Be Distinctive
If you're going to go to the trouble and expense of marketing online, make the effort to stand out.
Do not go by what your competitors do. If you do, you'll just join the flock.In the flock, it's hard to make out an individual. If a prospective customer comes online and looks at all the web sites available, and they all seem to stand in a huddle, looking the same, saying the same thing, how are they going to choose?
Let’s say there are 1000 competitors in your market, and you share search engine rankings fairly (which is, of course, impossible). If you all look and sound the same, you only have a one in 1000 chance of attracting any visitor.
However, if you stand apart from the flock, you’ll at least give them reason to say, “What’s special about these guys?”
I’m not saying you should be different for the sake of being different! You are already different. Stop trying to act the same!
What is it about you or your organisation that’s unique? What are you passionate about? Where do you go the extra mile? What do your customers LOVE about you? What can you say about you that no-one else can say?
When you answer these questions, find that essence, that unique proposition, which will make you truly distinctive online. Make that essence seep from every pore on your site – in your design, in your navigation, in your language – and you will get more business.
Imagine your prospect has looked at a few sites and then says, “Let’s go back to those guys who …”
What’s your dot-dot-dot?
For more inspiration and ideas on how to be different, the #1 book is Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”
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