How To Stand Out From Your Competition

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.” – Seth Godin

One of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is to offer average products in an attempt to serve the mass market. At a first glance, this makes sense. The more people they can reach, the more customers they will get, and the more money they will make. But is this true? Not really. Think about it, there are already plenty of average products being sold by large multinational corporations. Does it make sense to compete against these corporations? No way! Their huge advertising budgets and ability to sell at very low prices will put any small company out of business in no time.

A much better way to get more customers and make more money is to create products and services that are VERY different from your competitors’. The best way to do this is to focus on serving a very specific group of people (your target market).

How well do you know your target market?

Do you know what their problems, fears, challenges, and needs are? Do you know what they desire or what they dream about? Do you know their expectations from the companies they buy from? Most companies don’t know their target market as well as they should.

Get in touch with people from your target market and ask them these questions and any other questions you think can help to get to know them better. Once you have a clear picture of what it is they want, create or modify your products and services to serve them better.

Depending on your findings, you can decide if your products should be the healthiest, or the tastiest, or the best quality, or the most luxurious, or the most environmentally friendly, or the quickest, or the smallest, or the biggest in your industry.

Know that some people will hate your products and will openly criticize them. But don’t be afraid of criticism because even the world’s most loved brands have tons of critics. The most important thing is that the right people (your target market) will feel like your products were created just for them and will absolutely love them!

In addition to creating the most outstanding products in your industry, make sure that every aspect of your business is above average.  Can you deliver your products faster than all your competitors? Can you improve your customer service to make it the best in your industry? Can you offer tons of valuable knowledge in your blog? Can you help people in need by donating a portion of your profits to nonprofit organizations? Can you lower your customers’ risk by providing a money back guarantee?

A good way to come up with fresh ideas is to take a look at other industries. What can you learn from them? Is there anything applicable to your business that no one else in your industry is doing?

Adriana Fonseca is currently working in Corporate Finance for a multinational organization in Dubai, UAE. She’s also an entrepreneur, business coach, big dreamer, traveller, optimist, and lover of self- development, health and wellness. She’s 100% Colombian and she believes that the secrets to a happy life are to pursue your passion, do work you love, dream big, take massive action to achieve your dreams, travel, help people and make strong friendships along the way.