. And all those fun and possible weird things you do outside of work will help you stand out from the crowd. After all, what’s exciting about a business owner who doesn’t have a personal life?
