You wish to develop your small business, however you’re caught doing what everybody else does, just a bit bit higher. That’s the issue.
And it’s killing your probabilities of getting seen.
It’s attainable, and customary, so that you can get caught within the “higher” lure. I wager you tirelessly work to enhance your product, your service, and your advertising, making it quicker, cheaper, prettier, or extra environment friendly than the competitors.
Whereas enhancing your advertising is nice, making an attempt to be “higher” than your competitor means you’re nonetheless taking part in their sport, on their phrases. You’re nonetheless a variation of what already exists. And in at the moment’s deafening market, being a barely improved model of “the identical” means you’re successfully invisible.
You’re grey go well with #497 in a sea of grey fits.
This isn’t solely about advertising, proper? It’s about your very survival and development. Whenever you mix in, you develop into a commodity. Whenever you’re a commodity, you compete on value, and that’s a race to the underside the place nobody actually wins.
Your supreme purchasers can’t discover you since you don’t stand out. Your message will get misplaced within the noise. Your distinctive worth, your ardour, your brilliance – all of it fades into the background.
The repair? Totally different is best than higher.
This can be a basic legislation of consideration, and I like to make use of in in my advertising. Because the sensible Sally Hogshead says, “Totally different is best than higher.” Your mind is wired to note novelty. When one thing is surprising, uncommon, or just totally different, it cuts via the litter. It makes individuals cease, lean in, and listen. Your purpose isn’t to be one of the best model of your competitor; it’s to be the solely model of you.
Final 12 months, I lastly dipped my toes into the TikTok ocean. For a man who often prefers a whiteboard and a Sharpie, it was a wild trip. I attempted all the things – brief bursts of recommendation, longer rants, even some questionable dance strikes (don’t ask). And what grew to become crystal clear, via all of the experiments, was that the content material that actually resonated, the stuff that really received seen and shared, was the totally different stuff. It wasn’t about being completely polished or having the very best manufacturing worth; it was about being genuine and, sure, somewhat unconventional (you understand me, that was straightforward). It proved, but once more, that totally different wins.
Methods to get totally different within the wild:
So, how do you implement this vibrant thought? How do you inject “totally different” into your small business and cease being invisible? It begins by trying exterior your trade for inspiration, after which having the braveness to adapt these concepts to your personal distinctive context.
Right here’s how one can make “totally different” your superpower:
- Observe unrelated industries for gold: Cease what your direct opponents are doing. As a substitute, take note of what’s working in utterly unrelated fields.
- Instance: A canine groomer seen the booming pattern of “boudoir images” for people. As a substitute of simply providing normal cuts and washes, they launched “Pooch Pinups” – skilled, creative boudoir photograph shoots for pets. They used mushy lighting, elegant backdrops, and playful props. It’s surprising, it’s memorable, and it faucets into the deep love pet homeowners have for his or her animals. They went from being “a canine groomer” to “the canine groomer who does that.”
- Your motion: What’s a preferred pattern in trend, gaming, meals, or leisure that appears utterly irrelevant to your small business? How might you twist it, adapt it, or apply its core precept to your choices? Might a monetary advisor create a “gamified” budgeting app? Might a B2B software program firm launch a “actuality present” documenting their consumer success tales?
- Use that persona of yours: Your trade may be severe, however you don’t must be boring. Folks join with individuals, not simply services or products.
- Instance: An accountant, bored with the dry, formal picture of their occupation, began creating brief, humorous TikTok movies. They used trending sounds and relatable skits to elucidate complicated tax deductions, funding methods, or frequent monetary pitfalls. They didn’t dumb down the knowledge, however they made it accessible and entertaining. They grew to become “the humorous tax guru” as an alternative of “simply an accountant.”
- Your motion: The place are you able to inject your genuine persona in an surprising means? Might you utilize humor in your gross sales calls? Inform private tales in your advertising emails? Host a “fireplace chat” podcast with purchasers the place you talk about their greatest challenges (and the way you solved them) in a uncooked, unscripted means? Take into consideration how one can break the mildew of communication in your trade.
- DEFY expectations: What’s the usual working process in your trade? What do purchasers anticipate? Now, do the alternative, or one thing solely totally different.
- Instance: In lots of service industries, purchasers anticipate hourly billing or mission charges. What in case you supplied a “Netflix-style” subscription service for ongoing help, the place purchasers pay a flat month-to-month charge for limitless entry to a selected vary of companies? Or what in case you assured a selected final result somewhat than simply effort?
- Your motion: Problem the assumptions. If everybody provides a free session, provide a paid “discovery session” that delivers quick worth. If everybody focuses on options, deal with the emotional transformation your product offers. If everybody makes use of inventory photographs, use uncooked, behind-the-scenes footage.
Dig deeper:
This idea isn’t nearly intelligent advertising; it’s about constructing a very resilient and noteworthy enterprise. To dive deeper into the strategic crucial of being totally different, take a look at these sections in my books:
- Get Totally different: Chapter 1, pages 1–13. That is the place I lay out absolutely the urgency and obligation it’s a must to be totally different. It’s not a nice-to-have; it’s vital for survival and development.
- The Pumpkin Plan: Chapter 4, pages 57–61. This part helps you pinpoint what actually makes your small business uniquely beneficial. It’s about figuring out that core providing that solely you can ship with such distinction.
- Repair This Subsequent: Chapter 2, pages 30–36. Right here, you’ll discover ways to find your small business’s true development leverage level. Typically, the most important breakthroughs come from amplifying what makes you basically totally different, somewhat than simply patching up weaknesses.
Go AI for unconventional concepts:
Should you’re nonetheless brainstorming, use AI as your inventive sparring companion. Don’t ask it to provide you “higher” concepts in your trade. Ask it to be daring. Copy and paste this immediate:
“Generate one daring, unconventional advertising technique that nobody in my trade is doing. Pull inspiration from profitable techniques in unrelated industries and clarify how I can apply them step-by-step.”
Then, problem it: “Give me one other, even crazier thought.” Use it to push your personal pondering past the traditional.
Closing thought:
Let me remind you what Sally says: “Totally different isn’t dangerous. Invisible is dangerous.” The most important danger you possibly can soak up enterprise at the moment is to be indistinguishable.
Be you.
-Mike
