HOW TO STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS

04 Jul HOW TO STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS

Marketing Podcast – Marion Banks

Hello. I’m Marion Rose Banks. I’m senior copywriter, concept developer, and strategist at BWD. Simply put, that means that I’m a pro-thinker and writer by day and an amateur philosopher by night.

For this reason, differentiation has become the new name of the competitive game in business. So, for you to get the attention of your target audiences, you really need to find a way to stand out in a big way.

One of the best ways to get to that one thing that differentiates your company is by asking one of two questions. Either, what makes my company different from other companies? Or, what makes my company better than my competitors?

The biggest mistake that companies make when they answer these questions, though, is that they focus on the functional benefits of their products.

The problem with that is that people predominantly base their decisions, their buying decisions, on emotion. In fact, studies show that up to 90% of people are emotional buyers.

So, what you actually need to do is, you need to be able to connect with your target audiences emotionally. And the best way to do that is to look at the self-expressive, the emotional, and the social benefits of your product.

One company, for example, told us that they spend millions a year to promote the benefits of taking glutamine after exercising. And all they actually achieved in the end is to get people to go out and buy glutamine, but not necessarily their glutamine.

The reason for that is that people are emotional buyers and their decisions are based on emotion. In fact, studies show that up to 90% of people are actually emotional buyers.

So, the important thing for you is to find the benefits of your company that will speak to people’s emotions. And how you do that is by looking at what are the self-expressive, the emotional, and the social benefits of your product.

To understand the self-expressive benefits of your product, you need to ask the following question, but you need to ask it from your customer’s perspective. If I use or buy this product, what does it say about me?

To get to the social benefits of your product, you need to ask the following question, also from the customer’s perspective. We now make use of this product or service, what kind of person am I associating myself with?

These kind of questions are best investigated or facilitated by an outside party, reason being that when you’re so closely involved with your company, it’s very difficult to be completely honest and to be completely objective about it. So, you need an outsider to actually play devil’s advocate with you.

Ultimately, what you need to achieve is, you need to be able to clearly state what makes you different from or better than your competitors, but you need to state it in such a way that it will unlock the most powerful marketing tool that you’ll ever have, which is to connect with and engage your target audience’s emotions.

To create a truly unique and impactful brand identity that has that kind of emotive power, please speak to us. We’d love to help you .